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White Michigan couple abandons adopted black son at boarding school known for student abuse, sparking public outrage

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A Michigan couple has been accused of sending their adopted child to a boarding school in Jamaica that was closed amid allegations of kid abuse, then abandoning the teenager in another country for months.

Thanks to the work of kid advocates, 17-year-old Elijah Goldman was safely returned to the United States after what he says was months in Jamaica, abandoned there by his adoptive parents, Mark and Spring Goldman.

The Goldmans, a wealthy and conservative white Christian couple, adopted Elijah and his younger sister from Haiti in 2017 when he was 11, in response to the Detroit Free Press. The children lived with the Goldmans and their two biological children in a $1.7 million lakefront home in Traverse City, Michigan.

Elijah Goldman, 17, (center) was abandoned by his adoptive parents. (Photo: YouTube/Carthy Zone)

Elijah described his first years with the Goldmans as vivid, describing a nurturing and family-like experience of life during which he felt loved and welcomed. At school, he made friends and was on the track team.

“At first, my family loved me and helped me learn English and reading,” Elijah said. wrote to the Free Press. “Then I became a teenager.”

Elijah wrote that his rebellious behavior growing up caused intense family conflicts. He repeatedly bought personal cell phones without permission and uploaded pornographic images to the devices, which were eventually found by his parents. Elijah said he ran away after an argument together with his mother escalated right into a fight together with his father, during which he was beaten.

Two weeks later, the Goldmans sent Elijah to a special school for troubled boys. He attended three different boarding schools over the subsequent few years until the Goldmans finally sent him to the American Atlantis Leadership Academy in Jamaica in September 2023.

Six months later, in March 2024, the academy was forced to shut its doors after horrific allegations emerged that children at the school were beaten, waterboarded, starved and whipped. Four staff members were charged with child abuse.

Elijah said he was one in all several students who suffered horrific abuse from school staff. He said he was slashed with a razor and beaten within the back with a hammer. Other boys were stripped naked and brutally beaten, had salt rubbed into their wounds and were forced to participate in club fights for the entertainment of school staff and native police.

A month before the school was finally closed, authorities removed Elijah and 6 other American boys from the academy and placed them in Jamaican care.

The Goldmans never traveled to Jamaica to choose up their son, nor did they make arrangements for him to travel back to the U.S. They also never attended any court hearings regarding the school’s abuse allegations. Instead, Elijah was forced to live in Jamaican group homes for seven months and face those lawsuits alone.

“I appreciate them bringing me to the U.S., but they abandoned me,” Elijah told the Free Press. “They didn’t want me in their home. … And they didn’t believe me about the whole court thing … that they were abusing us. I’m strong, but it hurts.”

The school’s closure drew international attention, and youngsters’s rights activists learned of Elijah’s case, including celebrity and hotel heiress Paris Hilton, who can also be a victim of institutional child abuse. Hilton wrote to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in May advocating for Elijah’s return to the U.S.

In the spring, Elijah also received a visit from a kid’s rights attorney who helped him arrange his return to the States.

After a 12 months of harrowing experiences abroad, the 17-year-old returned to America on September 3.

He was placed on a plane to Miami, Florida, where he met with youth rights advocates, lawyers and an American diplomat from Jamaica, but not his parents, and was left alone to navigate the pains of complicated child custody proceedings.

Although Elijah desired to return to Michigan, state authorities said that they had no legal basis to accommodate him overnight. The teen spent one night within the care of Florida Child Protective Services after which was placed on a plane to Michigan, where he met CPS staff and his adopted father, who planned to send the teenager to Utah, where he knew nobody.

Elijah rejected the plan, and his lawyers successfully placed him within the custody of Michigan Child Protective Services. According to the teenager’s lawyers, the Goldmans don’t want Elijah living with them again.

The couple must now file a proper grievance with the Family Court, with Elijah’s lawyers pursuing child abandonment claims.

As news of Elijah’s shocking story spread across the web, many wondered why the family was still allowed to maintain his younger sister and whether charges were to be expected.

“So if they are his parents (legally adopted), why haven’t they been arrested for child endangerment, abandonment, and abuse? And why do they still have his sister? Is it possible they’re in it for protection and money?” wrote an Instagram commenter.

A Traverse City woman identified by the Free Press as “Teri” has develop into Elijah’s foster mother as the teenager prepares for a sophisticated legal battle. The Goldmans didn’t object to the teenager’s latest living arrangements.

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

Here’s why you should vote for Kamala Harris

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Kamala Harris, theGrio.com

As Vice President Kamala Harris explained in a Tuesday speech outside the White House attended by tens of 1000’s of supporters, including me, the private stakes for each of us within the 2024 election are extremely high.

We all have lots to realize by electing Harris as president. If former President Donald Trump wins, we have now all the pieces to lose. This is particularly true for black people.

What’s at stake?

Preserving our democracy and freedom. Maintaining prices of food and other goods. Protection of reproductive and voting rights. Increasing educational opportunities and residential ownership. Increasing the affordability of healthcare. On these and other issues, Harris would make our lives higher while Trump made them worse.

When it involves Black people specifically, Harris — who, if elected, would develop into our second Black and first female president — understands from first-hand experience the devastating impact that systemic racism has on us. He desires to open the door to the American dream for everyone.

Harris he promised to not raise taxes on people making lower than $400,000 a yr. But it could require the rich and enormous corporations to pay their fair proportion of taxes to fund programs that profit thousands and thousands of us, creating a chance economy that may enable people not only to survive, but to progress.

Lifestyle

Trump advocates policies that may make life worse not only for Black Americans, but for most Americans. He would do it cut taxes on corporations and millionaires and billionaires like him, forcing cuts to programs that profit thousands and thousands of Americans and increasing the national debt. His other proposed tax cuts would depart the Social Security trust fund without enough money to pay full advantages to seniors and others, forcing a 33% reduction in advantages. in 2031

Harris would do it maintain the inflation rate by eliminating food price gouging, protecting our trade relationships with other countries, and taking other actions. It would lower taxes for the overwhelming majority of Americans.

Harris said she would sign the bipartisan compromise laws fix our broken immigration system, improve border security and create a path to citizenship for some immigrants. Trump ordered GOP lawmakers to reject bipartisan laws because he wanted to make use of illegal immigration as a campaign issue quite than solve the issue. They listened.

Harris said she would work with Congress to pass the laws protection of reproductive rights nationwide. But Trump boasts that he appointed three Supreme Court justices who joined conservatives already on the court to overturn a 1973 decision that legalized abortion nationwide. And now, 25 million women live under Trump’s abortion bans and restrictions.

The vp does proposed policies Down maintain the kid AND health care cheaper, including increased tax relief for parents of minor children. Trump has senselessly said his tariffs would make childcare cheaper and he claims “plan concepts” replace the Affordable Care Act, also often called Obamacare.

Harris pledged to guard and develop voting rights. Trump desires to make it harder to vote by imposing latest restrictions. If he lost, he didn’t agree to simply accept the election results.

The vp would do it take motion spurring the development of three million latest homes and apartments and would give first-time homebuyers a $25,000 tax credit to assist them with their down payments. It would create a $40 billion fund to assist local governments construct reasonably priced housing. claims Trump deportation of thousands and thousands of illegal immigrants will release their homes for latest tenants, but economists disagree that this may solve the reasonably priced housing shortage because as many as a 3rd of employees constructing reasonably priced homes are illegal immigrants. Without their work, there will likely be no latest homes.

Harris wants to cut back a part of the $1.6 trillion in federal student debt owed by greater than 40 million Americans. Trump doesn’t. Harris wants to extend aid for K-12 education. Trump he said desires to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, which provides much of this aid.

Harris would help Americans start small businesses increasing the deduction for startup expenses from the present $5,000 to $50,000. Trump is concentrated on helping large corporations.

Harris wants to guard us from getting worse hurricanes, tornadoes AND droughts attributable to climate change, which is accelerating attributable to fossil fuel emissions. She wants reduce fossil fuel emissions and increase clean energy production. Trump wants to extend fossil fuel emissions by increasing production of oil, natural gas and coal.

Black Americans, like everyone else, want an America that’s fair and equitable and provides us all a likelihood to succeed. Harris will give this to all Americans because he cares about us and loves our country. Donald Trump won’t do this because he only cares about himself, making as much money as possible, staying out of jail, and arming the federal government to punish anyone who dares to criticize him.

For all these reasons, we want Kamala Harris to be our next president. She desires to spend the subsequent 4 years working to enhance our lives, but she will only do this if we take a short while to vote to place her within the Oval Office and make her our chief public servant.


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

Sexy Red endorses Kamala Harris, leaving Trump in the dust

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Sexyy Red announced that she voted for Kamala Harris, switching her support to the Democratic candidate after previously supporting Donald Trump.

The “Pound Town” rapper went to X to share her latest political sentiments. She revealed that she voted for Harris, claiming that nobody should tell her and others what to do with their “coochies”.

“I’m just voting,” Sexy Red exclaimed. “Don’t tell us what to do with our pussies!! #Kamala4President.”

This differs from Red’s previous thoughts on who should lead the country. Promoting false claims about how Trump provided stimulus checks to Americans during the Covid-19 pandemic, she initially endorsed the GOP candidate for re-election.

Her original endorsement of the conservative and controversial politician sparked a backlash. Many said she was spreading misinformation to voters about “free money.”

“They support him in the hood. At first, I do not think people would fuck with him. They thought he was racist and talking nonsense about women. But when he began getting black people out of jail and giving people free money. Oh baby, we love Trump. We need him back in office,” she added he said further 2023 episode of Theo Von’s podcast, reproduced by The Independent.

However, a resident of St. Louis clearly modified his mind. With the abortion ban remaining a significant issue, the sex-positive artist decided to forged her vote for Harris.

Before this latest admission, Red used Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogans and imagery during her “Sexy Red 4 President” tour. Headlining July’s Governor’s Ball music festival, the hip-hop singer sported a big inflatable MAGA hat in the background while acting on the New York Stage.

However, Red quickly stated that she isn’t endorsing anyone but herself this election season. Additionally, she denied rumors that she would seem at any Trump rallies.

“This is the President of Sexy Red 4.” I’m my very own candidate and I don’t support anyone, period,” she once stated.

Trump has yet to comment on Sexy Red’s switch. Still, it would not be unusual for him.


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

‘Keep Calm-ala’: Kamala Harris Makes a Surprise Appearance on ‘SNL’ alongside Maya Rudolph Ahead of Election Day – Essence

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Photo: Jeenah Moon/Getty Images

Vice President Kamala Harris surprisingly joined Saturday Night Live on November 2, just three days before the 2024 presidential election, for a hilarious appearance alongside co-star Maya Rudolph, who plays her throughout the season.

The evening kicked off with a series of incarnations featuring James Austin Johnson as Donald Trump, Dana Carvey as President Biden and Andy Samberg as Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. But the true spark got here when Maya, as Harris, stopped for a moment in front of the mirror and asked loudly for some sensible advice.

“I would like to talk to someone who was in my position… a black South Asian woman running for president, preferably from the Bay Area,” Rudolph said.

Kamala Harris herself enters the stage, wearing a matching suit and greeted with thunderous applause from the audience. Sitting across from her SNL doppelgänger, Harris smiled and said, “It’s both you and me, sister. Nice to see you, Kamala. I’m here to remind you: you got this. Because you can do something your opponent can’t do. You can open the door.”

The line made a cheeky reference to Donald Trump’s recent fight with a garbage truck door, and the audience laughed as Harris giggled throughout the sketch and Rudolph imitated the vp. – I’m really not laughing like that, am I? he asked Harris. “A little,” Rudolph replied, adding a dramatic touch.

The two Kamalas then argued over Harris’ name, as did her opponent, Trump has repeatedly mispronounced.

“Kamala, take my palm,” Rudolph said, grabbing Harris’ hand. “Americans wish to stop the chaos and end the drama-ala by having a cool recent stepmother. Sit back in your pajamas and watch a romantic comedy.

Harris suggested including “Legally Blonde-ala.”

“Because what do we always say?” Harris said. Then she and Rudolf said in unison, “Keep calm and don’t be fooled.”

Together they chanted, “Keep Calm-ala and Carry On-ala,” after which finished their sentence: “We know each other so well that we’re ending even… faith in the promise of America.”

They ended it with a call for votes. “I will vote for us,” Rudolph said, and Harris jokingly replied, “Great! Any chance you are registered in Pennsylvania? Wasting no time, Rudolph replied, “No, I’m not.” Harris shrugged. “Well, it was worth a try!”

The duo then delivered the classic SNL farewell gesture: “Live from New York, it’s Saturday night!”

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