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#SayHerName and see the beautifully captured portrait of Breonna Taylorat theSmithsonian on Friday. Taylor, whose 2020 death sparked nationwide protests, will have a portrait displayed on the fourth floor of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) as part of the museum’s new exhibition, 'Reckoning: Protest. Defiance. Resilience.' In the portrait, Taylor […]
Nationwide protests have taken place since October 7 despite the disbanding of the controversial Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) police unit.
The demonstrators have been accused of attacking police stations and personnel.
The rallies which are mostly attended by young people have become avenues to vent against corruption and unemployment.
Rights groups say at least 15 people have been killed the demonstrations began in early October.
RELATED: Grand Jury Indicts Three Men Accused Of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery
Lee Merritt, attorney for Ahmaud’s case, will accompany his mother on the trip as they call for the Louisville police officers involved in the March 13 death of Breonna to be arrested and charged.
RELATED: Police Officer Fired After Breonna Taylor Shooting
Hankison, along with officers Myles Cosgrove, and Jonathan Mattingly were assigned to a botched March 13 drug raid in which they were seeking to arrest a suspect they believed lived in the apartment Taylor and boyfriend Kenneth Williams occupied.
Police executed a “no-knock” warrant and burst through the door, according to a lawsuit filed by Taylor’s family.
RELATED: Louisville Council Passes ‘Breonna’s Law,’ Banning ‘No Knock’ Warrants To Honor EMT Killed By Police
On June 11, the Louisville City Council voted unanimously to be “no-knock” warrants in a new ordinance called “Breonna’s Law.”
BET has been covering every angle of the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other social justice cases and the subsequent aftermath and protests.
The Louisville Metro police department has fired one of the police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, more than three months after the 26-year-old Black woman was killed in her home.
A termination letter sent to Officer Brett Hankison released by the city’s police department Tuesday said Hankinson violated procedures by showing “extreme indifference to the value of human life” when he “wantonly and blindly” shot 10 rounds of gunfire into Taylor’s apartment in March.
Taylor was shot eight times by officers who burst into her Louisville home using a no-knock warrant during a March 13 narcotics investigation.
Protesters calling for justice in Taylor’s shooting have taken their calls to the streets amid the international protests over racism and police violence after the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for several minutes as he pleaded for air.
The singer sent a letter to Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron, saying the three Louisville police officers “must be held accountable for their actions.”
A group of artists have painted a large mural in honor of Breonna Taylor, an unarmed Black woman who was murdered by police officers.
… . She said the Roots 101 African American Museum is an appropriate place … buried again.”
The Roots 101 African-American Museum is located at 819 …
Memphis singer-songwriter Brandon Lewis depicts the painful institutional mistreatment of Black men in his new single, titled “Black Man.”
It shouldn’t matter about the color skin that I’m in,
Though the single was written and recorded before the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks, Lewis and Made In Memphis Records released it last week given the tenor of times.
Lewis also released a video for the track, shot outside the historic Clayborn Temple in Downtown Memphis.
Lewis is the young protege of Made in Memphis Entertainment (MIME) CEO and former Stax Records songwriter David Porter (“Soul Man,” “Hold On I’m Coming”), whose works received worldwide accolades during the 1960s and 1970s.
Porter was impressed with Lewis work ethic and talent, and gave him a shot as an artist for MIME.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican policing bill hit a roadblock Wednesday as Senate Democrats voted against it as inadequate, leaving the parties to decide whether to negotiate a compromise or walk away despite public outcry over the killings of Black Americans.
“If you don’t think we’re right, make it better, don’t walk away,” implored Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican senator, and the author of the GOP bill.
The GOP’s Justice Act is seen by Republicans and Democrats as a starting point in the broader debate over how best to change policing practices as demonstrations in cities large and small focus on law enforcement and racial injustice.
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, Trump tweeted his support for the GOP bill.
Political risks of inaction are high, as the public wants to see policing changes after nearly a month of constant demonstrations nationwide, in cities large and small, forcing a worldwide reckoning over law enforcement and racial injustice.
Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law that requires publicly traded corporations who have their headquarters in California to appoint directors from “underrepresented communities” to their boards. “Underrepresented communities” are specifically identified in the law as Black, Latino, Native American, Asian American, Pacific Islander, Native Hawaiian, or Alaska Natives. Companies also have the option […]
The post Racial Diversity Law for California Corporation Boards first appeared on Post News Group.
barriers and open opportunities for African Americans and women in the Jackson, along with her esteemed African American colleagues Christine Darden, Katherine Johnson recognize the contributions of women, African Americans, and people of all backgrounds
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Louisville police officers who fatally shot Breonna Taylor while serving a warrant were told she should be home alone because the main target of the narcotics investigation was elsewhere, according to an interview with one of the detectives who served the warrant. Taylor was shot eight times after officers used a []
“The rallying cries that have been echoing throughout the nation have been once again ignored by a justice system that claims to serve the people. But when a justice system only acts in the best interest of the most privileged and whitest among us, it has failed. For the sake of Breonna Taylor, for the […]
The post Taylor case is glaring example of two-tiered justice system appeared first on Florida Courier.
Memphis Grizzlies rookie Ja Morant earlier this year (Photo: Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Memphis point guard Ja Morant is a rookie that before the NBA season was abruptly halted in March was considered among the league’s brightest new stars.
READ MORE: 16 NBA players test positive for coronavirus before start of renewed season
As reported by ESPN, The Memphis Grizzlies star tweeted – the deleted – and anti-police post that replaced his name on the back of his jersey with ‘F***k 12.’
NBA players are expected to resume their season on July 30.
To address player concerns about using their platform as a vehicle for social justice, NBA Player Association president Chris Paul told the Undefeated that NBA players may be able to wear social justice or charity messages on the back of their jerseys instead of their names.
“We’re just trying to continue to shed light on the different social justice issues that guys around our league continue to talk about day in and day out,” Paul said.
Myles Cosgrove’s family is trying to raise $75,000.
Just six days before George Floyd’s killing and the resulting call to action in our country, I became the executive director of one of the largest education nonprofits in North Texas — its second-ever woman and first-ever black commander in chief.
At the time, there were already two major crises facing our country, both disproportionately affecting the black and brown students in our classrooms: a pandemic that kept students with limited technology away from their teachers and peers indefinitely, and a financial crisis that threatened to rip out already fragile financial security.
And then, I turned to my black husband and 5-year-old son.
What would the world do with these black men I can’t live without?
I have an abundance of personal and professional success, yet still I’m a black person living in America, a wife who worries about her black husband’s safety when he leaves the house and a mom who worries about when society will decide her son is not just a cute preschooler but a threat.
Breonna Taylor’s shooting death in Kentucky was the consequence of a Louisville Police Dept. operation intended to clear out a block in western Louisville key to a city plan to gentrify the neighborhood Taylor lived in — lawyers for Taylor’s family allege in an amendment to a lawsuit filed against the city in Taylor’s death. []
On Thursday, the mother to singer-songwriters Beyoncé Knowles Carter and Solange, along with Mothers of the Movement and a host of Black women in Hollywood, sent an open letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
As members of the Black community, we are hurting, we are angry, and we are anguished by the repeated assaults on Black bodies, brought to light once again by the recent murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of what has for too long been incorrectly coined ‘justice,’” the letter reads.
The letter puts emphasis on the need for Black and Brown voters to be able to safely exercise their civic duty and right in order to make the necessary changes to fight systemic racism.
Written in partnership with And Still I Vote, a campaign by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, it also sites ongoing voter suppression in places like Kentucky and Georgia, and the rise in COVID-19 infections following the Wisconsin elections, as reasons why the Senate should stop stalling on the bill and pass the legislation ASAP.
TOPICS: News Politics George Floyd protests HEROES Act Mothers of the movement Tina Knowles tina knowles lawson voter protection
Biden and BLM must set aside differences, focus on beating Trump
by Will Marshall, PPI President
Joe Biden isn’t nearly as visible, but he’s leading President Trump in every key battleground state and even some – including Texas – that no one expected to be up for grabs in 2020.
At the same time, the former vice president is taking heat from Black Lives Matter (BLM) and the progressive left, who complain that his stance on policing and criminal justice reform is too tepid.
These divergent realities reflect two large tensions that Biden must manage adroitly to unite his fractious party and prevent Trump from winning in November.
In a significant shift, majorities now approve of the Black Lives Matter movement and say racism is a key 2020 issue.
Biden knows some of the angry rhetoric arising from the streets bleeds into a generalized hostility toward police — a position anathema to him and rank and file Democrats.
At least two million people have signed a petition calling for law enforcement officials in Aurora, Colorado to reopen an investigation into the death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old who died in August 2019 after police officers stopped him, according to USA Today.
McClain, whose name has not been previously included in the long list of Black fatality victims at the hands of racial injustice, was reportedly walking home from a convenience store on August 24, when police responded to a call of a “suspicious man” with a ski mask.
“Whatever the report says, it’s clear that if the police had not attacked Elijah McClain, he would be alive today,” Mari Newman, an attorney for his family, told TheCut.com.
After a February 2020 police force review board inquiry, it was determined that officers had a lawful reason to engage McClain and that use of force \"was within policy and consistent with training,\" the Colorado Sentinel reported.
Aurora City Manager Jim Twombly, who oversees city operations, said that an independent investigation of McClain’s death would be undertaken.
After being charged with felony murder for shooting and killing Rayshard Brooks, former Atlanta police officer Garrett Rolfe is receiving donations to cover his legal fees covered.
RELATED: Rayshard Brooks Shooting: Atlanta DA Announces Murder Charges Against Police Officers
Thanks to the Georgia Law Enforcement Organization, nearly $200K have been raised.
More than 2,000 people have donated to the fundraiser in the wake of the Atlanta district attorney announcing yesterday (June 18) that he would charge the former officer with 11 counts.
RELATED: Rayshard Brooks’ Widow Reacts After Hearing Police Kicked Her Wounded Husband
“Officer Rolfe Was Involved In The Justified Shooting Of Rayshard Brooks On June 12th, 2020, And He Is Being Used As A Political Pawn By The District Attorney And Has Been Charged With Murder,” they write on their website.
Devin Brosnan, the second officer at the scene of the Rayshard Brooks killing, faces three charges, including aggravated assault for standing or stepping on Mr. Brooks’ shoulder after he was shot, says Fulton County District Attorney, Paul Howard.
Ben Crump called for a new, independent prosecutor to re-open the legal investigation into Breonna Taylor's killing after a grand juror suggested that the Kentucky attorney general's office lied.
O’FALLON, Mo. (AP) — A white suburban St. Louis police detective who was captured on video apparently hitting a black suspect with a police SUV then kicking and punching the man was charged Wednesday with two counts of assault and armed criminal action.
Special Prosecutor Tim Lohmar announced the charges against Florissant Detective Joshua Smith, 31, who was fired June 10, eight days after the violent arrest amid nationwide protests and unrest over the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The arrest occurred on June 2, a day after four St. Louis police officers were shot and a retired St. Louis police captain was fatally shot during a violent night in the city.
The unmarked police SUV appears from behind the car and drives across part of the front lawn, striking the third man and knocking him onto the driveway as he cries out in pain.
Fagan said police are seeking municipal charges against all three men for possession of drug paraphernalia and resisting arrest.
Common, Jemele Hill and others will join the NBA player.
Watch BET UK on Sky 173, Virgin 184 Freesat 140
Kyrie Irving will be producing a TV special titled #SAYHERNAME: BREONNA TAYLOR. The one-hour special will not only continue to bring attention to Taylor's tragic death at the hands of law enforcement while executing a no-knock warrant, but it will also highlight police brutality and how it affects Black women.
The Boy Scouts of America says it will require aspiring Eagle Scouts to earn a new “diversity and inclusion” merit badge before they can attain the organization’s highest rank.
Similar to other existing badges like “American Cultures” and “Citizenship in the Community,” the new badge will “require Scouts to learn about and engage with other groups and cultures to increase understanding and spur positive action,” the Boy Scouts said.
“The Boy Scouts of America stands with Black families and the Black community because we believe that Black Lives Matter.
In addition to the new merit badge requirement, the organization pledged to conduct a review of its programs, including property names, events and insignia, to ensure they encourage diversity and don’t further “symbols of oppression.”
The new requirement represents a relatively timely decision for the Boy Scouts.
The 911 call that led to the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks by an Atlanta police officer was released Monday (June 15) and creates an even clearer picture of what happened in the Wendy’s parking lot.
Atlanta station WSB-TV reports that a Wendy’s employee on the night of June 12 made the call when Brooks stopped in the middle of a drive-thru line and had apparently passed out.
Brooks death was declared a homicide on Sunday (June 14) by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office, WSB-TV reported.
In an emotional press conference on Monday (June 15) Brooks’ widow, Tomika Miller, along with several members of the Brooks family including his 13-year old stepson, Mekhai, daughters Memory, Dream and Blessing, whose eighth birthday was on the day after her father was killed, spoke to the press.
A distressing photo emerged online over the weekend showing a man wearing a KKK hood and robe while walking his dog in rural Wisconsin.
Charles Michael Booth, 50, has been identified as the suspected Klansman in the photo, that was first posted on Facebook by user Rachel Byington, Heavy reports.
A friend took this photo near the Lakota boat landing off of Highway K in Conover,” Byington captioned the image.
Vilas County Sheriff Joe Fath said wearing a KKK robe and hood in public is not a crime, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.
Deputies reportedly contacted Booth about the incident and he explained that he was simply “taking his dog for a walk.”
(Photo: Adobe Stock)
A heavily redacted FBI report in 2006 confirmed that white supremacist groups were asking their members to join law enforcement agencies in order to continue to spread hatred.
READ MORE: Van Jones secretly helped develop Trump police reform order
In the wake of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Elijah McClain at the hands of police, there are renewed calls to make the entire report public.
(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Democratic California congresswoman Norma Torres, along with 27 lawmakers has asked for the FBI to allow to release an unredacted version of the report
On her official site, she states:
As we work to end systemic racism in law enforcement, we need to know how pervasive white supremacist ideology is among our officers.
READ MORE: Detroit police officer drives SUV into crowd of protesters
Officers around the country have been exposed as members of white supremacist groups like The Proud Boys and the Ku Klux Klan as well as militias who want to keep the races separate, the Daily Beast reports.
“My position nowadays,” Jones said, “is that we do not have a white supremacist infiltration problem much as a white supremacist culture problem with respect to our law enforcement agencies.”
Two Black women leaders, from prestigious Columbia University, have announced plans to lead a special Juneteenth celebration during their Freedom March NYC.
Lending their voices to the national call for social justice and police accountability, Chelsea Miller and Nialah Edari, will kick off their historic “Juneteenth: A Celebration of Black Joy” event starting at the Brooklyn Museum at 12 PM.
Already raising more than $50, 000 for the Freedom March, these brilliant young activists have been marching for change throughout the streets of New York City demanding change during the revival of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and all of the other Black men and women who have died at the hands of police and white violence.
“There’s a social media activist family who support and amplify each other’s messages,” Nialah Edari, told Forbes in speaking to the march for justice for Breonna Taylor’s killers.
“It’s not so much who the organizers are as much as it’s the message”
With special performances and guest appearances, “Juneteenth: A Celebration of Black Joy” will be a day to remember as the city of New York comes together.
Driving by Vibe Street Studios on 16th Avenue South at 12th Street on Birmingham’s Southside, it is easy to see the mural of Breonna Taylor, one of the many African Americans who have been slain at the hands of police.
“The sad thing was there’s not enough hands,” said Diva Reese, the artist behind the drawing.
’”
The boarded-up Vibe Street Studios gave Reese a chance to use her voice.
Reese felt that Taylor’s death at the hands of police had been overshadowed by the killings of George Floyd and others.
“I want the officers who killed Breonna Taylor to be arrested and charged,” Reese said.
