Lead Stories

It's the Police Against the Black Community - But It Always Has Been by Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

July 12, 2016

It’s the Police Against the Black Community – But It Always Has Been
By Dr. Wilmer J. Leon, III

NEWS ANALYSIS

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - On the evening of July 5, 2016 Alton Sterling was fatally shot during an altercation initiated by two Baton Rouge, La. police officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake. The officers responded to a call from someone reporting that he had been threatened by an armed man selling CDs outside of a convenience store. Sterling was wrestled to the ground by two officers and shot dead during the scuffle.

On July 6, 2016, Philando Castile was fatally shot by Officer Jeronimo Yanez, in a suburb of St. Paul, Minnesota. A recently released audio recording of the radio transmission between officers and police dispatch reveal that Castile was racially profiled. “I’m going to stop a car…I have reason to pull it over…The driver looks more like one of our (robbery) suspects, just ‘cause of the wide-set nose…” Moments later Philando Castile is shot dead by Yanez while complying with Yanez’s request for his driver’s license and vehicle registration.

On the evening of July 7, 2016, allegedly in response to the two previous shootings Micah Johnson, killed five law enforcement officers in Dallas during a protest over the two most recent recent fatal police shootings. It is reported that Johnson tried to take refuge in a parking garage and exchanged gunfire with police, who later killed him with a robot-delivered bomb.

As a result of these senseless killings America once again finds itself conflicted. Americans are asking, “How do we resolve these conflicts between the African-American community and police?” “How do we establish rules of engagement between the police and the community?” “How can this happen in America in 2016?”

We must separate the executions of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile from the murders of the five Dallas police officers by Mica Johnson. Why? The answer is simple; Sterling and Castile, along with Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Akai Gurley, Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, et al, were not convicted by a jury of their peers of committing crimes. They were summarily executed by police officers –agents of the State - acting as judge, jury and executioner.

Similar to the shooting of children at Sandy Hook and the murders of black parishioners in South Carolina, the murder of the 5 Dallas law enforcement officials was a horrific act carried out by a mentally disturbed individual, Mica Johnson. He took it upon himself to kill innocent police officers in an attempt to “settle” a historic score that is impossible for an individual heinous act to reconcile. Ironically, according to Shaun King in the New York Daily News, by May of 2016, 71% of police shootings this year have not been committed by the Mica Johnson’s of the world but have been (like Sandy Hook and Mother Bethel) committed by white men. An interesting data point that Rudy Giuliani and other conservatives don’t’ want to discuss.

Many in mainstream American media are using the murders of the Dallas police officers to offset or shift the focus away from the extra-judicial killings of African Americans by the police. They are attempting to delegitimize or misrepresent the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement as an anti-police movement. BLM is not an anti-police movement. It’s an anti-bad police movement. Frederick Douglas said, "every man will say slavery is wrong, for him." What community does not want to stop being shot down in the street by the police like dogs?

To find solutions to these issues we must start from a historic reality that White Americans and too many African-Americans do not want to deal with. Slavery. As Ms. Ruby Sales and Dr. Gerald Horne have correctly stated, these are not new or isolated events. Slavery is the institution that helped to undergird the foundations of this country! Slave states created slave patrols; precursors to modern day police forces.

They were constructed to routinely monitor, surveil and oppress the slave population. Today, like the slave patrols before them, modern police forces are still engaging in the same activity within the African American community. Part of the ethos of our country since its decision to enter into the “peculiar” institution of slavery has been the fear of reprisal from slaves. Therefore, one of the main unspoken duties of many police forces is not to protect and serve but to protect white Americans from the decedents of their former slaves.

In response to this long and sordid history in 1951, William Patterson and Ossie Davis presented a petition before the UN charging the US with genocide against its Black nationals. In it, they “called upon the UN to take notice of the fact that even a cursory examination would reveal the savage racist policy that determines the attitude and reaction of city, state, and federal governments in relations with black nationals.”

They called this a “criminal policy.” In 1968 the Kerner Commission reported that one main cause of urban violence was White racism and suggested that White America bore much of the responsibility for Black rioting and rebellion.

The current spate of extra-judicial killings of mainly unarmed African-Americans is a continuation of this history that’s deeply rooted in the attempt to maintain the social order and culture of White supremacy. Once we come to an understanding of this historic context we can then move forward to developing practical solutions.

Then First Lady Hillary Clinton said, "We also have to have Organized Effort against Gangs. They are Not just gangs of kids anymore. They are often the kinds of Kids called Super-Predators. No conscious. No empathy.”

Today we also have gangs of police officers who are executing law abiding citizens simply because they “sense” a threat or those citizens fit a profile. No conscious, no empathy – Super Predators. Here’s the first thing that can be done that will make the biggest difference. The Blue Wall of Silence needs to become the Blue Wall of Intolerance. Police officials need to create an environment where good cops will stop standing idly by in silence as bad cops reek havoc in our communities.

The good cops need to create a standard of intolerance for the bad cops who are acting like an occupying force and treating those who they have sworn to protect and serve like enemy combatants.Second, prosecutors need to bring manslaughter charges against these bad cops and prosecutors need to select juries from a more diverse jury pool in order to increase the possibility of convictions. When a police officer is shot that fact is an extenuating factor in the sentencing of the perpetrator.

Why? Because shooting a police officer is also considered to be an attack on the established order of the State. When a police officer murders a citizen while performing his/her duties, that should be an extenuating circumstance as well since that police officer is acting under the “color” of the authority of the state.Contrary to the conservative rhetoric, it’s the police against the Black community – but it always has been. Hold these murdering cops accountable. That's how you start to rebuild trust with the community!

Dr. Wilmer Leon is the Producer/ Host of the nationally broadcast call-in talk radio program “Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon,” on SiriusXM Satellite radio channel 126. Go to www.wilmerleon.com or email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. www.twitter.com/drwleon and Dr. Leon’s Prescription at Facebook.com© 2016 InfoWave Communications, LLC

America Continues in Race Crisis – NAACP Calls Police Shootings ‘21st Century Lynching’ By Hazel Trice Edney

July 11, 2016

America Continues in Race Crisis – NAACP Calls Police Shootings ‘21^st Century Lynching’
By Hazel Trice Edney

NAACP President/CEO Cornell Brooks sent this historic photo with his statement on the police killings in Louisiana and Minnesota.

Alton Sterling was killed by police July 5.

Philando Castile was killed by police July 6.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - National outrage had just begun after the videotaped police killing of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, La. But the next day came the police killing of Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn., - live on Facebook. The back-to-back killings quickly too righteous indignation to decibel levels across the nation.

Then, amidst protests over the apparently callous shootings by police came the third blow – five police officers killed and nine wounded – shot down by a Black man - Micha Johnson, a military vetera - during a peaceful protest in Dallas.

These national tragedies – which quickly turned international as President Barack Obama spoke from Poland - has left America reeling this week.

In the wake of the shootings of Alton Sterling outside a convenience store in Baton Rouge, La. and Philando Castile inside a car in Falcon Heights, Minn., nearly 2,000 arrests have been made during protests in cities across the nation against continued police violence against Blacks.

Tensions have skyrocketed for police officers now under threat of retaliation. Civil rights and church leaders have also risen up to not only speak to the unprecedented chain of events but to call for immediate and lasting change.

Officer Jeronimo Yanez who shot Sterling this week claimed through his lawyer that he thought Sterling was a robbery suspect. Castile, 32, was shot after he told the officer that he was licensed to carry a concealed weapon; then obeyed police commands by reaching for his wallet to show his driver's license. Castile's girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, videotaped Castile as he bled to death with her 4-year-old daughter in the back seat. Yanez is on administrative leave.

Officers Blane Salamoni and Howie Lake II, involved in the shooting of Alton Sterling, have also been placed on administrative leave. They had responded to a 911 call from a homeless man, who said someone had waved a gun at him. The officers approached Sterling, who regularly sold CDs and DVDs in front of the store. The videotape shows the officers pulling Sterling to the ground and attempting to restrain him when one officer took out his gun and shot several times, killing the 37-year-old father of five.

The Department of Justice prepares to investigate both killings. Meanwhile, President Obama has sought to calm and console the nation in the midst of the chaos.

“We've seen activists and grassroots groups who have expressed concern about police shootings, but are also adamant in their support of the Dallas Police Department,” President Obama said during a press conference after the Nato Summit in Warsaw, Poland. He also praised Dallas for its successful police-community relations program that has become a model across the country.

That's the spirit that we all need to embrace. That's the spirit that I want to build on.”

President Obama announced that he will reconvene the task force that he set up after Ferguson, but will build it by “inviting both police and law enforcement and community activists and civil rights leaders” to the White House.

“I want to start moving on constructive actions that are actually going to make a difference, because that is what all Americans want,” he said.

Meanwhile the NAACP and other civil rights groups took to social media and other airwaves. NAACP President/CEO Cornell William Brooks issued a statement describing the killings of Castile and Sterling as lynching.

“There was a 21st century lynching yesterday. And the day before that, too,” he wrote July 8. “Activists created the NAACP more than a century ago to fight racialized violence. Then, we called it ‘lynching.’ Today, we call it ‘police brutality,’ but the effect is still the same — our lives are in danger. Endangered by some of the very people who are called to protect and serve us. We are all tense, angry, devastated, and grieving.”

Brooks continued, “We grieve for Alton Sterling. We grieve for Philando Castile. And we grieve with the rest of the country over the senseless loss of lives in Dallas, too — because the execution of police officers does not end the execution of black Americans, and it will not put us on the path to change.”

Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, said the tragedies open new opportunities to intensify the addressing of issues that too often get dropped.

“The events of this past week underscore that violence disrupts the fabric of our nation. Now is the time for communities to work together to address systemic issues that plague our country - excessive use of force against African Americans, the proliferation of assault weapons, and hate,” she said in a statement.

According to the NAACP, those issues would be addressed by two policies that the civil rights group has been pushing.

“What will put us on the path to justice is the passage of the Law Enforcement Trust and Integrity Act (LETIA) and the End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA). Radical reform of policing practices, policies, and laws at all levels must be made — immediately — because the current system is taking too many lives,” Brooks said.

Micah Johnson, corned in a parking garage, was killed by Dallas police after he threatened to kill more officers. Dallas Police Chief David Brown, who is Black, approved the use of a robot carrying an explosive to kill Johnson. Brown later said the 25-year-old was carrying multiple high-powered guns, but no explosives. However additional arsonal was discovered in his home; including bomb-making materials, Brown said.

People of multiple races have shown up to protest in the wake of the latest police shooting of Black men. But Brooks said he takes no solace in the fact that “outrage over this 21st century form of lynching is not isolated to the black community.”

He said it is more necessary that unified action is taken by Americans of all races and ethnicities in order to “put an end to the epidemic of violence — gun violence in particular — in this country. Now is the time to come together as one in grief, in protest, and in pursuit of real, measurable change.”

Despite the widespread outrage, President Obama says race relations are not as bad as they appear.

“So when we start suggesting that somehow there's this enormous polarization, and we're back to the situation in the '60s - that's just not true. You're not seeing riots, and you're not seeing police going after people who are protesting peacefully. You've seen almost uniformly peaceful protests. And you've seen uniformly police handling those protests with professionalism,” President Obama said.

He concluded, “And so, as tough, as hard, as depressing as the loss of life was this week, we've got a foundation to build on. We just have to have the confidence that we can build on those better angels of our nature. And we have to make sure that all of us step back, do some reflection, and make sure that the rhetoric that we engage in is constructive, and not destructive; that we're not painting anybody with an overly broad brush; that we're not constantly thinking the worst in other people rather than the best. If we do that, then I'm confident that we will continue to make progress.”

AME Church Celebrates Bicentennial at 50th Quadrennial Conference in Philadelphia By Zenitha Prince

July 10,2016

AME Church Celebrates Bicentennial at 50th Quadrennial Conference in Philadelphia
By Zenitha Prince

AME Church Senior Bishop John Bryant is retiring. PHOTO: Trice Edney News Wire

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Two centuries ago, former Delaware slave Richard Allen and other Black worshippers formed the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, fleeing discrimination in the segregated Methodist Church.

Today, the AME Church has membership in 20 Episcopal Districts in 39 countries on five continents. And, from July 6-13, thousands of those AME congregants will return to the birthplace of their denomination to celebrate its bicentennial during the 50th Quadrennial Session of the church’s general conference.

“It is a significant moment for us to gather in Philadelphia,” said the Rev. Ronald Braxton, Presiding Elder of the Washington Conference, “Two hundred years for an African-American institution to survive but to also be thriving is pretty significant.”

The bicentennial milestone will be a key focus of the conference and has already been celebrated at pre-conference activities, including the dedication of a Richard Allen statue at founding church, Mother Bethel AME in Philadelphia, a torch run from Delaware to Philadelphia and a Bicentennial Banquet at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts on July 5.

Beyond the anniversary festivities, luncheons, worship services and other opportunities to fellowship, the general conference is the forum where much of the church’s business is conducted.

A chief part of that business is legislating new church by-laws, debating religious, community and even political issues and deciding on official church positions on those matters. This year, conference delegates—who are chosen at the annual district conferences—will have to grapple with 402 pages of legislation.

“I’m hoping that the church will make good decisions as it relates to our role in our communities, that we become that instrument of change and the motivator of a new order so our communities can become stronger,” said Rev. Braxton, who heads the Second Episcopal District’s delegation.

With a presidential election underway, conference attendees will also likely address political matters such as get-out-the-vote efforts and new impediments to voting—although the church does not make official candidate endorsements. Candidates have been invited to address the gathering, however. And, while none have confirmed their attendance, Rev. Braxton said, “We have never had a conference where the Democratic candidate has not accepted our invitation.”

Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the quadrennial session, however, is the election of bishops and other officers. The elections process can be intense, with heavy campaigning leading up to the vote and much wheeling and dealing, sometimes to the last second.

This year, five bishops are retiring, including Bishop William DeVeaux, presiding prelate of the Second Episcopal District, which covers the Maryland-D.C.-Virginia area and Senior Bishop John Bryant, a native son of Baltimore. And, currently, 31 persons are vying for those five slots, including the Rev. Dr. Frank Reid III of Baltimore and the Rev. Dr. Harry Seawright of Prince George’s County, Md.

Of particular focus will be the dearth of women on the council of bishops. Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, another Baltimore native who made history in 2000 when she became the first female bishop of the AME Church, is currently the denomination’s only female presiding prelate.

Braxton told the AFRO, “The church is concerned about that and will be looking at that during the conference.”

CBC to Congress: 'Combat the State of Emergency in the Black Community' By Jane A. Kennedy

July 10, 2016

CBC to Congress: 'Combat the State of Emergency in the Black Community'
Chair Warns of 'Long Hot Summer' If No Action is Taken
By Jane A. Kennedy

CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield addressing the media after police shootings. (Courtesy Photo)

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It was a week that few Americans will be able to forget. On July 5 and 6, respectively, two Black men - Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, and Philando Castile in Minnesota - were killed by police officers. Then, on July 7, Micha Johnson, a young African-American man who was reportedly angered by the deaths of Sterling and Castile, fatally shot five Dallas police officers and injured seven others.

“America is weeping. They are angry. They are frustrated. And Congress – and when I say Congress, I mean the Republicans in Congress – are refusing to address gun violence in America,” said CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield (D-N.C.) at a Friday morning press conference, July 8.

The press conference, called to “combat the state of emergency in Black America”, according to a statement, pushed for “action to repair community trust, an increase in efforts to provide aid for law enforcement training, and the comprehensive implementation of true community policing, including police training and retraining.

While CBC members voiced their unequivocal support for law enforcement and have condemned the killings of the Dallas policemen as “despicable” and “hate-filled,” they were also careful to note that the majority of the 491 Americans killed so far this year by police were Black.

“Republicans, what on Earth are you, why are you recoiling and not giving us a debate on gun violence? Why not give it a hearing, give us a debate, give us an up-or-down vote on our legislation on gun violence? Why?” asked an exasperated Butterfield.

Since the mass shooting at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub in June that led to the deaths of 49 people and injured dozens more, House Democrats and Republicans have been engaged in intense and largely fruitless debate about how to respond to the increasing amount of gun violence in the United States.

Democrats are calling for measures that would prohibit criminals and suspected terrorists on no-fly lists from purchasing firearms, ban the sale of military assault-style weapons, and expand mandatory background checks. GOP lawmakers have balked at their proposals, leading Democrats to accuse them of being more beholden to the National Rifle Association than to the American public.

Democrats grew so frustrated in the days following the Orlando shootings that they held an unprecedented sit-in on the House floor for nearly 26 hours, which their Republican colleagues reviled as a publicity stunt. But GOP lawmakers are also at an impasse within their own ranks about how to deal with gun violence, adding to delays on a vote.

After the Dallas shootings, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) shared on the floor his dismay over last week’s gun violence, but did not indicate when or how the chamber would respond legislatively or whether it would at all before the House adjourns this week for its summer recess.

“Every member of this body – every Republican and every Democrat – wants to see less violence. Every member of this body wants a world in which people feel safe regardless of the color of their skin. That’s not how people are feeling these days,” Ryan said after the House took a moment of silence for the Dallas police officers. “Sometimes we disagree passionately on how to get there, but in having this debate, let’s not lose sight of the values that unite us.”

Such sentiments did little to allay the concerns of CBC members, who repeatedly warned of the dangers of congressional inaction.

“The United States is on edge and we have to decide whether we’re going to go over the cliff of gun violence and senseless murders or are going to take a step back to find the space for peace and solidarity,” said Chicago Rep. Robin Kelly, whose hometown is mired in gun violence. “We have to be the leaders in finding the solutions to this gun violence problem. It’s the common-sense gun laws; it is police-community relations. It’s getting more African Americans in the law enforcement field. It’s the state of our communities. What are the root causes? Why are people picking up guns, not books or pens and pencils?”

Kelly, who has introduced legislation with Michigan Rep. Brenda Lawrence that deals with those core issues, said she hasn’t stood up for moments of silence for a long time, because “I feel like we stand up, we sit down and we don’t do anything. It is time to act. And it’s time to act now.”

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), who represents the district in which Sterling lived and died, expressed deep anger and placed the blame for future gun violence squarely on the shoulders of congressional lawmakers.

“If this Congress does not have the guts to lead, then we are responsible for all of the bloodshed on the streets of America, whether it be at the hands of people wearing a uniform or whether it’s at the hands of criminals,” he said.

He also chastised conservatives and Republican politicians who have blamed the Black Lives Matter movement for the Dallas shootings.

“People cannot use Black Lives Matter as a scapegoat,” he said “Those young people came together to protest. You can’t blame them for these incidents happening.”

Richmond and New York Rep. Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday hosted an afternoon press conference with other young male CBC members to respond to the shooting deaths of Sterling, Castile, and other black men. They shared personal experiences and fears related to interactions with law enforcement and said that if not for their positions of power, one of them could become the next gun violence hashtag based on race.

“If we were to take off our suits and our ties, there are many police officers throughout the country that would treat us like lawbreakers simply because of the color of our skin,” Jeffries said, a sentiment echoed by his colleagues. “And if America is not ready to deal with that as a country, we will be finding ourselves here time and time again.”

Civil rights icon John Lewis, who like Kelly became very emotional during the Friday press conference, said that race should not matter and called on Americans to “respect the dignity and the worth of every human being.”

He said, “We must learn to live together as brothers and sisters, If not, we will perish as fools. We have too many guns. There has been too much violence. And we must act.”

In addition to the gun control measures proposed by Democrats, CBC members are calling for a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director Jim Comey.

The CBC is also calling on Congress to stay in session until lawmakers have voted on a “no fly, no buy legislation” and expanded background checks.

Butterfield predicts, “If we fail to act, this will be a long, hot summer.”

Democratic Platform Committee Calls for End to Mass Incarceration By Frederick H. Lowe

July 3, 2016

Democratic Platform Committee Calls for End to Mass Incarceration
By Frederick H. Lowe

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from NorthStarNewsToday.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The Democratic Platform Drafting Committee has approved a plank, calling for the end of mass incarceration, which occurred under President Bill Clinton and then First Lady Hillary Clinton, who is expected to become the party’s nominee for President when Democrats convene July 25th to July 28th in Philadelphia.

Prison barsPrison bars“The current draft calls for ending the era of mass incarceration, shutting down private prisons, ending racial profiling, reforming the grand jury process, investing in the re-entry programs, banning the box to help give people a second chance and prioritizing treatment over incarceration for individuals suffering with addiction,” the Drafting Committee announced on June 25.

Clinton’s 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, a tough-on-crime bill led to mass incarceration of black men and significant increases in the imprisonment of black women. This a was a major issue at the sparsely attended National Black Political Convention last month in Gary, Ind. Attendees said they wanted to influence the Democratic Party’s platform.

Most, if not all members of the Congressional Black Caucus, voted for the legislation, but now some are saying they regretted their vote.

Drafting Committee members also voted to support states that choose to decriminalize marijuana because police are arresting blacks who possess marijuana at much higher rates than they arrest Whites.

The committee also called for increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour, expanding Social Security and launching an aggressive jobs plan that would include historic investments in the nation’s infrastructure, a commitment to small businesses and a robust technology agenda.

The platform draft covers a number of other issues, including universal health care and the environment.

The draft will be put before the full 187-member Platform Committee for final approval during a meeting in Orlando, Fla., on July 8th and 9th.