President Obama Begins to Fight the New Jim Crow

Yesterday, President Obama took a step in the right direction.  Slowly, he is chipping away at the New Jim Crow.  For that, I commend the brother. The New York Times reports:

President Obama, expanding his push to curtail severe penalties in drug cases, on Thursday commuted the sentences of eight federal inmates who were convicted of crack cocaine offenses. Each inmate has been imprisoned for at least 15 years, and six were sentenced to life in prison.

It was the first time retroactive relief was provided to a group of inmates who would most likely have received significantly shorter terms if they had been sentenced under current drug laws, sentencing rules and charging policies. Most will be released in 120 days. The commutations opened a major new front in the administration’s efforts to curb soaring taxpayer spending on prisons and to help correct what it has portrayed as inequality in the justice system.

In a statement, Mr. Obama said that each of the eight men and women had been sentenced under what is now recognized as an “unfair system,” including a 100-to-1 sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine offenses that was significantly reduced by the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010.

“If they had been sentenced under the current law, many of them would have already served their time and paid their debt to society,” Mr. Obama said. “Instead, because of a disparity in the law that is now recognized as unjust, they remain in prison, separated from their families and their communities, at a cost of millions of taxpayer dollars each year.”

The commutations have come during a pendulum swing away from tough mandatory minimum sentencing laws enacted a generation ago amid the crack epidemic. The policies fueled an 800 percent increase in the number of prisoners in the United States. They also carried a racial charge: Offenses involving crack, which was disproportionately prevalent in impoverished black communities, carried far more severe penalties than those for powder cocaine, favored by affluent white users.

Justice for Renisha McBride: Charges Have Been Filed Against the Killer

The Detroit News reports that:

Detroit — A Dearborn Heights man was charged Friday with second-degree murder, manslaughter and possession of a firearm in a felony in the shooting death of 19-year-old Detroiter Renisha McBride.

Homeowner Theodore Wafer, 54, faces arraignment Friday afternoon in the charges, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced.

McBride was fatally shot in the face early Nov. 2 by Wafer,whose lawyer said was “justified” in firing at McBride. About two and a half hours earlier before the shooting at the home in the 16800 block of Outer Drive, McBride crashed into a parked car a mile away on Brammell and Warren in Detroit.

Worthy said Friday that the evidence shows Wafer did not act in self defense.

Read more here.

I stand with Renisha McBride's family. I hope and pray for justice!

Is It Open Season on Black People?

Fox 2 News Headlines

The Detroit News reports that:

Dearborn Heights— Four days after a young woman was found dead outside a Dearborn Heights home at which she is believed to have sought help after a car accident, the family is asking: Why did she have to die?

Little has been publicly released about the circumstances of Renisha McBride’s death Saturday. The 19-year-old from Detroit died of a shotgun blast to the head outside the home in the 16800 block of Outer Drive near Warren Avenue. Dearborn Heights police said they have “identified the person who fired the shot and killed the woman.”

Her cellphone dead, her family said, she made her way to the house for help after the early morning accident.

“She probably wanted to ask him to make a call for her or if she could use the phone,” said McBride’s maternal aunt, Bernita Spinks.

Police have refused to release details of their investigation. The police chief did not return calls.

The family is filled with questions, said Spinks, a family spokeswoman. At a vigil late Wednesday, she asked: “Why did he have to shoot her?”

Spinks said the family met with police and Prosecutor’s Office about the shooting. She said police told the family the shooter is a man in his 50s.A preliminary autopsy indicated McBride was shot in the head, according to the Wayne County Medical Examiner’s Office. No other information on the autopsy was released.

Police on Wednesday asked the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office to issue a warrant for the resident in the fatal shooting, but late Wednesday, the office said it sent back the request.

“We have requested further investigation by the police that must be submitted to our office before a decision will be made,” said Maria Miller, a spokeswoman for Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy.

As the family prepares for the funeral Friday of McBride, a recent graduate of Southfield High School and an employee of Ford Motor Co., family members said they are troubled by the circumstances of the shooting. Spinks said she believes her niece was racially profiled.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time that a white person killed a black person seeking help. Check out what happened to Jonathan Ferrell.

As reported in the Daily News,

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — An unarmed former Florida A&M University football player shot and killed by police — who were responding to calls of a man trying to break into a house — was apparently just seeking help after a car accident.

Jonathan Ferrell, 24, was shot multiple times when cops say he surprised a trio of Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers by running toward them around 2 a.m. Saturday.

Police say Ferrell’s description matched one given by a woman who moments earlier called 911 to report a man knocking wildly on her front door and attempting to break in.

When we are not being killed by our own brothers and sisters, we are being killed by white racists who assume that all black people are dangerous criminals. They killed Trayvon Martin, Jordan Davis, Jonathan Ferrell and now Renisha McBride. Is it open season on black people? How many more brothers and sisters must die before we finally wake the hell up and stand up?

Drop the Appeal, End Stop and Frisk Now!

Metro reports that:

Energized by the landslide victory of their mayoral candidate in yesterday’s election, stop-and-frisk opponents crowded onto the steps of City Hall to call on the out-going mayor to drop his appeal.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s law department is appealing federal Judge Shira Scheindlin’s ruling in Floyd v. City of New York. Scheindlin said the way the NYPD practices stop, question and frisk is unconstitutional and discriminatory.

Last week, three Court of Appeals judges granted city lawyers their motion to stay Scheindlin’s ordered remedies while they appeal her ruling.

In an extremely unusual move, the judges also removed Scheindlin from the cases, seizing on allegations that she improperly coached attorneys to make sure the cases were brought to her.

But the timeline outlined in the Court of Appeals’ judges order extends well into 2014, when Mayor Elect Bill de Blasio will have taken over. De Blasio has vowed to drop the appeal.

Stop-and-frisk opponents today insisted Bloomberg should just drop the appeal himself.

Congressman Jerrold Nadler called pursuing the appeal a “total” waste of taxpayer money.

“The appeal… is going to be dropped in January,” Nadler said. “So why waste everybody’s time and money and energy in November and December?”

Sadly, some misguided and uninformed people actually support New York City's ineffective and wasteful stop and frisk policy.  The Huffington Post reports that:

CNN host Don Lemon got a big chunk of Twitter very mad at him on Tuesday after he endorsed New York's reviled stop and frisk policies.

Speaking during his regular slot on the Tom Joyner show, Lemon said that police were not always very respectful of the people they stopped, but that tampering with the "formula that has reduced crime in New York City" could be very dangerous.

"The question is, would you rather be politically correct or safe and alive?" he concluded.

Here are a few reasons why Uncle Don is wrong. As reported in The Huffington Post article entitled NYPD Stop And Frisks: 15 Shocking Facts About A Controversial Program,

The NYPD argues this shows the effectiveness of stop and frisk, saying the practice has prevented people from carrying guns on the street. While stops have increased by 524,873 since 2003, officers have found only 176 additional guns...

The NYPD and local politicians have repeatedly defended the racial disparity in stops by saying minorities are disproportionately involved in violent crime. In 2011, however, in only 10.5 percent of stops did cops record "violent criminal activity" as justification for the stop.

Nine out of 10 of those stopped in 2011 were neither arrested nor given summonses.

The NYPD and politicians have repeatedly justified the racial disparity in stop and frisks saying that they cops essentially go where the guns are, i.e. minority neighborhoods. Yet, only 1.9 percent of frisks in 2011 turned up weapons and interestingly, according to the NYCLU, "a weapon was found in only 1.8 percent of blacks and Latinos frisked, as compared to a weapon being found in 3.8 percent of whites frisked."

...In 2002, when Mr. Kelly last took office, officers stopped 97,296 New Yorkers and the city reported 587 homicides. Last year, those numbers were 685,724 and 532...

Last week, the NYPD said stop-and-frisk was used more than 200,000 times in the first quarter of this year – a 10 percent jump from the same period last year. The data covers the period from January to March. So far this year homicides are down by 19 percent over last year.

But of the 13 precincts where homicides were up, stop and frisks increased in six over the same reporting period last year. And in the remaining seven, stop and frisks were down.

“There is no evidence that stop and frisk is lowering or suppressing the murder rate in New York City,” said Chris Dunn, spokesman for the NYCLU, in a statement. “Murders have dropped steadily since 1990.”

Clearly, stop and frisk is not making New Yorkers safe and secure. Stop and frisk is only further eroding public confidence and trust in the NYPD. The NYPD's stop and frisk policy is degrading, humiliating, oppressive and repressive.  New York City police are criminalizing blackness and collectively punishing the entire black community. Police officers should protect and serve the community, not harass and terrorize the community. It is time to drop the appeal and end stop and frisk now.

Jay Z's Barneys Statement is Disappointing

As reported on News One, Jay Z issued the following statement regarding the Barneys controversy:

This collaboration lives in a place of giving and is about the Foundation. I am not making a dime from this collection; I do not stand to make millions, as falsely reported. I need to make that fact crystal clear. The Shawn Carter Foundation is the beneficiary and the foundation is receiving 25% of all sales from the collaboration, 10% of all sales generated in the store on November 20th and an additional donation from Barneys. This money is going to help individuals facing socio-economic hardships to help further their education at institutions of higher learning. My idea was born out of creativity and charity… not profit.

I move and speak based on facts and not emotion. I haven’t made any comments because I am waiting on facts and the outcome of a meeting between community leaders and Barneys. Why am I being demonized, denounced and thrown on the cover of a newspaper for not speaking immediately? The negligent, erroneous reports and attacks on my character, intentions, and the spirit of this collaboration have forced me into a statement I didn’t want to make without the full facts. Making a decision prematurely to pull out of this project, wouldn’t hurt Barneys or Shawn Carter, but all the people that stand a chance at higher education. I have been working with my team ever since the situation was brought to my attention to get to the bottom of these incidents and at the same time find a solution that doesn’t harm all those that stand to benefit from this collaboration.

I am against discrimination of any kind, but if I make snap judgements, no matter who it’s towards, aren’t I committing the same sin as someone who profiles? I am no stranger to being profiled and I truly empathize with anyone that has been put in that position. Hopefully this brings forth a dialogue to effect real change. – Shawn “JAY Z” Carter

In my latest YouTube video, I explain why his statement is inadequate and disappointing.

NYC Trampled on Black People's Constitutional Rights

As reported in the New York Times,

A federal judge ruled on Monday that the stop-and-frisk tactics of the New York Police Department violated the constitutional rights of minorities in the city, repudiating a major element in the Bloomberg administration’s crime-fighting legacy.

The use of police stops has been widely cited by city officials as a linchpin of New York’s success story in seeing murders and major crimes fall to historic lows. The police say the practice has saved the lives of thousands of young black and Hispanic men by removing thousands of guns from the streets.

But the judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, found that the Police Department resorted to a “policy of indirect racial profiling” as it increased the number of stops in minority communities. That has led to officers’ routinely stopping “blacks and Hispanics who would not have been stopped if they were white.”

The judge called for a federal monitor to oversee broad reforms, including the use of body-worn cameras for some patrol officers, though she was “not ordering an end to the practice of stop-and-frisk.”

In her decision, the judge cited some compelling statistics:

Between January 2004 and June 2012, the NYPD conducted over 4.4 million
Terry stops.

• The number of stops per year rose sharply from 314,000 in 2004 to a high of
686,000 in 2011.

• 52% of all stops were followed by a protective frisk for weapons. A weapon was found after 1.5% of these frisks. In other words, in 98.5% of the 2.3 million frisks, no weapon was found.

• 8% of all stops led to a search into the stopped person’s clothing, ostensibly based on the officer feeling an object during the frisk that he suspected to be a weapon, or immediately perceived to be contraband other than a weapon. In 9% of these searches, the felt object was in fact a weapon. 91% of the time, it was not. In 14% of these searches, the felt object was in fact contraband. 86% of the time it was not.

• 6% of all stops resulted in an arrest, and 6% resulted in a summons. The remaining 88% of the 4.4 million stops resulted in no further law enforcement action.

• In 52% of the 4.4 million stops, the person stopped was black, in 31% the person was Hispanic, and in 10% the person was white.

• In 2010, New York City’s resident population was roughly 23% black, 29% Hispanic, and 33% white.

• In 23% of the stops of blacks, and 24% of the stops of Hispanics, the officer recorded using force. The number for whites was 17%.

• Weapons were seized in 1.0% of the stops of blacks, 1.1% of the stops of Hispanics, and 1.4% of the stops of whites.

• Contraband other than weapons was seized in 1.8% of the stops of blacks, 1.7% of the stops of Hispanics, and 2.3% of the stops of whites.

• Between 2004 and 2009, the percentage of stops where the officer failed to state a specific suspected crime rose from 1% to 36%.

The court found that:

Based on the expert testimony I find the following: (1) The NYPD carries out more stops where there are more black and Hispanic residents, even when other relevant variables are held constant. The racial composition of a precinct or census tract predicts the stop rate above and beyond the crime rate. (2) Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to be stopped within precincts and census tracts, even after controlling for other relevant variables. This is so even in areas with low crime rates, racially heterogenous populations, or predominately white populations. (3) For the period 2004 through 2009, when any law enforcement action was taken following a stop, blacks were 30% more likely to be arrested (as opposed to receiving a summons) than whites, for the same suspected crime. (4) For the period 2004 through 2009, after controlling for suspected crime and precinct characteristics, blacks who were stopped were about 14% more likely — and Hispanics 9% more likely — than whites to be subjected to the use of force. (5) For the period 2004 through 2009, all else being equal, the odds of a stop resulting in any further enforcement action were 8% lower if the person stopped was black than if the person stopped was white. In addition, the greater the black population in a precinct, the less likely that a stop would result in a sanction. Together, these results show that blacks are likely targeted for stops based on a lesser degree of objectively founded suspicion than whites.

Let me break this down. The New York City Police Department targeted, harassed and humiliated thousands of innocent black people solely based on the color of their skin. NYC police trampled on black people's Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Many police officers are just like George Zimmerman. They view all young black people as criminals. We must stand up and fight racial profiling wherever it rears its ugly head.

Justice for Trayvon Martin #J4TM Part 2

Check out my latest YouTube video. In this video, I continue to share my views about the George Zimmerman trial. I discuss the opening statements. I was fired up when I did the video. So, I got a little emotional.

As usual, I welcome your feedback. What did you think about the prosecution's opening statement? What did you think about defense counsel's opening statement?