Civil Rights & Social Justice
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Nike co-founder and owner Phil Knight is making a firm contribution to the Black community in Portland, Oregon by pledging $400 million to an investment fund supporting it.
According to reports, Knight and his wife, Penny, announced on Monday (April 24th) that they’re donating $400 million to the 1803 Fund, a nonprofit initiative meant to aid those living in the historic Albina neighborhood covering the inner north and northeast sections of the Pacific Northwest city. The fund will be headed by Rukaiyah Adams, a well-known financial advocate and community leader. She will be joined on the board by Albina Head Start CEO Ron Herndon, Self-Enhancement Inc CEO Tony Hopson, Nike CEO John Donahoe, and Larry Miller, chairman of Nike’s Jordan Brand.
In a press release, Adams said the massive investment “has the potential to significantly change the culture and landscape of Portland. A place-based effort of this magnitude is unique and has never been done before in Portland – let alone the United States.” At the event held on Nike’s Beaverton campus, Knight spoke of his connection to the community. “Penny and I have long believed in the community of Portland,” he said. “Some of my most important memories are connected to the Eastside of Portland.” Knight has contributed heavily to community causes before and has a long relationship with Herndon and Adams, whose agreement to head up the board weighed heavily in his decision to donate. “She’s a superstar,” he said.
Albina became the primary neighborhood for Black people dating back to the early 1900s, but it would experience severe decimation throughout the decades due to redlining practices and urban renewal projects such as Interstate 5, the Rose Quarter, and the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center. The fund’s name also has a historic connotation – 1803 is the year that explorers Lewis & Clark began their journey across North America, with a man enslaved by Clark named York also coming along with a promise he’d be freed afterward. That never took place.
The 1803 Fund’s first project is entitled “Rebuild Albina”, an initiative that will “education, place and culture and belonging in the Albina neighborhood.” There were no further details discussed. In a press statement, Herndon said: “Black people have always been central to Portland’s economic success, but have rarely had access to the benefits and advantages that enable wealth creation and collective wellbeing. The Rebuild Albina project hopes to change that trajectory.”
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A new review of the Louisville Police Department by the Department of Justice revealed a damning pattern of racial abuse by its officers for years.
In a report made public on Wednesday (March 8th), the Department of Justice found that both the Louisville, Kentucky Metro Police Department and the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro government routinely engaged in a pattern of unconstitutional behavior against Black citizens and those with behavioral issues. This was done through police conducting searches using invalid warrants and excessive force on multiple occasions.
Attorney General Merrick Garland discussed the findings at a press conference in Louisville, saying the police department and local government “has undermined its public safety mission and strained its relationship with the community it is meant to protect and serve,” as the city’s acting police chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel and Mayor Craig Greenberg stood nearby.
The 90-page report of the investigation conducted by the Civil Rights Division of the department goes into graphic detail about these abuses initiated by police officers. ”Some officers have videotaped themselves throwing drinks at pedestrians from their cars; insulted people with disabilities; and called Black people ‘monkeys,’ ‘animal,’ and ‘boy,’” the report stated. “This conduct erodes community trust, and the unlawful practices of LMPD and Louisville Metro undermine public safety.”
Further details show how political bias was a major component of the behavior of Louisville Police as well, with a department document from 2018 showing the adoption of the beliefs of the extremist Three Percenters. Another startling discovery was the use of excessive force involving dogs, with 71 bites being recorded over a span of 2016 to 2021. And evidence of excessive force against protesters decrying the death of Breonna Taylor in 2020 was also detailed, with people responding how police used “used riot sticks, less-lethal munitions, or chemical agents” against them. A police officer stated in an interview with DOJ officials that Taylor’s death “was a symptom of problems that we have had for years.”
Mayor Greenberg said of the report, “We will not make excuses, we will make changes.” The city has already paid out $12 million to Taylor’s family in a wrongful-death lawsuit, and council members have begun work towards the 36 recommended reforms from the report. The news from the DOJ comes after it announced a similar investigation into the Memphis, Tennessee police special units after the death of Tyre Nichols in January as well as investigations in Minneapolis, New York and Louisiana among other cities and states.
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Activists and other social justice groups have begun a planned “week of action” to protest the construction of a project known as “Cop City” outside of Atlanta, Georgia.According to reports, multiple activists and environmental and social justice groups from across the United States have initiated a week of protest actions against the building of a training center complex for law enforcement in a forest area south-east of Atlanta which has been dubbed “Cop City”.
The planned actions come a little less than two months after the death of Manuel Paez Terán, an activist known as “Tortuguita”. Terán was shot and killed by a Georgia State Trooper on January 18th in the midst of a violent raid by a combined force of state troopers, officers from Dekalb County & Atlanta, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation on a protest encampment in the South Forest area.
Protesters are seeking to block the construction of the militarization and training complex which was launched by the Atlanta Police Foundation. With an estimated price tag of $85 to $90 million, the site would be the largest of its kind in the nation once completed. Many have complained about the environmental impact, as the entire forest is slated to be razed for the project. The planned week of action will include a march among other protests. “The idea is to have a march with Black-led groups, centered in Atlanta history, and the protest movements we’ve always been a part of,” said Community Movement Builders leader Kamal Franklin. A “National Day of Action Against Police Terror” is slated for this coming Thursday (March 9th), with a music festival and a “know your rights workshop” also included in the actions.
These initiatives by protesters are meant to quash the narrative promoted by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens that the protests have been dominated by outside agitators bent on violence. On Sunday (March 5th), 35 people were detained by police at the site after a construction vehicle was set ablaze and rocks were being hurled at officers as a protest was taking place. Franklin said to CNN afterward that the arrests were “indiscriminate”, and didn’t represent the majority of those protesting who are from the Atlanta area. “These are big-tent protests. We don’t expect incidents beyond standard civil disobedience. We hope the police will act accordingly and not in violent ways that exacerbate the situation,” he stated.
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A white student who attended Howard University School of Law has sued the university for discrimination after being expelled. However, reports are questioning the student’s motives as the details from the suit are being released.
Michael Newman attended Howard University School of Law for nearly two years until he was expelled in September of last year and he is seeking $2 million in damages alleging “pain, suffering, emotional anguish and damage to his reputation.”
Fox6 reports that Newman enrolled in the fall of 2020–amid the coronavirus pandemic when classes were virtual and that as he and other students communicated via online forums and GroupMe chats, Newman frequently posted inflammatory photos and ideas.
The report says that after a symposium featuring an African American speaker ahead of the 2020 election, Newman posted the forum page asking if further discussion could be had on “whether: (1) Black voters didn’t question turning to government for solutions, and (2) reliably voting for the same party every election disincentivized both parties from responding to the needs of the black communities.”
Newman also said that his goal in attending the school was to “learn, not just law, but to learn the thoughts and experiences of people of color,” and referred to his time there as a social experiment.
He said that he frequently felt ostracized because fellow students referred to him by names such as “white panther” and “mayo king.” Black students at the institution also frequently complained about Newman claiming that his actions caused them “severe stress” and “distracted them from their studies.”
The report adds that Newman sent out a four-page letter trying to explain his views, but it was received as a “manifesto.”
The School of Law Dean Danielle Holley noted that a digital town hall was held with 300 participants to discuss Newman’s actions. And Holley characterized his actions as “disturbing in every sense of the word.” She accused the man of “continual harassment of member [sic] of the Howard Law community, and disturbance of the learning environment at the School of Law.”
The lawsuit was filed in federal court and Frank Tramble, Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for Howard University, said that while he could not comment “substantively” due to pending litigation, the university “is prepared to vigorously defend itself in this lawsuit as the claims provide a one-sided and self-serving narrative of the events leading to the end of the student’s enrollment at the University.”
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An investigative podcast revealed facts that the Federal Bureau of Investigation hired a violent felon to sow discord at Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020.
A newly released podcast, Alphabet Boys, unveiled information that showed that the FBI paid Michael Adam Windecker II to infiltrate protests organized by the social justice group in Denver, Colorado in 2020. The journalist behind the podcast, Trevor Aaronson, revealed how the agency paid Windecker $20,000 to ingratiate himself with activists on the ground who were protesting police brutality after the deaths of George Floyd and Elijah McClain.
Aaronson utilized documents obtained from the FBI through Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) requests to detail how the former felon agreed to be an informant because he wanted to “fight terrorists” and viewed those protesting as “people who participate in violent civil unrest are terrorists.” Windecker, who is white, would stand out at those protests driving a silver hearse full of weapons.
The podcast goes on to show how Windecker tried to recruit other activists as he got more involved with them over that summer, including Zebbodios “Zebb” Hall. “How extreme do you want it to go? Do you want to learn to shoot a gun and throw someone around, or do you want to go all the way uptown? If that’s what you want to do, I can make it happen,” he was overheard saying on undercover recordings. Windecker would go on to organize demonstrations in August that would lead to assaults against police stations in the city.
The plot became sinister as he coerced Hall to purchase a firearm for him after Hall refused to go along with a plot to assassinate Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser. “I had to get this guy this gun because if I don’t get this guy this gun, he’s got my information. He’s got my family’s information,” Hall said in an interview. Aaronson would relate that Windecker used intimidation on everyone: “Windecker spoke of having killed people. He had a criminal history that was violent.”
The podcast has caused reactions of outrage and demand for accountability, including a statement from Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). “If the allegations are true, the FBI’s use of an informant to spy on first amendment-protected activity and stoke violence at peaceful protests is an outrageous abuse of law-enforcement resources and authority,” he said. “I think you’re allowing these tactics to win if ultimately you’re choosing not to exercise your First Amendment rights for fear of government infiltration,” Aaronson said of the podcast.
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In new documents, the Memphis Police Department claims one of the cops involved in the beating death of Tyre Nichols allegedly sent a photo of him to five other people afterward.
According to reports, the Memphis Police Department revealed in documents released by the state on Tuesday (Feb. 7th) that they found that one of the five officers charged with the beating and death of Nichols took a picture of him as he sat propped up against a police cruiser afterward. That officer, Demetrius Haley, would later admit to “sending a photograph of Mr. Nichols to … two fellow officers, a civilian employee of the department and a female acquaintance,” in addition to another unidentified person. The document also states that Haley allegedly used a personal phone, which is against police procedure.
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The revelation came as part of a filing by the police department on January 25th with the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission to request the decertification of Haley and the other four officers. That decertification would prevent the men from working with another department in the state of Tennessee.
Haley was identified as the officer who forced Nichols out of his car at the traffic stop on January 7th. Internal reports showed that Haley never told him why he was stopped or that he was under arrest. They described the photo-sharing as part of a pattern of “blatantly unprofessional” behavior that included the former officers, who are Black, laughing after beating Nichols, “bragging” about their actions, and hurling repeated profanities at Nichols. He would die of his injuries three days later.
Haley and the other four officers involved in the assault after the 29-year-old Nichols was detained would be fired days and indicted on multiple charges multiple criminal charges which include second-degree murder, aggravated assault, aggravated kidnapping, official oppression, and two counts of official misconduct. The actions took place before the city released the video of the officers beating, restraining, and using a taser on Nichols. A sixth officer who is white, Preston Hemphill, was fired a month after for his role in the incident but has not been charged. City attorney Jennifer Sink stated on Tuesday that up to 13 other officers involved in the incident could face disciplinary action within the coming weeks.
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Three of the five Black Memphis police officers charged with second-degree murder in the death of Tyre Nichols have been given the boot by the Omega Psi Phi fraternity.
“A few days ago, on behalf of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Incorporated, we joined with all other caring, thoughtful, decent, and fair-minded people in America and around the world in extending our deepest sympathy to the family of Tyre Nichols,” the fraternity wrote in a statement dated January 31. “We have since learned that three of the former Memphis police officers involved in the horrific incident were members of our organization. That is devastating! Effective immediately, the Fraternity has revoked the membership of the three former Memphis police officers and all related privileges they may have enjoyed as members of our Fraternity.”
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Omega Psi Phi also referenced a statement posted to its website two days prior to its most recent announcement in which the fraternity called Nichols’ violent treatment “unacceptable,” declared that its members “expect law enforcement officers to protect life and serve our communities with the highest regard for safety and humanity,” and characterized the behavior of the Memphis officers as “the complete opposite.”
The statement released Tuesday doesn’t specifically identify the three former officers who are no longer welcome members of the fraternity, but one should expect that all five ex-cops will find themselves unwanted around all Black frats, cookouts, house parties or any other events reserved for skinfolk who are still largely recognized as kinfolk.
Basically, the Black community isn’t interested in seeing any of them unless they’re behind bars wearing a convicted prison inmate jumpsuit.
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The funeral of Tyre Nichols was held in Memphis, and Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks along with the Rev. Al Sharpton calling on officials to deliver justice.
The funeral service was held on Wednesday (Feb. 1st) at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Memphis, with hundreds attending. Nichols’ family was front and center, mourning the 29-year-old who died three days after being beaten to death by police officers during a traffic stop on January 7th. Other attendees included the families of those who also lost their loved ones to police brutality, including the family members of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Botham Jean, and Eric Garner who were there with officials from the city. Director Spike Lee was also in attendance along with Nichols family attorney Ben Crump.
Members of Nichols’ family took the podium to share their love for him. His mother, RowVaughn Wells spoke tearfully about her son. “Tyre was a beautiful person and for this to happen to him is just unimaginable,” she said. “I guess now his assignment is done. He’s been taken home.”
Vice President Harris spoke at the podium, first honoring Tyre Nichols’ parents before calling out the violence and police brutality that was the source of Nichols’ death. “This violent act was not in pursuit of public safety,” she said. “Was he not also entitled to the right to be safe? Tyre Nichols should’ve been safe.” Harris continued by demanding that Congress pass the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, created to increase accountability for misconduct by law enforcement nationwide, in addition to banning acts of excessive force such as chokeholds. “Joe Biden will sign it and we will not delay, and we will not be denied,” she said as Ms. Wells wept and clapped. “It is nonnegotiable.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton delivered the eulogy, forcefully calling out the five Black police officers involved in Nichols’ death. “In the city that Dr. King lost his life, not far away from that balcony, you beat a brother to death,” he said. “There’s nothing more insulting and offensive to those of us that fight to open doors than you walked through…and act like the folks we had to fight for to get you through them doors.”
He also called for an end to qualified immunity and echoed Harris’ calls for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act to be passed. “Why do we want the George Floyd in Policing Act passed?” Sharpton asked. “You’d have to think twice before you beat Tyre Nichols. You’d think twice before you shoot someone unarmed.”
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Ciara tried to talk sense into white nationalists’ favorite Black bobblehead, Jason Whitlock, who can’t seem to stop himself from going out of his way to make stupid remarks regarding the police-involved death of Tyre Nichols.
Recently, Jason Whitlock sat down with the Calvin Candie to his Stephen, Tucker Carlson, and erroneously blamed Nichols’ violent death on Black single mothers.
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“Everybody involved in this, on the street level, was either 24 to 32 years old. Everybody, it was a group of young Black men, five-on-one. It looked like gang violence to me. It looked like what young Black men do when they’re supervised by a single Black woman, and that’s what they got going on in the Memphis Police Department.”
“They’ve elected—or put some Black woman in charge of the police force, and we’re getting the same kind of chaos and disunity and violence that we see in a lot of these cities that are run by single mothers,” Whitlock continued, in reference to Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis. “If we want to discuss the breakdown of family that leads to disrespect for authority, that causes you to resist the police and run from the police and not comply with the police, because you resist authority at all times, because there was no male authority in your home, let’s have that discussion.”
Yeeeeah—this is beyond a reach.
Whitlock is clearly using Nichols’ death to arbitrarily take shots at single Black mothers, which makes no sense since Nichols had a stepfather in his life. Rush Limbaugh’s Black doppelganger also appears to be insinuating that if a Black woman is a single mother she couldn’t possibly be qualified to run a police department (or anything, for that matter).
Anyway, Ciara called him all the way out on his misogynoir and general anti-Blackness, but Whitlock is a dedicated house negro and he would not be dissuaded from his special brand of self-loathing.
“As a black man to get on national tv and say something like this is irresponsible,” Ciara tweeted. “A lot of amazing kids have come from single mothers. For you to also undermine single black women in the midst of this tragedy is so sad. This woman just lost her son! Do better!”
“Appreciate the feedback, Ciara. But at some point, we are going to have to deal with the negative impact of baby-mama culture,” Whitlock replied. “It’s destructive and unsustainable. Come up out of the denial. Denial won’t fix the problem. Thanks.”
Again, what does “baby-mama culture” have to do with Nichols? What do Black single mothers have to do with this story at all? It’s like Whitlock is throwing them under a bus that wasn’t even driving down their street.
WTF is wrong with this man?
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The specialized SCORPION police unit whose officers were charged for the death of Memphis black man Tyre Nichols, was shut down permanently over the past weekend.
According to a statement from the Memphis Police Department issued Saturday (Jan. 28), Chief C.J. Davis met with officers of the SCORPION (Street Crimes Operation to Restore Peace in Our Neighborhoods) Unit. All agreed “unreservedly” to disband the unit in order to foster more healing and work with the community. Chief Davis also called for a review of all other specialized units in the department to take place. The full statement was later issued via their Twitter account.
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The permanent abolition of the unit was one of the demands of the family of Tyre Nichols, protesters and other city officials as more details of the brutal beating became known. Attorneys Ben Crump and Antonio Romanucci, who represent the Nichols family, released an official statement later that afternoon.
“The Nichols family and their legal team find the decision to permanently disband this unit to be both appropriate and proportional to the tragic death of Tyre Nichols, and also a decent and just decision for all citizens of Memphis. We hope that other cities take similar action with their saturation police units in the near future to begin to create greater trust in their communities,” the statement said.
The SCORPION unit was created shortly after Davis was hired as chief of police in 2021 as a way to lessen the number of homicides in the city with a focus on other crimes including reckless driving. Twenty-nine-year-old Nichols was confronted by five black officers from the unit at a traffic stop Jan. 7. Nichols was allegedly driving reckless and was pulled over.
Chief Davis would later state to NBC News that they were unable to find evidence for that stop on video. The five officers – Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith – brutally beat him. Nichols was taken to the hospital in critical condition. He died of his injuries Jan. 10.
The city released the footage of the assault Friday evening (Jan. 27), sparking further outrage. That same day, all five cops posted bond and are out of jail ahead of their Feb. 17 court appearance.