Mothers Stand Against Police Shootings of Blacks

May 11, 2015

Mothers Stand Against Police Shootings of Blacks

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Toya Graham has been recognized for publicly reprimanding her son while he was participating in the Baltimore riots. (Facebook photo)

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - What do Toya Graham, Baltimore State Attorney Marilyn Mosby, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Maryland National Guard Major Gen. Linda Singh and U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch have in common?

They are African-American mothers who share similar sentiments about the shootings of Black people by police officers. All four women have held a prominent role in not only bringing justice to the forefront in Baltimore in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray, but also bringing about peace.

“To those who are angry, hurt, I urge you to channel energy peacefully,” Mosby told NBC on May 1. “I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace.’ However your peace is severely needed. To officers, these accusations are not an indictment of the entire force.”

Mosby is a mother of two girls, who has a family of law enforcers. However, according to news reports she is keen on holding officers accountable for their actions. Mosby, lead Maryland prosecutor in the case, filed charges against the six police officers involved in the arrest and death of Gray.

Gray, 25, died on April 19 from a spinal cord injury while he was in police custody. It sparked a massive riot in Baltimore, Md. with hundreds of young Black Americans expressing their anger and frustration with a justice system that unfairly and improperly targets them.

Rawlings-Blake led and continues to lead Baltimore through riots, burnings, media turmoil and enforced curfews. On May 4 the city’s mandatory curfew was lifted.

According to CNN, “the goal,’ said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake ‘has always been to not have the curfew in place a single day longer than was necessary.”

Lynch, new to the job, travelled to Baltimore May 5 to meet with city officials, members of Congress, law enforcement officials, as well as faith and community leaders, CNN reported.

Graham, a concerned Baltimore mother who caught her son throwing rocks at police has also staked a claim in the fight for justice and safety of Black citizens. Titled as “Mother of the Year” for what some say as adhering to the Black mammy stereotype, but as others say, truly caring for her son, she showed not only passion but resembled Black mothers – really all mothers – in America through her fear of losing a child.

“He gave me eye contact,” Toya Graham told CBS News. “And at that point, you know, not even thinking about cameras or anything like that — that’s my only son and at the end of the day, I don’t want him to be a Freddie Gray. Is he the perfect boy? No he’s not, but he’s mine.”

As shown by the mothers, racist actions spur trauma for all income levels as numerous Black people have been shot by police forces across the country. Whether it is Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Akai Gurley, Dante Parker, Yvette Smith or any one of the several dozens of Blacks killed, the trauma affects us all, no matter religion, race, creed, socioeconomic status or income. In fact, Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall was born in West Baltimore, Gray’s neighborhood.

President Obama also echoed the same sentiments as the mothers on May 4 during a press conference on the launch of My Brother’s Keeper Alliance in Bronx, N.Y.

“I want you to know you matter,” he said. “We are one people and we need each other. We should love each and every one of our kids and we should show that love.”

CBC Chair Rebukes Baltimore Police Union Prez for Statements to Prosecutors By Zenitha Prince

May 10, 2015

CBC Chair Rebukes Baltimore Police Union Prez for Statements to Prosecutors

By Zenitha Prince

U. S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield (D-N.C.), Chair, Congressional Black Caucus

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus lambasted the president of the Baltimore Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) Lodge 3 for statements addressed to Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby just before charges were brought against the officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray.

In a letter dated May 1, FOP President Gene Ryan asked Mosby to recuse herself from the case and to appoint a special independent prosecutor, citing alleged “conflicts of interest,” including Mosby’s marriage to Baltimore City Councilman Nick Mosby.

“These conflicts include your personal and professional relationship with Gray family attorney, William Murphy and the lead prosecutor’s connections with members of the local media,” Ryan alleges in the letter. He added, “Most importantly, it is clear that your husband’s political future will be directly impacted, for better or worse, by the outcome of your investigation.”

Ryan also asserted the innocence of the six officers charged in the death of the 25-year-old West Baltimore man who died of a severe spine injury while in police custody last month.

“Not one of the officers involved in this tragic situation left home in the morning with the anticipation that someone with whom they interacted would not go home that night,” the letter states. “As tragic as this situation is, none of the officers involved are responsible for the death of Mr. Gray.”

But CBC Chairman G.K. Butterfield chided Ryan for his statements. The North Carolina Democrat claimed the authority of his 30-year legal career—including stints as a Superior Court judge and State Supreme Court justice—to deem Ryan’s demand for a special prosecutor as “illogical and unfounded in the law.” He also said that Ryan’s blanket assumption of the officers’ innocence was “reckless and irresponsible.”

“You do not have the ability to make those determinations,” Butterfield said in a letter dated May 5. “It will be a jury verdict of Baltimoreans that will decide these cases after the parties present substantial evidence of guilt or innocence, not the Fraternal Order of Police.”

The congressman also called Ryan to the mat for questioning State’s Attorney Mosby’s ability to be impartial.

“These frivolous and inflammatory statements are repugnant to any citizen with knowledge of our criminal justice system,” Butterfield continues. “…You have damaged the good reputation of your organization in writing the letter, releasing it to the media, and making accusations that amount to nothing more than propaganda intended to interfere with the proper administration of justice.”

Without Fear or Favor by Rev. Jesse Jackson

May 10, 2015

Without Fear or Favor
By Rev. Jesse Jackson

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - On Friday, May 1, Marilyn J. Mosby, the States Attorney for Baltimore City, announced she had found probable cause to prosecute six Baltimore police officers for the death of Freddie Gray. Gray died while in police custody on April 12.

Her act was electric, turning angry protests and riots into a celebration. For the African-American community, finally, the state had acted to enforce the law even against the police, making it clear that no one can be treated as if they were less than human. Mosby acted in 18 days, about one-fourth the time Missouri officials consumed before making their determination about the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo.

In her clear statement, she described the “comprehensive, thorough and independent” investigation that had been undertaken by investors of the Police Integrity Unit, as well as by the state medical examiner and the Baltimore Police themselves.

Gray, she concluded, had been arrested illegally, having committed no crime. He died in police custody from injuries suffered while under arrest. He was handcuffed and shackled and, against Baltimore police regulations, placed in a van with no seatbelts, and no way to protect himself when thrown about. The van stopped repeatedly, with Gray asking for medical assistance. His request ignored, he was left shackled without a seatbelt. This was probably an instance of what is known as a “rough ride,” which police use to purposefully punish someone.

Mosby’s action was a courageous one. She is 35, and took her office only a few months ago. The head of the Police Union has already accused her of a “rush to judgment” and called for her to step aside for a special prosecutor. (Although a finding of probable cause only begins the process; all of these defendants can received their day in court before judgment is rendered).

Given the facts, Mosby stood up. She is not an antagonist of the police. She comes from a long line of police officials. Her father, mother, grandfather and many aunts and uncles were all police officers.

In her announcement of the charges, she stated, “These accusations of these six officers are not an indictment of the entire force...The actions of these officers will not and should not, in any way, damage the important working relationships between police and prosecutors as we continue to fight together to reduce crime in Baltimore. Thank you for your courage, committee and sacrifice for the betterment of the community.”

Throughout the Baltimore upheaval, she consistently praised the courage of those demonstrating peacefully for justice and the dedication and courage of the police for protecting the city “from those who want to destroy it.”

Mosby was criticized for speaking to the demonstrators in her statement: “"To the people of Baltimore and demonstrators across America, I heard your call for 'No Justice, No peace,'" she said. "Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man." But a prosecutor speaking out to calm her city surely is doing the right thing. She was criticized for telling Freddie Gray’s family that “no one is above the law.”

But surely that is a principle that every prosecutor is sworn to uphold.

She will be under intense pressure from police and much of the public. The habit of deference to the police, the willingness to condone behavior so long as the “blue line” of police stays unified, exists in Baltimore as well as across the nation.

Baltimore’s Mayor as well as U.S. Representatives. Donna Edwards and Elijah Cummings defended her integrity and the process. She will need greater support as she moves forward with the case.

The riots in Baltimore, the demonstrations across the country, are sparked by police abuse. But the police are placed in an impossible task of trying to keep order in communities like Sandtown, scarred by desperate poverty and deep despair, with joblessness, boarded up homes, closed plants, crushed hopes leading to drugs and too often violence. "Black lives matter" is not simply a demand for equal treatment from police and the criminal justice system. It must be a call for jobs, for schools, for hope.

Marilyn Mosby can’t provide that. But her decisive action gives people in Baltimore some hope for justice, and officials and people across the country an example to emulate. Her act is not simply about this instance of police brutality. It symbolizes the progress towards “liberty and justice for all” that we desperately need.

Baltimore Rising: Women Leading at the Frontline of the Fight for Justice Marc H. Morial

May 11, 2015

To Be Equal

Baltimore Rising: Women Leading at the Frontline of the Fight for Justice

Marc H. Morial

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - “Wherever there has been struggle, black women have been identified with that struggle.” – Ella Baker, “The Black Woman in the Civil Rights Struggle,” 1969

Marilyn Mosby was sworn into office as Maryland state’s attorney for Baltimore City in January of this year at the Baltimore War Memorial Plaza building. Before unseating the incumbent, Gregg Bernstein, for the job, the 35-year-old had never held an elected office.

Five months later, the city’s newly-minted, top prosecutor—the youngest chief prosecutor in any major American city—returned to the steps of the War Memorial Plaza last Friday to announce charges, including murder, manslaughter and assault, against six police officers in the unwarranted death of Freddie Gray—simultaneously emerging into the national spotlight as an advocate for those demanding police accountability and an adversary for those who would protect the status quo.

On the night of her swearing in, Mosby was joined by a host of dignitaries, including her husband, Baltimore City councilman Nick Mosby—who represents the West Baltimore area that has been the backdrop to the protests over Gray’s death—along with her two daughters. Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake also sat among the evening’s guests and, in a speech, advised Mosby that, “Public service is not just a job, it’s a calling and it is a privilege.”

Mosby’s calling to public service was born of tragedy and tradition. When Mosby was 14, her 17-year-old cousin was mistaken for a drug dealer and shot and killed near her home. She often credits her cousin’s murder as the reason why she decided to become a prosecutor.

She also comes from a five-generation long line of law enforcement officials. Both of her parents, an aunt, four uncles and her grandfather—who was a founding member of the first association of Black police officers in her hometown of Massachusetts—were police officers.

Growing up in a family of cops, Mosby knows the good, good police officers can do in our communities. She indicted six police officers on Friday, not an entire force. Her actions are not anti-cop; they are pro-police and law enforcement accountability. She assured the public—and the nation—that her administration is, “committed to creating a fair and equitable justice system for all. No matter what your occupation, your age, your race, your color or your creed.”

Like any major American city, Baltimore has its assets and its challenges. Its mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, has been at the frontline, grappling with the deeply entrenched challenges of the city left in her charge since replacing a former mayor, who resigned under charges of corruption, then being elected to her first full term as mayor in 2011. She has been touched by the almost inescapable violence that stems from these challenges when in 2002, she found her brother covered in blood and nearly decapitated by a sword that was used during a carjacking in front of her house.

In her 2014 State of Black America® essay, Mayor Rawlings-Blake painted a bleak picture, noting that in Baltimore city, more than 1 in 5 African-American adult residents live in poverty, while 1 in every 3 African-American children and teens are also living in poverty. She warned that, “Poverty is a deep-rooted ill, permeated with inequity, and it will take a focused, concerted assault on all fronts to excise it. We must think outside the box, and be bold as we confront the challenges that lie in our path. I am committed to the fight.”

Mayor Rawlings-Blake—the daughter of the legendary Howard “Pete” Rawlings, the first African American to become chair of the Appropriations Committee in the Maryland House of Delegates—has made her name on the national stage. She is only one of two Black female mayors of the 100 largest cities in the country. She currently serves as secretary of the Democratic National Committee and is vice president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

But she is grabbing our attention today, not for her impressive resume, but for her unflagging commitment to “the fight” in Baltimore for equality and justice. As she promised in a recent press conference, “As mayor, I will be relentless in changing the culture of the police department to ensure that everyone in our city is treated equally under the law.”

Now that the six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray have been charged, the prosecutor’s office will present its case to a city grand jury that will consider the charges and decide whether to indict. At the same time, the Department of Justice—now being led by another African-American woman, Loretta Lynch—is also conducting an investigation into the case and into the Baltimore Police Department.

I applaud these women, and all women—and men—who are fighting for justice for Freddie and, by extension, for us. I applaud these leaders as they claim their place in the pantheon of Black female fighters who have traditionally played a key role in our nation’s struggle for equality and justice—for all.

Environmental Racism By E. Faye Williams

May 11, 2015

Environmental Racism
By E. Faye Williams

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(TriceEdneyWire.com) - I remember a time when few, if any, Black people expressed interest in environmental issues. Our primary focus was on the day-to-day events that we could see and feel, and knew to be more tangible than air or water "pollution."

When the conversation centered on coal production or coal-powered plants, our conversations didn’t focus on how clean the coal was or the level of sulfur dioxide emitted by the plant. Our first comments usually questioned the number of Black people currently on the payroll. When there was a question of automotive fuel efficiency, our response was generally concerned with the fair representation of Blacks on the assembly line. Like most practical people, the "bread and butter" issues captured the attention of the larger portion of the Black community.

Thankfully, times have changed and many more of us have started listening to the scientists and measuring their theories with our own observations to come to the conclusion that "Global Warming" is real! Not only have we acknowledged the reality of a man-made effect on Earth's climate, many of us are connecting the dots of institutional racism and realize that Black people, other people of color, and low income people are the recipients of disparate and negative consequences related to the impact of climate change.

We may be conditioned for greater deliberation in pondering the long-term consequences of our decisions, but we’re far from ignorant and know a stacked-deck when we see or experience it.

One of the biggest wake-up calls in recent history was Hurricane Katrina. She was, undoubtedly, indiscriminant in the totality of her destruction, but her greatest impact on the human condition was centered in the low-lying areas of New Orleans' 9^th Ward. Any serious observer (looking through the lens of objectivity) could easily predict that a storm of major proportions could threaten an out-of-date levee system and inundate a community that, for generations, had existed below sea-level. The mainstream media will routinely NOT take you to the next level of understanding by telling you how regularly people of color are relegated to those or similar residential circumstances by a variety of socio-economic discriminators.

If we take a close look at the residential areas that border the major thoroughfares and interstate highways that transect major urban centers, we can easily confirm that the residents of these border areas are disproportionately Black and other people of color. The logic of this circumstance readily conveys the understanding that those disproportionately represented in these residential pockets are disproportionately exposed to the fumes that spew forth from the exhausts of the vehicles that use the roadways.

Recently, our President has created the design to generate greater public interest in the health impacts of Climate Change, especially among African Americans. Supporting this measure, the National Medical Association has released a study that concludes a connection between climate change and increased illness and mortality among African Americans.

NMA members report increased severe cold-weather injuries among patients. These physicians also report increased air pollution-related increases in chronic illnesses, increases in allergic symptoms, and heat-related effects. Other conditions include vector-borne diseases like Lyme disease and West Nile Virus which correlate to increased frequency based upon climatic conditions. Although it is somewhat a stretch to bring reference to the recent discord in Baltimore to a discussion about environmental racism, the connection is clear. Placing politicians who look favorably upon our circumstance into decision-making positions is a matter of collectively exercising our right to vote. The vote - that same tool that made it possible for Baltimore State's Attorney, Marilyn Mosby, to bring charges against 6 rogue Baltimore cops can also be used to position those who are dedicated to the protection of the environmental interests of citizens without regard to race or color.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women. www.nationalcongressbw.org. 202/678-6788)