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A Washington police officer who shot a black man with his hands in the air over a stop sign, then dragged his body and slammed it into the ground, remains on the force despite an $8 million payout to his family

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The city of Lakewood, Washington, has reached an agreement with the family of a 26-year-old black man who was shot thrice by an officer who claimed he was acting in self-defense.

He said Joquin died on May 1, 2020, after Officer Michael Wiley stopped him for running a stop sign. The $8 million settlement announced last week is coming to an end federal civil rights lawsuit Joquin’s parents filed a criticism against the officer, who claimed their son had lunged for a gun lying on the floor of his vehicle.

According to the lawsuit, Wiley approached Joquin’s automobile with a gun drawn and told him, “Shut up or you’ll get shot.” The lawsuit states that Joquin, as Wiley requested, had his hands up when he was shot. After the shooting, Wiley allegedly pulled Joquin out of the automobile and “threw him to the ground.”

The police killing of Said Joquin led to protests in Lakewood, Washington. (Photos: YouTube screenshot/KING 5 Seattle)

Wiley was involved in one other expensive suit v. Lakewood in 2017. He was one in every of three officers found by a jury answerable for the death of one other young black man, Leonard Thomas, for a record $15.1 million. A post-trial settlement was reached in exchange for $13 million and a promise not to appeal.

Thomas was holding his 4-year-old son when he was shot in the stomach by a Lakewood SWAT sniper. Wiley reportedly announced “Jackpot!” Testimony shows he spoke on the police radio after Thomas was shot and later praised his colleague for taking the “million-dollar f–king shot,” according to trial testimony. Thomas bled to death, begging cops not to take his boy.

Evidence from Thomas’ trial “revealed that Wiley was an exceptionally aggressive officer who had an insufficient understanding of the use of force, was willing to use weapons, explosives and unnecessary force, and who demonstrated a striking lack of concern for life,” Joquin filed the family’s lawsuit.

Wiley remains in service. Joquin’s lawsuit alleged that Lakewood police were “unreasonable and reckless” in continuing to employ him regardless that a jury in Thomas found that he had violated the victim’s civil rights.

A previous attempt to dismiss Joquin’s lawsuit was blocked by the US District Judge David Estudillo. Wiley, the judge wrote in his August order, had a “documented history of using force against people he helped detain.”

He said there was enough evidence for the jury to find that “Joquin did not engage in furtive or threatening behavior during the encounter.”

Dawn Kortner, Joquin’s mother, he said in a 2021 interview, she never believed Wiley’s account.

“I feel like it’s overkill,” Kortner said. “He took steps he shouldn’t have taken. I believe he was too aggressive and I would like him to be held accountable for what he did. He shouldn’t receive a pension and sit at home and enjoy his children when we will not enjoy Said.

Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office Attorney Mary Robnett declined to press charges against Wiley for Joquin’s death.

In a letter to Lakewood Police Chief Mike Zaro, Robnett cited Joquin’s “unpredictable and dangerous behavior” in running a stop sign in front of police on a busy road. She also concluded that bullet trajectory evidence showed that Joquin didn’t raise his hands when Wiley shot him.

Wiley was also cleared for internal examination.

In a statement, Lakewood officials said: “Any life cut short is a tragedy and we can only imagine the suffering and pain they experience. The decision to reach an agreement was made with the best outcome for all parties involved in mind.”

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

Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education spells doom for Black America

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Affirmative Action, Supreme Court, race-based admissions, black student enrollment, black college enrollment, theGrio.com

President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign promise to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education is being criticized as a possible whitewash of the American education system and a challenge to Title I and Title VI that would prevent funding for special education, school lunch programs, and the possible cancellation of summer schools.

Duncan fears “the whitewashing of our history” and adds: “We have to worry about defunding the most vulnerable groups in society. Title I Money for Poor Children – money for children with special needs or school lunches – anything that can be taken away.”

He continued: “Focus on after-school programs and summer schools may be taken away. Access to higher education – may be restricted.”

Duncan, also A Howard University’s board of trustees has expressed concern about HBCU funding during the second Trump administration. During Trump’s first term, his adviser Steve Bannon argued that committing to more funding for the institution after a White House meeting with Trump can be unconstitutional, justifying concerns that such conduct constitutes discrimination against other races and ethnic groups.

WASHINGTON – FEBRUARY 27: U.S. President Donald Trump poses with Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the Oval Office of the White House on February 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Aude Guerrucci-Pool/Getty Images)

HBCU supporters are concerned about whether or not they can be funded at the appropriate level. Historically, HBCUs have needed more funding, especially amid challenges from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling banning race-based admissions to predominantly white colleges, also often called affirmative motion. Applications to HBCUs are on the rise, causing schools to fret about housing capability, scholarships and sophistication sizes.

Former U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., said Trump’s education proposals are “appalling.”

Jones continued: “The Department of Education is also responsible for investigating anti-Semitism on college campuses, which Republicans say is important to them.”

He added: “But when the rubber meets the road, (Republicans) will quickly abandon it, undermining this important federal department.”

Howard University was ranked No. 1 among HBCUs on Forbes' list of America's Best Colleges

As President-elect Trump prepares to take the oath of office in roughly 70 days, IMD’s Global Competitiveness Center Competitiveness Report 2024 ranks American educational standing twelfth in the world.

Trump said he desires to “fire the radical left accreditors who have allowed our colleges and universities to be dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics.”

In recent years, some Republican governors have opposed the College Board’s accreditation of an AP African-American studies course that provided college credit.

Bumbaugh believes that anything that just isn’t directly related to federal funding is an area government issue for schools. However, he said, voters could have a say in that call because “it will likely be through school board elections and then through state-level elections, similar to governors, where the governor selects state education chiefs.”

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

North Carolina Plantation Descendants Won’t ‘Cower’ From ‘Disrespectful’ Massive Texts About Slavery After Donald Trump’s Election

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Outrage As Black College Students Nationwide Receive Racist Texts Telling Them to

Descendants of certainly one of North Carolina’s largest plantations have condemned mass text messages sent to Black Americans across the country informing them that they’ve been “selected to pick cotton” the day after Donald Trump was re-elected president.

Black people across the country were sent the identical message with slight differences, informing them that that they had been “selected to pick cotton on the nearest plantation.”

Dozens of text messages informed recipients that the “executive slaves” would arrive in a “brown van” that will transport them to the plantations after which inform the victims which “plantation group,” marked AZ, they belonged to.

Outrage as Black college students across country receive racist text messages telling them to 'be ready' to pick cotton after Donald Trump's inauguration
Left: A screenshot of text messages received by Black students after Donald Trump won his second presidential election on November 5, 2024. (Photos: X/@samiamonae1, Getty Images)

Beverly Evans said ABC11 that “people who received these messages felt disrespected, and all of us, as Black people, felt disrespected because of this.”

The 76-year-old recently learned that she is descended from a family that was once enslaved on the Stagville Plantation in Durham, North Carolina. According to Stagville’s websitethe plantation belonged to the Bennehan-Cameron family, which enslaved over 900 people across 30,000 acres of land within the state.

The North Carolina Department of Historic Sites reported that some people even received text messages mentioning the Stagville plantation:

“We have become aware that some North Carolinians have received alarming text messages regarding the Stagville State Historic Plantation Site. North Carolina Historic Sites condemns these acts that sought to incite fear and division by weaponizing history. Stagville is a sacred space where visitors can grapple with the history of slavery, emancipation and injustice. We will cooperate with law enforcement to investigate these hateful and fraudulent messages.”

Another person whose family was once enslaved on the Stagville plantation asserted that he wouldn’t be unnerved by messages designed to stoke fear and intimidation.

“We don’t hide anymore. We are no longer intimidated. Those days are over,” said Ricky Hart. “They can try the intimidation factor or the fear factor, but it won’t work anymore.”

The news sparked a social media firestorm and was condemned by many state and federal elected officials. Authorities strongly urged anyone who received the message to contact local FBI field offices and state agencies.

Federal agents opened an investigation and dispatched criminal, cyber and counterintelligence agencies to analyze the matter. It is unclear right now whether the lyrics come from the United States or abroad.

A spokesman for CTIA, the official trade association representing the U.S. wireless communications industry, he told NBC News blocked many messages and the numbers that sent them. The association urged people to send spam text messages to 7726 or “SPAM” to report them to their wireless service provider.

Divisive and hateful rhetoric has increased throughout the last presidential election cycle. Trump has been hailed by his opponents as a significant influencer of this rhetoric, raising concerns that race relations within the country will proceed to deteriorate once he returns to office.

The NAACP released an announcement stating that the messages “represent an alarming increase in vile and disgusting rhetoric from racist groups across the country who now feel emboldened to spread hate and fan the flames of fear many of us feel in the wake of Tuesday’s election results.”

Brian Hughes, a spokesman for the Trump campaign, condemned the text messages last week, stating: “If we can find the origin of these messages that promote this kind of ugliness on our behalf, we will of course take legal action to stop it.”

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

As an Afro-Latina, I struggle to understand why Latinos voted for Trump – essence

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Celeste Polanco

As we tried to discuss the election results, my mother’s hopeless voice welcomed my call. I heard my stepdad cheer, “Yay!” within the background. Unfortunately, he’s one among the numerous Latinos who supported Trump’s presidency. Anger surged through my body as I heard my father figure praising a person who could care less concerning the woman he “loved” probably the most – my mother. This is the truth for many Latinos who cannot understand why other Latinos would vote for Donald Trump.

54% Latinos voted for Trump, 18% greater than within the 2020 election. These are the identical men who got here from women. By electing a person who has made countless racist comments about our own culture, they’ve concurrently turned their backs on the ladies they got here here to vote for. As an Afro-Latina, seeing these results online and in my family is deeply disheartening and an enormous sign of disrespect.

In the Latino community, men are placed on a pedestal by the ladies within the household. These women cook, clean, raise children, work or stay at home for their careers, and more. Women carry Latinas on their backs just to be paid to accomplish that, with their rights to their bodies questioned. These usually are not only the bodies of their moms and wives, but additionally of their grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters. The results of this election are a transparent signal that the Latino pedestal has been held too high for too long. Trump-supporting Latinos bask within the election ends in the presence of the ladies they were supposed to protect.

Some of those men have a good time with 37% Latinas who voted for Trump are 7% greater than in 2020. These are the identical women who almost definitely won’t have the proper to end an unwanted pregnancy. This also concerns a more essential issue – these women placed on a pedestal a person who doesn’t respect them.

Donald Trump has been outspoken about women’s bodies and has even been accused of sexual assault, and yet women still select him. As Latinas, we’d like to stop supporting and making excuses for men who don’t select us in our home or country. This is our way of showing our daughters that it’s okay to accept disrespect. We also show them that there is no such thing as a “no” in politics.

Voting for Donald Trump is an act of violence against many groups, but especially against women. Healing is how I and plenty of others get through this time. I found peace in allowing my tears to flow and soften as I released my anger. By embracing the healing process, we as women can move forward.

Go for a walk, cry, shout, block, unfollow, end friendships and set boundaries. This is your healing process; there is no such thing as a right or unsuitable way to do it. Your emotions usually are not very high. They are on time. And despite what is occurring in our country, please remember: You and your body still matter.

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