Politics and Current
OP-ED: DC just passed a draconian crime bill, showing that black faces in positions of power are not enough

WASHINGTON – FEBRUARY 01: Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser speaks on stage during Black History Month observance through the Welcome Black kickoff event on the Carlyle Room on February 1, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo: Brian Stukes/Getty Images)
Thirty years ago, Congress, under the leadership of now President after which Senator Joe Biden, passed the 1994 crime bill – a bill that became infamous for his disastrous role in the mass incarceration of many Black people.
Today that is the law widely criticized amongst progressives and Black people as an obvious indicator of anti-Blackness Hillary ClintonJoe Biden and each politician considered to support this bill as well heavily criticized. Not enough to maintain them out of the White House (in Joe Biden’s case), but strong nonetheless.
Despite this criticism – and despite making a great show of A Black Lives Matter mural in the sphere and changing the name of the square in the face of the George Floyd protests – Washington city council passed the criminal law This would give the police unfettered power in the town. This includes, but is not limited to:
- have the power to designate any neighborhood as a high-risk area, and once they accomplish that, they’ll stop, search or arrest anyone walking with up to at least one other person
- the suitable to arrest any person wearing any face covering on the police’s sole discretion;
- the suitable to require any person traveling on the subway to discover themselves to the police without lawful reason, regardless of whether the police identified themselves or not;
- the suitable to legally kill suspects during automotive chases;
- the power to review body camera footage before writing a statement; AND
- making weapons a crime – it will develop into a separate crime the moment the weapon touches the bottom.
It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how deadly the results of this latest law could be in a country where police have repeatedly killed black individuals with the justification that they thought the black person was armed, legally or not. . Imagine that a law that makes it a crime discourages you from putting your gun down, when keeping a gun in your person could easily be a death sentence from the police.
This laws initially blew me away. Not only is that this why – despite the general public condemnation that followed the 1994 Crime Bill – they determine to introduce one of essentially the most openly draconian, dangerous, excessive and possibly unconstitutional expansions of police powers that will certainly be implemented on a racist basis, but precisely because she was introduced by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser – a black woman.
But then I began pondering seriously concerning the 1994 crime bill and realized that the racist legacy of the law’s effects often overshadows the grim reality that we must seriously reckon with: the bill was supported by many black leaders.
With that in mind, as an alternative of viewing Mayor Bowser in isolation, I see her amongst other Black politicians across the United States pursuing troubling policies. They have exploited their blackness – or, more specifically, the black community’s receptivity to supporting black candidates who present themselves as avatars of black excellence, black success/wealth, and black respectability. However, our community often fails to critically examine how clinging to those myths harms other Black individuals who do not or cannot model themselves after these myths.
While people rejoice Atlanta as a sort of Black mecca, its politicians routinely ignore and over-criminalize Atlanta residents living in poverty, often using RICO charges against them to create the impression of a Black mecca for a few wealthy Black people.
Moreover, they provide their blackness as a shield for white individuals who do not wish to be called racists. White voters can thus elect Blacks who promise to police Blacks more rigorously, thus strengthening the racist system without being called racists. If you remember the movie where a white father met his daughter’s black boyfriend, played by Daniel Kaluuya, to speak that he would “vote for Obama for a third term.”
This shield may explain why so many white and black people support and defend District Attorney Fani Willis – the lady famous for bringing RICO charges against Donald Trump, while people conveniently forget that she often abuses RICO charges against Black people.
Willis is identical woman who desired to bring RICO charges against Atlanta public school teachers, refused to prosecute the officer who killed Rayshard Brooksand – although Georgia’s attorney general has filed RICO charges to indict activists protesting the development of a massive police training facility called Cop City – she has not yet brought charges police who shot one of the activists.
This is the curse of representation for its own sake. The fundamental problem is the idea that diversifying racist institutions will change those institutions, when in fact diverse members are required to punish their very own more harshly in order to prove their price and purpose to the institutions they serve.
When you think about the necessities of the cohort to which Mayor Bowser belongs, it becomes easier to discover other members. New York Mayor Eric Adams, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker, and Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens come to mind.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams is a black man, but he can also be a former NYPD officer who seems to discover more with the latter than the previous. Despite a campaign that aired ads targeting the Black community depicting his childhood experiences with police brutality and his desire to develop into a police officer to fight it, Adams is not only liable for restoring stop and friskbut for doing it worse than even in the Bloomberg era, when it was ruled unconstitutional in 2011 because of racist use by New York police against blacks and Latinos.
Since Adams took power, the New York Police Department has detained tens of 1000’s of people 97 percent of people detained are black or Latino. Worse still, Adams not only oversaw the NYPD’s use of stop and search warrants, but he in particular revived and renamed the NYPD unit which was disbanded on account of the disproportionate number of police shootings in 2020 to perform arrests. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg for Adams.
Meanwhile, just down the road in Philadelphia, Mayor Parker is busy hiring tons of of recent cops, ban and criminalization of ski masksAND also promising to implement the Stop and Frisk function.
And all of this still pales in comparison to Atlanta Mayor Dickens presiding over one of the blackest cities in the country and responding to the demands of those black voters protests against the police brutality they face, which killed 27-year-old Rayshard Brooks in 2020 spending $90 million for Cop City– which might cut down acres of forest needed to guard Atlantis from flooding and overheating so cops could learn war tactics to police black voters.
While people rejoice Atlanta as its own Black meccaits politicians routinely ignore i over-criminalize Atlanteans who live in povertyoften arming the RICO charges against themso that they’ll create the looks of a Black mecca for a few wealthy Black individuals who can model themselves on the parable of Black perfection and, by supporting the police state, show that they keep other Black people in line.
It is time for Black people to query Black leadership and reject the concept that it’s enough to have any Black person on the table so long as they give the impression of being the part, or to repeat the myths of Black excellence and respect that harm most of us in practice.
It’s time to ask ourselves which Black people we put on the table, since the plethora of anti-Black laws supported by Black politicians across the country indicate that now we have many individuals representing us, but only a few serving us.
Politics and Current
Maryland Governor Wes Moore signs 170 bills to the right

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore It takes the state to latest heights After signing 170 bills in state law, it informs CBS News Baltimore.
Bills, signed on May 13, relate to various topics, from the range of abortion to reckless driving.
The subsidy program for public health abortion (HB 930) concerns the financing of reproductive healthcare, establishing a fund coping with improving access to abortion take care of the inhabitants of Maryland, specializing in people without advanced financial resources.
The first black state governor also signed the Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act (HB 506), which is targeted on ways to improve popular water so as to increase economic growth in the region.
After the Chesapeake Bay Foundation announced concern about Trump’s administration plans for exceeding budget cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa), Moore signed provisions that can support farmers in the development of more efficient methods of agriculture as well as to improving oyster aquaculture.
Senate Bill 590, Sergeant Patrick KEPP, corrects the regulations regarding Maryland motorized vehicles to strengthen penalties for a reckless and aggressive driving. Named in honor of a police officer of Montgomery, who was paralyzed from impact by a reckless driver, the Act adapts the system of status of the driver’s points, increasing to two points for neglected driving of the vehicle and 6 points for the transition by 30 km / h or greater than limiting speed.
According to the latest law, aggressive driving might be marked as behaviors, comparable to not compliance with traffic control devices, a dangerous passage and never being lifted by pedestrians.
The state account 901 is directed to the environment by increasing the recycling speed, reduced waste and emphasize the use of a sustainable packaging. Manufacturers will now be obliged to submit a five -year plan by July 2028, which identifies the recycling and recycling content goals.
Other bills are intended for such issues as real estate, public security, medical debt and wild nature.
Viewers consider that signing bills increases the light of Moore’s headlights in the Democratic Party as a possible presidential candidate in 2028.
The democratic strategist of Jon Reinish called Moore “one of the most fresh faces of the party, the most dynamic leaders”, but according to Moore, whose name He was once mentioned As a possible colleague from the former vice chairman of Kamali Harris on a democratic ticket in 2024, he told co -hosts ABC that there have been no plans to search for an oval office.
“I’m not running,” said Moore. “I am now very excited about work that is now happening in the state of Maryland.”
However, some democratic analysts feel movements that he does in another way.
“He does not do much to discourage this speculation at 2028 … his schedule was contrary to his message,” said the democratic strategist with Maryland Len Foxwell.
Moore recently provided the start address of the Lincoln University, HBCU in Pennsylvania, in addition to the major address of democracy at the Brennan Center Awards in New York.
Reinish said people should give attention to Moore.
“It happens in well-known television programs. It goes to the early states,” said Reinish. “I think that most people at this stage would be a cursory denial. But again look at what they do, not what they say.”
(Tagstranslat) gov. There was moore
Politics and Current
FEMA limits emergency training before the hurricane season
In the Hurricane season for lower than two weeks, the Federal US FEMA FEMA disaster limited training for state and native rescue managers.
Sources acquainted with this case informed Reuters that a reduction or Cutting training can leave communities vulnerable to a storm less prepared to handle the consequences of hurricanes.
The forecasts predict the intensive season of hurricanes in 2025 and claim that the forecasts already indicate the amazing similarities to the destructive season 2024. One of the key indicators of this 12 months’s forecast are warm waters in the Persian Gulf and the Caribbean, which drive the development of the storm.
reports that AccuWeather provides 13-18 named storms in 2025.including seven to 10 hurricanes, three to five fundamental hurricanes and three to six direct effects on the United States.
Another disturbing AccuWeather forecast is that the season is to start out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out out quickly. Forecasts predict that the season, which could start on June 1, will then have a stake, after which pickup from September to November, like last 12 months’s pattern.
“Don’t get my way,” warns the acting director of FEMA
FEM’s decision to limit training couldn’t is vulnerable to be present in a worse time.
Season 2024 was one amongst the costliest record -breaking. AccuWeather estimates it Storms in 2024 caused about $ 500 billion in total compensation and economic losses.
President Donald Trump was recently released by the head of FEM, Cameron Hamilton, the day after Hamilton told the legislators that the agency must be preserved. His sentiments appear amongst unprecedented dismissals in federal agencies, because the administration prioritizes the federal workforce.
Hamilton’s successor, David Richardson, reportedly told FEMA employees that he would “escape”, every staff against his implementation of Trump’s vision for a smaller agency. On the phone, tHee Associated Press reportsHe warned that 20% of the employees he estimated may resist the changes.
“Don’t bother me if you are 20% of people,” said Richardson, in accordance with AP. “I know all the tricks. I am just as inclined to achieve the President’s intention as I made sure that I performed my duties when I took maritime infantry to Iraq.”
(Tagstranslate) fema
Politics and Current
People are gathering to protest to arrest the mayor of Barak from Newark by ICE
The mayor of Newark Ras Barak was arrested on Friday Federal Immigration Center Where he protested this week, said the federal prosecutor.
Alina Habba, a transient USA lawyer in New Jersey, said on the Social Platform X that Baraka committed Trespass and ignored the warnings from internal security staff to leave Delaney Hall, a detention facility run by a non-public prison operator Geo Group.
Habba said that Barak “decided to ignore the law” and added that he was arrested.
Barak, a democrat who applied for the success of the governor limited by Phil Murphy, accepted the fight with the Trump’s administration for illegal immigration.
He aggressively pushed himself against the construction and opening of a 1000-person jail, arguing that it mustn’t be opened due to problems with constructing permits.
Witnesses said that the arrest occurred after the barrack tried to join three members of the Congress delegation in New Jersey, representatives of Robert Menendez, Lamonica Mciver and Bonnie Watson Coleman, trying to enter the object.
When federal officials blocked his entry, according to Viri Martinez a hot argument broke out, an activist from New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice. It lasted even after Barak returned to the public side of the gates.
“There was screaming and pushing,” said Martinez. “Then the officers roiled the barrack. They threw one of the organizers to the ground. They put the barrack into the shackles and put it in an unmarked car.”
In a press release, the Internal Security Department said that the legislators didn’t ask to visit the facility. The department further said that as a bus transporting detainees: “A group of protesters, including two members of the US representatives, attacked the gate and broke into security.”
Internal security didn’t answer the questions why only the mayor was arrested.
Watson Coleman spokesman, Ned Cooper, said Lamakers went to the object early in the afternoon, because their plan was to check it and never go on a planned trip.
“They came, explained to the guards and officials in the facility that they were there to perform their supervision authorities,” he said, adding that they were allowed to enter and check the center between 15.00 and 16.00
DHS, in his statement issued after the arrest of the barracks, said that Menendez, Watson Coleman and much of protesters were now “trapped in a guard’s cabinet” in the facility.
“Congress members are not above the law and cannot break into the custody’s branches illegally. If these members asked for a trip, we would make a trip easier,” said McLaughlin.
Watson Coleman, who left and was at the Investigation Department on internal security, wherein the barrack was reportedly taken, said that the DHS statement inaccurately characterised the visit.
“In contrast to the press statement issued by DHS, we did not” storm “the custody,” she wrote. “The author of this press message was so unknown with facts on the basis that they would not even count the number of current representatives. We performed our function of legal supervision, just like in the center of Elizabeth’s arrest without incidents.”
On a video from a quarrel made available from The Associated Press, a federal clerk in a jacket with an internal security logo, possibilities are you most definitely can hear that he cannot join a tour of the facility because “you are not a member of the Congress.”
Then the barrack left the protected area, joining the protesters on the public side of the gate. The film showed that he speaks through the gate to an individual in a suit who said: “They talk about returning to arrest you.”
“I’m not on their property. They can’t go out into the street and arrest me,” answered Barak.

Just a number of minutes later a pair of ice agents, some wear facial covers, surrounded him and others on the public side. When the protesters cried, “shame”, the barrack was dragged back through the handcuffs safety gate.
“Ice staff came out aggressively to arrest and catch him,” said Julie Moreno, the captain of the state at New Jersey State of American Families United. “It didn’t make sense why they chose this moment to catch him when he was out of the gate.”
E -mail and telephone with the mayor’s communication office weren’t immediately received on Friday afternoon. Kabir Moss, spokesman for the Governor’s Government campaign, said: “We actively monitor and give more details when they are available.”
The two -story constructing next to the prison of the County previously acted as a house in half of the road.
In February, ICE awarded a 15-year Geo Group Inc. contract. to conduct a custody in Newark. GEO valued a contract at $ 1 billion, in a extremely long and massive agreement on ICE.
The announcement was part of President Donald Trump’s plans with a sharp increase in detention beds throughout the country from the budget of about 41,000 beds this yr.
The barrack sued the Geo Group shortly after the contract was announced.
GEO advertised a contract with Delaney Hall while merging with earnings with shareholders on Wednesday, and the general director of David Donahue said that he was to generate over $ 60 million in revenues a yr. He said that the object began the process of consumption on May 1.
Hall said that the activation of the object and one other in Michigan will increase the total capability under an agreement with ICE from about 20,000 beds to about 23,000.
DHS said in his statement that the object has appropriate permits and inspections were cleaned.
___
The creator of Associated Press Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed.

(Tagstranslate) Immigration policy
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