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Mayor Apologizes for Arrest of Two Black Men Before White Man Confesses He Killed His Own Wife

Dec. 26, 2023

Boston Mayor Wu

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu issues an apology for two men arrested for the Carol Stuart murder in 1989.

Charles and Carol Stuart

Charles Stuart said that a Black man killed Carol, his wife, and their unborn child and wounded him. The Boston Police ran through Black neighborhoods like stormtroopers, arresting and beating Black men and boys, forcing them to confess to the murders. It was later learned that Charles killed his wife to collect insurance money.

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from BlackMansStreet.Today

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Boston, Mass. Mayor Michelle Wu issued an apology for two Black men who were arrested by police and vilified in the press for the 1989 murder of a White woman, only to learn that the brother of the killer said he murdered his wife for insurance money.

On behalf of the Boston Police Department, the entire City of Boston, the Black Community, and Boston media, Mayor Wu said on Monday: “I am sorry for what you endured; it was racist and wrong.”

Mayor Wu apologized at the same time as the HBO documentary about the murder of Carol Stuart. It is titled "Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reconking." Jason Hehir wrote and directed the documentary.

Charles Stuart claimed that a 6-foot-tall Black man shot him, shot him, and killed his pregnant wife, Carol, during a carjacking; she delivered her baby named Christopher by cesarean section. The baby died 17 days later.

The police ran through the Black community like stormtroopers with pistols drawn in the Mission Hill neighborhood, arresting almost every Black male before settling on Alan Swanson and Willie Bennet. Police eventually ruled out Swanson as the killer after brutally beating him.

But Matthew Stuart told police that the carjacking story was a hoax, and his brother killed his wife for insurance money. Charles Stuart later committed suicide by jumping off the Tobin Bridge into the Mystic River.

Police and the media were surprised by the admission, which may have caused some soul-searching. 

Raymond Flynn was the mayor at the time Carol Stuart was murdered. Francis Roache, Boston’s Police Chief, said excesses may have been taken. Flynn was criticized for the treatment Black men suffered at the hands of the police.

With the end of the grand jury's investigation, Willie Bennett was officially exonerated of the murders of Carol Stuart and her son Christopher. 

But this story does not have a happy ending.

In October 1990, a jury found Bennett guilty of an alleged robbery of a Brookline video store. He was sentenced to 12 to 25 years in prison and was released in 2002.

After a lengthy lawsuit, Bennett's family was awarded $12,500 in damages, according to the Boston Globe. As of 2023, Bennett was reportedly living alone in Boston and suffering from dementia. 

A teary-eyed Willie Bennett’s nephew, Joey Bennett, accepted Wu’s apology Wednesday on behalf of his uncle and the family of Alan Swanson. 

Joey Bennett praised her for not allowing the false arrest to be swept under the rug.

Colorado Supreme Court Puts a Wrinkle in Trump’s Election Plans By Barrington M. Salmon

Dec. 20, 2023

DonaldTrump

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The Colorado Supreme Court has done what almost half a dozen state supreme courts haven’t done yet: It issued a ruling declaring that former President Donald John Trump is disqualified to run for president in Colorado in 2024 because he incited and was involved in an insurrection, namely the January 6 riot at the US Capitol in 2021.

The historic 4-3 decision that CNN called “an unprecedented, freeze-in-your-tracks ruling," is based on Section III of the 14th Amendment and bars Trump from appearing on the presidential primary ballot in Colorado. Other state courts could follow suit. Trump has appealed to the U. S. Supreme Court for a blanket decision.

"President Trump’s direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary," a majority of the justices wrote. “Moreover, the evidence amply showed that President Trump undertook all these actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power."

Trump, twice impeached, four times indicted and facing 91 indictments in state and local jurisdictions, promised to appeal the ruling quickly setting up a potentially contentious battle before the far-right Republican-dominated US Supreme Court that could determine the fate of the 2024 election.

Judge J. Michael Luddig – a conservative pillar of the legal community and vocal critic of Trump, characterized the ruling as “masterful” and “unassailable.”

“I believe that as written, the disqualification clause as applied to the former president disqualifies him from holding the presidency again. And based on that view of the objective constitutional law, I believe the United States Supreme Court will affirm,” said Luttig, who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit for 15 years, from 1991 to 2006. “The opinion of the Colorado State Supreme Court was a masterful judicial opinion on the applicability of Section II of the 14th Amendment. It will stand the test of time, as they say, and I think the Supreme Court of the US ought to affirm this decision.”
 
Luttig, who has long warned of the clear and present danger Trump poses to America’s fragile democracy, refused during a late-night MSNBC interview Tuesday to discuss any political implications of the Colorado verdict.

 

“… Based on the objective law in this instance, the 14th amendment of the Constitution, I believe that the Supreme Court of the United States will affirm this decision. I believe the sitting justices on the Supreme Court today, all nine of them, will apply the Constitution as it is written.”

Colorado’s Supreme Court put its ruling on hold until Jan. 4 so that Trump can ask the US Supreme Court for a full review. If he does, his name will automatically remain on the ballot until justices decide the appeal. 

It didn’t take Trump long to take to social media to castigate the ruling and describe it as another chance to blame his enemies of conspiring to interfere with the election.

“What a shame for our country!!!” he said Wednesday morning. “A sad day in America!!! ...”

A story in The Hill noted that Trump also posted several clips from Fox News of pundits disagreeing with the Colorado ruling, including George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley.

“This country is a powder keg, and this court is just throwing matches at it. … For people that say they are trying to protect democracy, this is hands down the most anti-democratic opinion I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Turley told Fox News host Laura Ingraham which Trump posted to Truth Social.

It didn’t take long for Trump’s Republican opponents and supporters to rush to his aid.

On Tuesday, Vivek Ramaswamy resolved to withdraw from the Colorado Republican primary ballot to protest the court’s ruling. He promised to stay off the ballot until Trump is restored. Ramaswamy also coaxed his colleagues to do the same.

“I pledge to withdraw from the Colorado GOP primary ballot until Trump is also allowed to be on the ballot, and I demand that Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie and Nikki Haley do the same immediately – or else they are tacitly endorsing this illegal maneuver which will have disastrous consequences for our country,” Ramaswamy said in a statement.

Chris Christie, former New Jersey governor, a harsh critic and thorn in Trump’s side on the campaign trail, sided with Trump and castigated the Colorado Supreme Court. He argued that while the ex-president is unfit to return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he said he believes no court should bar the former president from being on the ballot.

“I think he should be prevented from being the president of the United States by the voters of this country. I think it's bad for the country if that happens,” Christie said during a New Hampshire Townhall Tuesday night.

The Colorado judges acknowledged the unusual nature of the case and echoed what many political pundits, observers and critics have said: that they are in uncharted territory, dealing with issues not seen before in this country. In American history, no president has ever tried to stage an insurrection to stay in power and judges have never had to consider these questions set before them.

“We do not reach these conclusions lightly,” the majority wrote. “We are mindful of the magnitude and weight of the questions now before us. We are likewise mindful of our solemn duty to apply the law, without fear or favor, and without being swayed by public reaction to the decisions that the law mandates we reach.”

As Millions Prepare for the Joys of Christmas, Some Recall the Pain of Jonestown 45 Years Later “The pain never goes away,” said woman who lost her mother. By Hamil R. Harris

Dec. 12, 2023

Jonestown Graphic

Photos of some of the children who died in Jonestown. Graphic: Courtesy of Dr. Jynona Norwood

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - It's been more than 45 years since Jim Jones forced more than 900 people to poison themselves in a mass suicide in Jonestown, Guinea. For Dr. Jynona Norwood, the pain never goes away. On Nov. 18, 1978, she lost her mother, a 2-year-old cousin and 25 other family members who are now buried in an Oakland, Calif. cemetery.

“I think about my mother every day. I think about my first cousin and how they tried to escape Jonestown...The pain never goes away,” said Norwood, who took part in a Nov. 18 memorial program at Evergreen cemetery because many victims of Jonestown were from the Bay Area. But 45 years after the worst mass suicide in world history, Norwood is far from closure. That’s partially because, in that same cemetery, Jim Jones’ name is listed alongside the victims in a mass grave where 305 children are buried.

“This man was not a minister,” Dr. Norwood said. “Those children’s sacred final resting place is no longer sacred as long as Jim Jones’ name is there.” While the deaths of the members of his church, called the People’s Temple, were widely reported as a mass suicide from a cyanide-laced flavor aide, many of the factual details remain mysteries. Many were reportedly forced to drink the punch at gunpoint. Dr. Leslie Mootoo, Guyana’s chief pathologist at the time, said the majority of the bodies had puncture wounds from needles between their shoulder blades. Rep. Leo Ryan (D-Calif.), the only congressman believed to have been assassinated in the line of duty, was among five who were shot and killed at the Port Kaituma airstrip as they tried to leave Guyana after checking on reports that people were being held against their will.

“It's a tragedy because so many lives were lost,” Norwood said in a recent interview. “Generations of young people who could have become a reporter, a journalist, an actor or a doctor, the president of the United States of America, so many inventions and cures and dreams were killed by this megalomaniac at this church with people who still loved him.” Norwood said Jones was protected by the members of Peoples Temple; yet he betrayed them. “The holocaust was history but you don’t see Hitler's name on the wall, 9-11 is history [but] you don't see those who flew those planes into the Twin Towers on a wall. How dare you insult the intelligence of America.”

Upon this year's 45 anniversary, CBS interviewed retired San Francisco police captain Yulanda Williams who is a survivor and former member of the Peoples Temple. Williams said in a documentary that she, her husband and their young child followed Jones to Jonestown to be part of what they thought would be a socialist paradise. "It was truly an active concentration camp and we were guarded 24-7 by armed security officers," Williams told CBS. “The fact is that they have no respect for Congressman Leo Ryan by wanting to put his name on the same wall" with Jones who ordered him assassinated and the "United Press International news team who were only doing their job,” Norwood said. “That is a mass grave site for the children. They didn't have dental records so they had to bury most of the children in a mass grave site in California. Forty infants are in that mass grave site.” Congresswoman Barbara Lee told the Precinct Reporter News that, “The Jonestown Massacre was a senseless, horrible tragedy, born of the evil of one man, that took the lives of nearly 1,000 innocent people – many African-American and many from the Bay area.

“As a member of Congressman Ron Dellums’ staff, I handled many cases of family members who were concerned about their loved ones in Jonestown. I was invited to go to Jonestown with the late Congressman Leo Ryan and a member of his staff, my good friend former Congresswoman Jackie Speier. But at the last minute I had a family obligation that could not be missed,” Lee said.

Norwood said Jones became a fixture in the African-American community by mimicking Dr. King's speech. “That's why you saw Black and White seated together in his church,” Norwood said. “Jim Jones lured the people by first trapping them with Dr. King’s speech. The most powerful images on the screen would make you adopt a lifestyle you didn’t even believe in.”

Dr. Amos Brown, Pastor of Third Street Baptist Church in San Francisco, said Jones often offered help to the masses with food banks, set up temporary tents to pay utility bills, and bring loads of money to pay rent for those in need. But Brown also said, “The man never would take off his shades! Something didn’t quite smell right.”

When asked whether such a tragedy could happen again, Norwood said, “It has been happening again and again. Look at Waco Texas, Heavens Gate,” said Norwood. She added that Jones tricked people with kindness. “He would pay your rent. My uncle went into business with him…Look at the pictures,” Norwood said. “Everybody was sleeping side by side. Most of them still loved him. He killed a 15-year-old, a 17-year-old a 2-year-old and you called him good. Leo Ryan never knew he was walking into an armed camp. His church said they only had 32 guns but there were thug Black men with guns. When it happened My grandmother started to call out the names of the dead and she was screaming and crying.”

Former USA Today Columnist Barbara Reynolds, who wrote a lot about the massacre when it happened said, “Jim Jones became the Black man’s savior because he sounded good, He was charismatic and he had people following him.” Reynolds' latest book,  “The rise and fall of the techno Messiah,” is about how easy it has become to spread modern day deception. “I don't say this but when I here Donald Trump speak I think about Jim Jones. Today we are flooded with lies."

Rev. Brown also said in an interview, “The legacy of Jim Jones is bad religion. He used religion to enslave, disenfranchise and to dispose Black people in America and it is happening today. Look at what [House Speaker Mike] Johnson is doing in the House of Representatives. He is bashing voting rights and he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.”

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The Jobless Rate for Blacks Drops By Frederick H. Lowe

Dec. 20, 2023

BlackUnemploymentGraphic

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from BlackMansStreet.Today

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The jobless rate for Blacks dropped, but not far enough to catch up with other ethnic groups.

The August jobless rate for Black men fell to 5.0 percent compared to the seasonally adjusted average in August 2022 to 6.0 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The unemployment rate for Black women was a seasonal adjusted 4.7 percent in August compared with 5.9 percent in August 2022.

Employment continued to trend up in health care, leisure and hospitality, social assistance, and construction. Employment in transportation and warehousing declined.

The unemployment rate for Blacks compared with Whites, Hispanics, and women was much higher.

The jobless rate for Whites is 3.4 percent, and for Asians is 3.1 percent; the rates for both groups rose in August. The unemployment rate for Hispanic men is 4.3 percent and 4.4 percent for Hispanic women.

The jobless rate for adult women stands at 3.2 percent, for teenagers, 12.2 percent, for Blacks, 5.0 percent, and for Hispanics the rate it was 4.9 percent and 4.3 and 4.4 percent for Hispanic women.

Rep. Harold M. Love, Jr., President-Elect of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, Tells How His Rise Could Affect the Nation By Michael A. Grant, J.D. 

Dec. 11, 2023

Rep. Harold Love and Michael Grant

Michael Grant (right), former president of the Nashville Branch of the NAACP and the National Bankers Association, congratulations Tennessee Rep. Harold Love on his election as the next president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators.

Rep. Harold Love

Rep. Harold M. Love, Jr.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) -  Tennessee Representative Harold M. Love, Jr., the next president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL), served as host to the NBCSL’s recent conference held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in downtown Nashville. Representative of Tennessee’s 58th legislative district, Love is now president-elect of the NBCSL. He will be sworn in as president next December 2025 in Washington, D.C.  

“One thing that I have thought about when it comes to leading NBCSL once I’m sworn in is to continue some of the work I’m doing now as president-elect. And one of the main focal points that I have been charged with by the current president is to establish a series of regional quarterly meetings.” 

Love says the NBCSL will begin holding in-person meetings throughout the year instead of one annual meeting, a strategy envisioned by current president, Alabama Rep. Laura Hall, and assigned to Rep. Love. 

“The benefit is that we can address issues a lot faster than to wait for the annual conference at the end of the year. Most legislators are in session part time and the issues that we have to address happens in many states and affects constituencies that we represent from voting rights to educational attainment to affordable housing and health issues,” he said. “And so, to have regional meetings on a quarterly basis will allow us to respond faster collectively and that’s the strength of NBCSL. We are a collection of caucuses from across the country…We work in silos, but it does help when we have an organization that can galvanize us and make us aware of issues that are moving from state to state. So much happens from January through November that we now can no longer wait to convene.” 

Representative Love has been groomed for national leadership since his youth. His father, the legendary Harold Love, Sr., served in the Tennessee state house for nearly 30 years. His mother, an educator, taught math for 10 years and acted as director of the federal government’s local Upward Bound program for 47 years at Tennessee State University. She passed away one year after retirement. 

Representative Love lavishes praise on both of his parents who taught him how to serve others. All of their efforts resulted in his finally being elected after three unsuccessful attempts to hold public office. According to Representative Love, who earned a master’s degree from Vanderbilt University in Theological Studies and a doctorate from Tennessee State University in public policy and who is also Senior Pastor at Lee Chapel AME Church, received some sage advice from his mentor, Rev. Sonnye Dixon: “Do the work for the community outside of elected office. Then you will be able to continue this work after you are elected”. 

From that, Rep. Love took that there are many paths to public service and to elective office.  

“I know some people who worked for individuals and for campaigns and then ran for elective office the first time and won. That was not my case. Even though I worked in my father’s campaign, even though I was fairly active in my community, I did not win until my fourth time running,” he recalls. “It was in that space that Rev. Dixon said to me, ‘I know you want to do well. I know you want to help your community. Put that to work outside the office. And then if you get in the office then you’ve done well. But even if you don’t get elected, you still engaged in helping to shape policy.’” 

There are many ways to serve, Love says. “We get caught up in the moment-in-time snapshot of election day…But we must also look for opportunities to serve on local and state level boards and commissions. We miss that. Local and state level boards. Or we can shadow someone in a legacy organization like the NAACP and the National Urban League and engage in that work.” 

The 2010 flood that damaged a section of Black Nashville, gave Dr. Love the opportunity to put Reverend Dixon’s advice to work. By taking the initiative and helping to organize the recovery funded by FEMA, a grateful community encouraged Representative Love to seek office again. This time, in 2012, he was resoundingly elected to represent the 58th district of the Tennessee General Assembly. 

The 2010 flood was a deep learning experience for Rep. Love. 

“We often times do not adequately look into the long-lasting damage that is done to African-American communities post a national disaster. You think about the uprooting of a family, you think about the one of several entities that can appreciate in value – that’s the home – and what that looks like for that thing to now be gone. What it looks like for a person to have to relocate their entire family to another part of town and acclimate themselves to a new community, new amenities to all that is new. What does that disruption look like from the standpoint of the ripple effect because it doesn’t just affect them. We’re talking about a whole neighborhood. It affects their families and affects their friends.” 

Three major initiatives to date are accomplishments of Representative Love. They are as follows: 

  1. Legislation to require TennCare to track and report on the most current treatment modalities for Sickle Cell Anemia. This legislation allowed constituents to hold TennCare accountable for keeping the public apprised of the latest developments in Sickle Cell research. Eleven states have subsequently passed similar legislation. 
  2. Representative Love introduced legislation to amend the property tax freeze program for citizens 65 years of age and older who met the income requirements. He got the income ceiling lifted from $31,600 to $60,000 annual income. This legislation has allowed countless seniors to maintain their status as homeowners. Regardless of the increase in house values, the freeze would cap the property tax rate through the duration of homeownership. 
  3. Finally, through a joint committee, headed by Representative Love, the historical under-funding of Tennessee State University, a Land Grant college, has been publicized. This gross inequity, dating from 1957-2020, has resulted in a finding that the State of Tennessee owes the school some half a billion dollars for capacity grant matching funds withheld. 

Asked what his vision for the NBCSL will be when he assumes office, Representative Love, with a comprehensive and methodical mind, stated that he wants to get his fellow legislators to take notice of the trend to empower state legislators by political conservatives and be prepared for what is coming at minority communities across the country, such as voter disenfranchisement and intimidation. He wants voters across the country to realize that voting is their obligation in a democracy. Also, that they should stay engaged in the political process from election day to the implementation of policies designed to ensure inclusion in government created opportunities. 

Rep. Love believes America’s leading issue is “Without a shadow of a doubt, voting rights.” 

He says he believes voting rights “impact everything else that we’ve been discussing. When you talk about voting rights it’s not just the surface-level election day process. The whole concept of who governs is linked into access to voting. If I don’t have easy, consistent access to vote, then I don’t get to engage in the process of deciding who governs. If I don’t get to decide who governs, then the person who’s dealing with legislation, that person may not have my interests at heart and I didn’t get to engage in a process to choose them or to not choose them…So, that is where it starts and ends as far as I’m concerns. Because without the ability to decide who governs, everything else is almost unattainable.” 

Michael A. Grant, J.D. is a former president of the Nashville Branch of the NAACP and the National Bankers Association in Washington, D.C.

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