Politics and Current
A white South African man convicted of attacking and killing 39 black people during the apartheid era has died days after admitting police involvement in his crimes.
A former white South African security guard who confessed to killing dozens of black people during apartheid has died. BBC News claimed that police officers were complicit in his reign of terror, is dead.
In a series of chilling interviews given to a British television station just every week before his death, 72-year-old Louis Van Schoor revealed that law enforcement officers were deeply involved in his crimes and should share the blame for 39 killings he confessed to while working as a security guard in the late Eighties.
Van Schoor died of sepsis brought on by a leg infection. Families of his victims still want justice. “He made it out alive!” Marlene Mvumbi said whose brother was amongst the victims. “I hope they continue to reopen these cases. The families deserve justice. We got nothing and the pain is still the same”
All his victims were black.
Van Schoor didn’t name any names in the report, and there is no such thing as a direct confirmation of his claims about the involvement of South African police officers, who were notorious for his or her brutal methods of suppressing activism and enforcing racial segregation during the apartheid era.
Despite confessing to committing at the very least 39 murders, Van Schoor was convicted of just seven murders and sentenced to greater than 90 years in prison.
However, a judge allowed the sentences to be served concurrently, resulting in his early release on parole in 2004 after serving just 12 years of his sentence.
The station’s investigation into Van Schoor goals to get to the bottom of the case and explain why South African authorities have yet to elucidate why his killings weren’t reassessed after the end of apartheid.
During questioning, the former policeman insisted he never intended to “kill black people” and denied being a racist, although he admitted that he found the persecution of black people “exciting.”
Before becoming a security guard in 1986, Van Schoor spent 12 years with the East London Police, where he worked with “attack dogs” to trace down and arrest mostly black protesters and criminals. He compared his job to “hunting, but a different kind,” the BBC reports.
Van Schoor, once a robust and brutal man, now uses a wheelchair after having each legs amputated, a shadow of the ruthless figure he was 40 years ago, when he was generally known as the “Apartheid Killer.”
In time, Van Schoor has turn into a vagabond figure, old and frail, stooped over with an untidy, gray beard. He is unapproachable, lonely, and has no friends to talk of.
Many of his teeth rotted and fell out years ago, and his face is lined with wrinkles from years of smoking and sleepless nights.
A recent heart attack also left its mark.
But unlike many of the people he shot, Van Schoor is alive and respiration.
His wrinkled clothes, like his house, reek of cigarettes, a continuing reminder of his declining health and befitting the dark past that also weighs on his mind.
Speaking to the BBC, Van Schoor attempted to lighten the mood by telling a disturbing joke about his decision to stay conscious during an operation to amputate his legs reasonably than undergo anaesthesia – in a way bragging about his endurance.
“I was curious,” he laughed enthusiastically. “I saw them cutting… cutting the bone.”
His voice trailed off. No one else found it funny.
Van Schoor’s face became serious again as he tried to persuade BBC reporter Charlie Northcott that he was “not the monster people think he is”.
In the Eighties, Louis Van Schoor carried out a series of assassinations that left 39 people dead over a three-year period. At the same time, South Africa was under a brutal apartheid regime that enforced a racial hierarchy and brutally oppressed blacks in favor of whites.
Van Schoor’s quite a few murders put him in line with some of America’s most notorious serial killers, including Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy and Gary Ridgeway, generally known as the Green River Killer — all of whom were chargeable for at the very least 30 murders.
The only noticeable difference was that each one of Van Schoor’s victims were black, the youngest being just 12 years old.
The murders took place in the rugged, windy city of East London, a once-poor area in the Eastern Cape where many residents lived in slums.
Working as a security guard at greater than 70 percent of the city’s white-owned businesses, including restaurants, stores, factories, and schools, Van Schoor had the perfect cover to murder with impunity in the name of maintaining a racist system.
“He was a kind of killer-avenger. He was a Dirty Harry character,” says Isa Jacobson, a South African journalist and filmmaker who spent 20 years investigating Van Schoor’s crimes.
When he was finally caught, Van Schoor claimed that everybody he killed was a “criminal” he caught red-handed in the act of burglary.
“These were intruders who were, in many cases, very desperate. They were going through the bins, maybe stealing a little food… petty criminals,” he said ruthlessly during the interview.
He never admitted that under South African law at the time, crimes of this sort weren’t punishable by death.
Van Schoor said he sometimes carried out multiple killings in a single night, spreading terror through the black community of East London. There were rumours of a bearded man, known in Xhosa as “Whiskers,” who made people disappear after dark. But his murders weren’t carried out in secret.
From 1986 to 1989, Van Schoor personally reported every homicide to the police.
However, the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990 initiated a major change in South Africa that led to the end of apartheid and the transition to democracy.
Pressure from activists and journalists led to Van Schoor’s arrest in 1991.
Van Schoor’s trial, which featured a big number of witnesses and relied on extensive forensic evidence, ended in failure as a result of the continuing influence of the apartheid system on the justice system.
Police still classify Van Schoor’s remaining 32 killings as “justifiable homicides” as a result of apartheid-era laws that allowed the use of lethal force against resisting or fleeing intruders. Van Schoor used this defense to prove his innocence, claiming his victims were attempting to escape when he shot them.
The BBC investigation, led by Jacobson, examined old police reports, autopsies and witness statements to forged doubt on Van Schoor’s “justified” shootings. Jacobson spent years digging through scattered and hidden files in Eastern Cape towns to uncover the truth.
“The whole scale of it is just mesmerizing,” Jacobson told the BBC. “It’s astonishing that any court could allow this to happen.”
Among the most shocking evidence Jacobson uncovered were survivor testimonies that contradicted Van Schoor’s claims. Wounded victims described being shot while their hands were raised in give up, or that Van Schoor taunted them before being shot. One survivor recounted asking for water after being shot, only to have Van Schoor kick him in the wound.
His weapon was a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, often loaded with hollow-point bullets to inflict serious injury on his victims. In one case, he fired eight shots at an unarmed man.
In one other case in which the victim survived, Van Schoor shot and killed a 14-year-old boy who broke right into a restaurant for change. The boy said he hid in a restroom when he saw Van Schoor but got here out when a security guard cornered him and ordered him to face against a wall, then fired multiple shots at him.
“He told me to get up but I couldn’t,” the teenager said in his recorded statement, based on the BBC. “While I was lying there, he kicked me in the mouth. He picked me up and put me on the table and then he shot me again.”
Despite his account, the boy’s allegations were dismissed, and he was charged with breaking and entering. Many other young black men and boys who reported being attacked and shot by Van Schoor were met with similar skepticism.
Incredibly, the judge presiding over Van Schoor’s trial dismissed damaging testimony, calling the witnesses “unsophisticated” and “unreliable.” There aren’t any juries in South Africa, so the judge’s decision is final.
Van Schoor’s trial sparked a deep divide, with many in East London’s white community supporting him and even promoting him with bumper stickers depicting his image and the slogan “I Love Louis” surrounded by bullet holes.
Police can reopen Van Schoor’s case at any time and review his so-called “justified” shootings because there is no such thing as a statute of limitations under South African law for prosecuting murder or attempted murder.
“Louis Van Schoor just went out and murdered people for sport,” said Dominic Jones, a journalist who helped raise awareness about the corrupt vigilante at the time of the killings.
Van Schoor was a complicated angel of death—he had it set to receive notifications at any time when a silent alarm went off at the businesses he protected, giving him a way of where an intruder was so he could confront him single-handedly.
“I was barefoot. It’s quiet. You don’t have your shoes squeaking on the tiles and stuff like that,” he said.
Van Schoor used night to his advantage while filming his crime scenes. He would sneak up on his victims from the shadows, avoid the lights, and navigate the darkness by counting on his sense of smell.
“If someone breaks in, adrenaline gives off an odor. And you can smell it,” he told the station.
(*39*)This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
Politics and Current
Missouri police officer fatally shot 2-month-old baby and her mother after relative called police for help, family says
A Missouri family and community are mourning the tragic death of a 34-year-old woman and her infant daughter who were killed in an officer-involved shooting earlier this month.
Family members say Maria Pike and her 2-month-old daughter, Destinii Hope, were shot to death on November 7 after police were called to an apartment in Independence, Missouri, in response to a domestic disturbance.
In the weeks for the reason that shooting, local law enforcement has released few details, but eyewitnesses have provided local media with their accounts of what happened.
said Talisa Coombs, the baby’s grandmother Kansas City Star that she was the one who called the police after a physical altercation with the kid’s mother. Family members say Maria Pike has had mental health issues, anger issues and most recently suffered from postpartum depression.
Coombs said that when she called the police, she thought authorities would arrive, arrest Pike and get her the assistance she needed. She told her son and Destinia’s father, Mitchell Holder, that she desired to press charges against Pike for assault.
When police arrived, Holder initially refused to allow them to inside, however the apartment constructing’s assistant manager persuaded him to let two officers inside.
Assistant manager Gavin Delaney told The Star that when police entered the apartment, Pike was sitting within the bedroom closet, holding Destinia, not doing or saying anything.
Destinia’s father, who witnessed the shooting, recounted the moments leading as much as the shooting to his sister, Ashley Greenfield.
Greenfield told The Star that when officers entered the apartment, she and Holder tried to take the baby from Pike as she moved from the closet to the bed. Greenfield stated that when Pike reached for an object on the nightstand, the officer shot the baby in the top while he was still in his mother’s arms.
Holder later recalled his horrified response to the shooting of “The Kansas City Defender.”
“They shot my baby,” Holder said outlet. “It looked like her head had exploded. Her blood splattered throughout my glasses and throughout me. All I could do was scream. I just kept repeating three words – the identical three words – “You killed her!” I screamed it. Time and time again.”
He added that Pike jumped after the primary shot and the officer opened fire on her.
Accounts vary as as to if Pike had a gun when officers entered the apartment.
Local news outlets reported that among the many few details police have released up to now concerning the shooting is that Pike was armed with a knife.
“When we arrived, officers encountered a woman who was ultimately armed with a knife,” said Independence Police Chief Adam Dustman. “As a result of this encounter, two people died, one was an armed woman and the other was a child.”
However, family members say otherwise. Before calling the police, Destinia’s grandmother stated that there have been no weapons in the home. Holder also said he never saw Pike holding a knife in the course of the encounter with police.
“Yes, I was in the room when it all happened,” Holder he said. “From what I saw, I never once saw Maria armed with anything. Honestly, I do not even know where that got here from. I heard crazy things like she held a baby hostage in a closet, that she had a knife, and all this crazy stuff that is not true. I mean, all I can say is that it’s possible she had a knife and I didn’t see it, but all I do know is that I never saw her holding anything – and I used to be there within the room.
Independence police said the investigation has been turned over to the Jackson County Police Involvement Investigative Team (PIIT), a team of detectives that investigates police shootings and use of force incidents.
Chief Dustman said just one officer, a “long-time law enforcement veteran,” fired in the course of the incident. The officer and two other people on the scene were placed on administrative leave.
Capt. Kyle Flowers, who heads the PIIT team investigating the shooting, said last week that investigators had reviewed body camera footage and planned to interview witnesses. According to KMBCthe team will turn over the findings of the investigation to the Jackson County Prosecutor’s Office, but Flowers didn’t specify exactly when that will occur.
Family members have called on authorities to release the body camera footage, which is able to hopefully reveal once and for all whether Pike was armed with a knife on the time of the shooting. They also call for punishment of the officers involved within the shooting.
“Why hasn’t the body camera footage been released?” Amber Travis, cousin of the victims, he said at a community vigil for Pike and her daughter. “Give my family a break.”
“It means a lot that the community feels the same way we do,” Holder he said. “It means the world. It won’t bring her back, but no less than we all know now we have loads of support here.
AND GoFundMe page was created to assist pay for Destinia’s funeral. As of Wednesday afternoon, greater than $3,000 had been raised.
On November 22, Destinii would have turned 3 months old.
Politics and Current
Jasmine Crockett blasts Republicans for so-called white “oppression” over anti-DEI bill
On Wednesday, during a passionate speech before the committee, Sen. Jasmine Crockett, R-Texas, chided her Republican colleagues for the content of an anti-DEI bill that calls for eliminating all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and offices within the federal government.
Crockett, a 43-year-old congressional student who has change into a star within the Democratic Party because of her quite a few viral committee appearances, condemned the Dismantle DEI Act of 2024. The bill, H.R. 8706 – first introduced by Republican Vice President-elect J.D. Vance – essentially prohibit all DEI-related activities within the federal government, including all related positions, offices, training, and funding. Strikingly, the bill also prohibits federal employees working in DEI positions from transferring to a different federal position.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing wherein she responded to Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La., who repeatedly called DEI policies “oppression” — seemingly aimed toward white people, as many Republicans suggested — Crockett used the committee’s speaking time to criticize the suggestion that white individuals are oppressed in consequence of efforts to shut racial disparities in sectors resembling business, education, and health.
“You don’t understand the definition of oppression… I would ask you to just Google it,” said Crockett, who moments later read the dictionary definition of the word, adding: “Oppression is long-term cruel or unfair treatment or control, that’s the definition of oppression.” The congresswoman emphasized: “There was no oppression of the white man in this country.”
Referring to the history of chattel slavery and racial segregation within the US, the Texas lawmaker said: “Tell me which white men were dragged from their homes. Tell me which one was dragged across the ocean and that you will go to work. We will steal your wives. We will rape your wives. It didn’t happen. This is oppression.”
Attempting to further explain the importance of DEI, Crockett noted that she is barely the fifty fifth Black woman elected to Congress in its 235-year history, unlike the 1000’s of white men who’ve served on Capitol Hill.
“So if you want to talk about history and pretend it was that long ago, it wasn’t,” Crockett said, citing data showing that corporations perform higher and are more profitable after they are more diversified.
The anti-DEI movement, championed exclusively by Republicans, has led to several lawsuits invalidating federal programs, including debt forgiveness for Black farmers and business loans to Black and other disadvantaged businesses. Many states led by Republican governors have indicated that DEI – especially teaching about slavery and racism – is harmful to students, namely white students. In response, they banned such topics from public classrooms.
Jamarr Brown, executive director of Color of Change PAC, the political arm of the civil rights organization, said Congresswoman Crockett’s statements on DEI were “poignant and necessary.”
While the Dismantling DEI Act actually won’t be passed while Democrats control the Senate and President Joe Biden stays in office, it signals what may very well be a priority for Republicans next yr, as outlined within the pro-Trump “Project 2025” political manifesto “.
“According to Project 2025, diversity, equity and inclusion is synonymous with ‘White lives don’t matter,’” Brown noted. “Now more than ever, we at Color Of Change PAC, as well as advocates and activists across the country, must work to protect Black people and other people of color from harm resulting from anti-DEI attacks.”
Brown continued, “Civil rights protections have helped reduce mortgage discrimination, increase the number of Black physicians to counter problems such as Black maternal mortality, and provide financing for Black-owned businesses.”
He added: “Our country thrives and everyone benefits when diversity, equality and inclusion are valued rather than stifled.”
The campaign’s legal department reports that President-elect Donald Trump is stalling the presidential transition process by refusing to sign an ethics pledge that is legally required of each sitting president
Under the Presidential Transition Act, Trump and his transition team must sign a document ensuring he avoids any conflicts of interest once he takes office. Only after the document is signed and sent to the General Services Administration (GSA) can the incoming administration gain access to federal agencies.
The transition, which President Joe Biden has promised will likely be “orderly and peaceful,” sets the tone for the Trump-Vance administration’s approach to transparency, accountability and earning the trust of Americans, all of that are seen as essential to making sure the administration fulfills its responsibilities to the U.S. people mean .
The reasons for withholding Trump’s documents are unknown, but some speculate it has to do along with his latest financial disclosure reports and for one reason particularly. Many of his holdings might be considered conflict of interest red flags, equivalent to his latest cryptocurrency business, a majority stake in his social media platform Truth Social, real estate, books and licensing deals.
It’s not only the GSA that the president-elect is avoiding. According to , Trump also refused to make use of the State Department’s secure phone lines and interpreters and kept away from using the FBI’s security clearance system. That’s why House Democrats issued latest laws on November 19 requiring Executive Office employees to have FBI security clearances. If not, Congress will likely be warned.
Democratic lawmakers and powerful Trump opponents like Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) are baffled by his transition team’s refusal to sign an ethics agreement.
“Donald Trump and his transition team are already breaking the law. I would know because I wrote the law myself,” Warren wrote in X on November 11. “Future presidents are obliged to prevent conflicts of interest and sign an ethics agreement. This is what illegal corruption looks like.”
Skepticism towards the bill, presented by Representatives Don Beyer (D-VA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA)persists. The upcoming GOP-controlled Congress is seemingly leaning toward Trump. Once back in office, Trump will give you the chance to issue security clearances to anyone he wants, no matter the FBI’s objections or whether the person faces legal charges. This latest situation involves two of Trump’s Cabinet picks – Matt Gaetz as attorney general and Pete Hegseth as defense secretary, each of whom have faced allegations of sexual misconduct.
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