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‘He Wanted Us Dead’: ‘The Exonerated Five’ Speak Out Against Trump During Democratic National Convention Performance – Essence

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PHOTO: CHIP SOMODEVILLA/GETTY IMAGES

Members of the “Central Park Five,” now often called the “Exonerated Five,” spoke on the Democratic National Convention on Thursday to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.

Yosef Salaam, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson and Antron McCray were wrongly convicted of rape and assault as teenagers in 1989. The case became a flashpoint within the racist atmosphere in New York on the time, fanned in no small part by Donald Trump, who took out full-page ads in several newspapers, including the NY Times, calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty for the boys, who were then between 14 and 16 years old, a move that every one but sealed their fate within the court of public opinion.

“Thirty-five years ago, my friends and I were in prison for a crime we didn’t commit. Our youth was stolen from us,” Wise said on stage. “Every day we walked into the courtroom, people were yelling at us, threatening us, because of Donald Trump.”

“Vice President Harris also worked to make things more fair. I know she will do the same as president,” Wise added. Years later, their convictions were overturned when one other man confessed to the crime and DNA evidence confirmed his guilt. But Trump has never apologized for his actions.

Salaam, now a New York City councilman, said: “45 wanted us to die. He wanted us to die,” he said. “He rejects the scientific evidence rather than admit he was wrong. He has never changed. And he never will.”

Salaam invoked the words of Martin Luther King Jr., the identical words he uttered after being released from seven years in prison: “Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.” He expressed hope that those words could possibly be echoed by thousands and thousands of Americans if Kamala Harris defeats Trump within the upcoming election.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, founding father of the National Action Network and a longtime civil rights leader, gave the boys a private reflection on his many years-long relationship with Trump. Sharpton, who has feuded with Trump for years, delivered a devastating critique of the previous president’s character and motivations.

“Only once in that time has he taken a stand on race,” Sharpton said, referring to Trump’s infamous ads. “He spent a small fortune on full-page ads calling for the execution of five innocent teenagers.”

Sharpton’s indictment of Trump didn’t end there. He underscored Trump’s ongoing pattern of self-enrichment and divisive rhetoric, referring to his refusal to apologize for claiming that migrants hold “black jobs” during a recent debate. “Well, in November, we’re going to show him when black people do their jobs. And we’re going to join white people, brown people, and Asian people in doing the work for those who did the work for us.”

As Sharpton turned his attention to Kamala Harris, he invoked the legacy of Shirley Chisholm, the primary black woman elected to Congress and the primary woman to hunt the Democratic presidential nomination. “Fifty-two years after she was told to sit down, I know she’s watching us tonight as a black woman stands to accept the nomination for president of the United States,” he said, his words a poignant reminder of how far the nation has come — and the way far it still has to go.

Sharpton’s message was clear: The fight for justice, equality and dignity continues, and it’s a fight that can not be abandoned. “We have fought too hard to have to leave the kitchen,” he said. “We are now heading to the Oval Office. We will not back down.”

His rallying cry went beyond gender. “We fought hard to get our LGBTQ loved ones out of the closet, and we will not back down,” he continued. “We fought hard for the right to choose, the right to an education. We suffered, we died, we bled, we went to jail for the right to vote, and we will not back down.”

This article was originally published on : www.essence.com
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Politics and Current

Distraught mother of 13-year-old Texas boy who died on gymnasium floor – questions why school didn’t immediately get him help when he had trouble breathing

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A grieving family is questioning the actions of administrators at a Texas middle school where their son died after falling during basketball practice.

According to KTRKXavier Thompson died at Thornton Middle School in Katy on November 15. His mother said he suffered an asthma attack that day, and immediately after her son’s fall, they immediately received calls from concerned teammates.

“I had to call a panicked student who kept asking me what to do,” said 13-year-old Xavier’s mother, Brittany Thompson. “It saddens me that no one called 911 when they saw my baby was having trouble breathing.”

According to his family, 13-year-old Xavier Thompson died at Thornton Middle School in Katy, Texas, after an asthma attack. His parents said the school called them immediately, but not 911. (Photos: KTRK screenshot, Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District)

Xavier coaches also quickly contacted Thompson and her husband, and the couple insisted that they call emergency services to the school. The family also noticed that there was a hearth station right round the corner.

When Xavier’s father arrived at school, his son was not breathing. Family members claim that he was the one who resuscitated their son, however the actions taken didn’t bring him back to life.

Xavier’s mother said that just the day before his asthma attack, her son was dancing within the lounge, thrilled to make the school’s basketball team. The next day he died.

“I don’t understand,” said the Thompsons’ lawyer, George Powell. “Without medical personnel present, calling parents will not help anyone who has been injured or has some form of respiratory distress.”

The family told KTRK that Xavier had suffered from asthma his entire life, but his condition was well controlled. They established an motion plan regarding his condition with the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District. The middle school also had two inhalers reserved for the teenager in case he needed medication.

“They have medical exams, we have medical insurance on file and they have all their emergency contacts,” Thompson said. “What’s the point if kids have to name it and say, ‘What do we do?’”

Thornton Middle School officials sent a letter to oldsters of all students notifying them of Xavier’s death and offering students counseling.

“I just want my son back. I’d give my life for him in a heartbeat. I’d go and breathe for him if I could,” Xavier’s mother said with tears in her eyes.

Xavier’s family said an autopsy was performed to find out the precise cause of death and is currently awaiting the outcomes.

A district spokesperson told KHOU 11 that Xavier’s death was asthma-related and there was no information on the medical treatment he received.

Another Houston-area family also experienced the same tragedy to the Thompsons three months ago when a student died at the center school.

Landon Payton collapsed and lost consciousness Aug. 14 at Marshall Middle School. Unlike young Xavier, the 14-12 months-old didn’t suffer from any breathing problems and was in good health, in response to his father, Alexis Payton.

Payton raised questions concerning the school’s response to Landon’s fall within the school gym after learning that the school nurse didn’t know how one can perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation or use the school’s automated external defibrillator (AED), a tool that emits an electrical shock to revive normal function. heart rhythm when someone suffers sudden cardiac arrest.

Two teachers’ unions later said the school’s defibrillator was defective or outdated.

A Southern California family can be questioning the moments surrounding the death of their 12-12 months-old son at middle school last 12 months. Yahshua Robinson collapsed during gymnastics practice at Canyon Lake Middle School during a heat wave when temperatures reached 107 degrees. Robinson’s parents learned that a teacher had told him to run away as punishment for wearing inappropriate clothes to class. His family says he collapsed at school and died of cardiac arrest.

This article was originally published on : atlantablackstar.com
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We need to have an uncomfortable conversation about America

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2024 elections, theGrio.com

We need to talk about cockroaches.

According to renowned entomologist Karlous Miller and John Whitfield Jr. (known for his groundbreaking research on a young fly): everyone has them. Although the mosquitoes could have killed more people throughout history than all of the wars, open borders, and Black Lives Matter protests combined, people they’re biological programmed to hate cockroaches greater than every other insect. Housefly it’s much dirtierbut cockroaches symbolize uncleanliness and misery. For many, a single dead cockroach on the lounge floor is more embarrassing than a fly within the kitchen, a mosquito in your skin, or a dead body within the basement.

Not I.

It’s not that I’m just not ashamed of them. I understand that there may be nothing I can do to erase the bulk those that survived prospered from the surface of the planet. The only thing I can do is solve the issue and forestall it from getting worse. Nobody really eliminates cockroaches, you only have to fight them every single day. But apparently there’s just one thing more embarrassing than being a cockroach hunter:

Being a part of a monoracial coalition.

According to experts, political analysts and folks who just say things, the 2024 election was a results of many aspects. For some, Trump’s genius was a matter of religion – proof of what can’t be seen. Wind bags stuffed with political opposites Joe Scarborough AND James Carville blamed Kamala Harris’ loss on the “woke era.” Others blamed the Democrats’ defeat on the party’s inability to attract white women, Latinos switching sides and the party’s lack of messaging. These may sound like different political theories, but they’re all based on the identical unspoken hypothesis. It is an unkillable pest that crawls out of its hiding place every election season. Even essentially the most progressive, outspoken experts are reluctant to address this. This shouldn’t be a theory. It is a fact hiding within the deepest, darkest recesses of each post-election postmortem. But in some way it’s

White can’t be defeated…

The unspoken concept of an invincible coalition of white voters is the breeding ground from which all political opinions are hatched. Experts not only base their analyzes on the existence of this hidden nest of Caucasian voters, but assume its inevitability… Progressive candidates will lose. A black woman cannot turn into president… it doesn’t deal with race… it doesn’t admit that trans people exist. It’s as if white persons are biologically programmed to vote against everyone else. And apparently the one way to defeat the good white cockroach of electoral politics is to pool our voting power through Black, indigenous, people of color washing their feet, eating spicy food, and playing tambourines in church, just like the BIPOCLGBTQIAvengers trying to stop white supremacist Thanos from straight finger snaps.

The tacit acceptance of white invincibility is the rationale and reason for the existence of the phrase “multi-racial coalition.” race is a greater predictor of electoral politics than sex, education and even religion. That’s why the information showing that Spanish male voters support Trump is even noteworthy. White invincibility explains why 53% white women I voted for a white woman opponent in 2016 and why 19% black men vote for white supremacist in 2020.

But what in the event that they’re fallacious?

What should you discover about it? most white women he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 and never got anywhere near that result 20% of the vote by Black men? What if Latinos hadn’t moved toward Trump? What if black voters didn’t stay home? What if that is all exit polls as fallacious as ever?What if there have been no “unless”? What if sometimes in some elections you only cannot beat white people?

Does this make you are feeling uncomfortable?

When 8 out of 10 white Georgians crawled out of their hiding places to vote, Trump’s victory was inevitable. The rappers who showed up to twerk at Harris rallies didn’t matter. The pantomime guy on the Trump microphone was irrelevant. The discussion about black male voters has turn into moot. More again. Harris has greater than Biden. But even when every non-white voter in Georgia voted for Kamala Harris, she would still lose the state.

Harris winning Georgia was mathematically inconceivable.

There are no “Black jobs” in the Trump administration, despite the cadre of Black Republicans who canvassed for him

Another example comes from the much-discussed Berks County, Pennsylvania. Everyone was shocked once they came upon about it Trump won essentially the most Latino county within the state of Pennsylvania. However, when comparing the outcomes from 2024 counting votes in individual districts down 2020 election results and the US Census shows that Harris’ campaign won more votes than Biden in each of them majority-Hispanic census tract tract within the district. Harris lost because Trump simply accrued votes and increased turnout within the whitest areas and throughout the county 74% white.

Because few states release this sort of data, we cannot have a more complete picture of what happened across the country until we see more accurate data from studies like Verified Pew Voters or A study of cooperative elections. But explaining the 2024 election is awkward. The point is that 2020 was an anomaly. It is kind of possible that the person who won second essentially the most votes within the history of American presidential politics can only be surpassed by a nationwide pandemic that gave voters unfettered access to the ballot. It may simply be that they desire a lying, corrupt white supremacist as their leader, and there may be nothing the democracy can do to stop it.

As uncomfortable as it might be to admit, possibly that is what America wants and democracy has actually won. Maybe white supremacy is like cockroaches. It’s actually inconceivable to do away with it…

You have to fight it every single day.


This article was originally published on : thegrio.com
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Politics and Current

Trump chooses first black cabinet member, not Byron Donalds

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Byron Donalds, Trump, Scott Turner


President-elect Donald Trump has chosen the first African-American cabinet member. Scott Turner, shall be SSecretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

Trump announced Turner’s placement in a press release. Highlights Turner’s past achievements. The future HUD secretary is an NFL veteran who also supported Trump during his first term. The former House Representative from Texas served because the first executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council (WHORC).

The release said Turner: “Put an unprecedented effort that has transformed our nation’s most vulnerable communities. These efforts, undertaken in collaboration with former HUD Secretary Ben Carson, were maximized by Scott’s guidance in overseeing 16 federal agencies that implemented greater than 200 policy actions to support economic development.

Turner thanked President-elect Trump and his mentor Ben Carson in X’s post.

The nomination seems to come back at the fitting time. Many media outlets and social media users are questioning the shortage of Black representation in the subsequent administration’s cabinet. Especially since many black surrogates sided with Trump through the presidential campaign.

Trump’s most significant vocal deputy was Florida Congressman Byron Donalds. CNN’s Laura Coates spoke with Donalds and asked if Trump had really useful him for a cabinet position. Donalds denied feeling disrespected and continued to support the GOP’s election. The Congressman believes that achievement trumps diversity. He argues that the Biden administration has sacrificed progress for diversity, despite the fact that it has many victories on economic and social policy.

“The election of Donald Trump is approaching bringing competence and reality back to DC. within the White House, ensuring that the work gets done on behalf of the American people, no matter race, no matter religion or creed,” he said.

Turner’s nomination could decelerate the conversation concerning the lack of Black people entering the White House. The conversation is interesting since the Republican Party is not known for supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in any workplace. Attacks on DEI in Republican legislatures across the state may lead one to imagine that diversifying current mandates is the ultimate piece of a really broad conservative agenda.


This article was originally published on : www.blackenterprise.com
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