Harvard Making Money Off Slavery Photos; Family Taking it To Court –

“Harvard’s refusal to honor our family’s history by acknowledging our lineage and its own shameful past is an insult to Papa Renty’s life and memory.”- See Below

Though this isn’t the first time white people have made money off of the hard labor and pain endured by Black people. So this isn’t a surprise, no. But I believe it is important to keep up to date on what is being done, and in this instance, I’m interested in how the lawsuit goes. How the courts treat this will tell us a lot.,, perhaps we know already… but each piece of evidence we need to ensure we are aware of.

Every day white people are benefiting from the forced labor Black people gave during enslavement while whites sat back, doing nothing but cruelty, reaping the financial gain which was in fact not rightfully theirs. Black men built this country, but this -and so much more- is insulted, disrespected deeply by the lack of reparations and by the lack of acknowledgement. (Black history month needs to be yearly… and real.)

Reparations are due, that is obvious to the intelligent and moral people. But, that’s another post. (I am still in process of moving but it’s almost over and once it is, I will be posting consistently and often.)

Black people are due at the very least acknowledgment, something Harvard is denying just as much as the rest of America.

Reparations isn’t even a question to anyone who has any morals.

Now, with more money being made off of the detestable history of slavery and adding disrespect by be heaving just as low as they are -and no they aren’t alone- but this case should be watched. Not only the case but the behaviors already shown; making money without a bit of care, the refusal to give credit and the lack of sensitivity and respect is disgustingly showing what we have known.

Being that they are being taken to court is what makes this a case so important to watch because most thievery like this has yet to be taken to court let alone noted in the media. White privilege needs to end.

I believe we should use each and every piece of evidence as more fuel to fight evil, to go after justice… Remember, evil cannot last forever. But we also have to acquire unity, end the violence and put true knowledge in the mind… We can remove evil…

Article follows.

In 1850, a Swiss-born Harvard University professor commissioned what are believed to be the earliest photos of American slaves. 

The images, known as daguerreotypes and taken in a South Carolina studio, are crude and dehumanizing – and they were used to promote racist beliefs.

Among the photographed: an African man named Renty and his daughter, Delia. They were stripped naked and photographed from several angles. Former professor Louis Agassiz, a biologist, had the photos taken to support an erroneous theory called polygenism that he and others used to argue that African-Americans were inferior to white people.

Now, a woman who says she is a direct descendant of that father and child – Tamara Lanier, the great-great-great granddaughter of Renty – is suing Harvard over the photos.

She has accused Harvard of the wrongful seizure, possession and monetization of the images, ignoring her requests to “stop licensing the pictures for the university’s profit” and misrepresenting the ancestor she calls “Papa Renty.”

The university still owns the photos. Lanier, who lives in Connecticut and filed the suit against Harvard in Middlesex County Superior Court on Wednesday, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages from Harvard. She’s also demanding that the university give her family the photos.

In an interview with USA TODAY, Lanier said she has presented Harvard with information about her direct lineage to Renty since around 2011, but the school has repeatedly turned down her requests to review the research.

“This will force them to look at my information,” Lanier said. “It will also force them to publicly have the discussion about who Renty was and restoring him his dignity.”

The suit, which lays out eight different legal claims, cites federal law over property rights, the Massachusetts law for the recovery of personal property and a separate state law about the unauthorized use of a name or picture for advertising purposes.

It also singles out the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which abolished slavery, arguing that Harvard’s possession of the photos “reflects and is a continuation of core components or incidents of slavery.”

“For years, Papa Renty’s slave owners profited from his suffering. It’s time for Harvard to stop doing the same thing to our family,” Lanier said.

Who was Renty?

Lanier called Renty a “proud man who, like so many enslaved men, women and children endured years of unimaginable horrors.”

“Harvard’s refusal to honor our family’s history by acknowledging our lineage and its own shameful past is an insult to Papa Renty’s life and memory.”

The suit also says Harvard has “never sufficiently repudiated Agassiz and his work.”

Jonathan Swain, a spokesman for Harvard, said Wednesday that the university “has not yet been served, and with that is in no position to comment on this lawsuit filing.”

Lanier is represented by the law firms of national civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump of Florida, who has worked high-profile cases for the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, as well as Connecticut-based attorney Michael Koskoff.

The photos taken in 1850 of Renty, Delia and 11 other slaves disappeared for more than a century but were rediscovered in 1976 in the attic of Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. 

One of the photos of Renty, showing him waist-up as he looks defiantly into the camera, has four decades later turned into an iconic image of slavery in the U.S.  

The lawsuit argues that Harvard has used the Renty images to “enrich itself.” The image is on the the cover of a 2017 book, “From Site to Sight: Anthropology, Photography and the Power of Imagery,” published by the Peabody Museum and sold online by Harvard for $40.

The photo also was displayed on the program for a 2017 conference that Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advance Study hosted on the school’s relationship with slavery. 

According to Lanier’s attorneys, Harvard requires that people sign a contract in order to view the photos and pay a licensing fee to the university to reproduce the images.

“These images were taken under duress, and Harvard has no right to keep them, let alone profit from them,” Koskoff said. “They are the rightful property of the descendants of Papa Renty.”

He accused Harvard of not wanting to tell the “full story” of how Renty’s image was seized – against the will of slaves for a professor who sought to “prove the inferiority” of the black race.

“Harvard continues to this day to honor him, and that’s an abomination,” Koskoff said.

In recent years, Harvard leaders have publicly acknowledged the school’s role in fostering slavery. In addition to the 2017 conference on slavery, the school convened a faculty committee a year earlier to jump-start scholarship and research on Harvard’s history with slavery. 

Former University President Drew Faust said in a speech in 2016 that Harvard was “directly complicit” in America’s system of racial bondage until slavery was abolished in Massachusetts in 1783. She said Harvard remained “indirectly involved through extensive financial and other ties” to slavery in the South. 

“This is our history and our legacy, one we must fully acknowledge and understand in order to truly move beyond the painful injustices at its core,” Faust said.

How the lawsuit began

The suit charts how Lanier, a former chief probation officer in Norwich, Connecticut, has on multiple occasion sought to engage the university about the photos to no avail.

Her attorneys say her effort began in 2011 when she wrote a letter to then-president Faust, whose “evasive response” did not provide an opportunity to discuss returning the photos to Lanier’s family.

Five years later, she says, she reached out to the student-run Harvard Crimson newspaper, but its editor relayed that the story had been “killed” because of concerns from the Peabody Museum. 

In the university’s use of the images, the lawsuit says, Harvard has “avoided the fact that the daguerreotypes were part of a study, overseen by a Harvard professor, to demonstrate racial inferiority of blacks.”

“When will they not condone slavery and finally free Renty? Because their actions denote something different than what they might say,” Crump said.

“We are trying to tell as many people throughout America, and especially black people, that Renty does deserve the right to have his image. He was 169 years a slave, but based on this lawsuit, we sought to make sure he would be a slave no more.”

Agassiz was considered one of the greatest biologists and geologists in the world in the mid-19th century. But his record has become problematic over time. He was an opponent of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. And in fiercely subscribing to polygenism, he held the now-debunked belief that white people and African-Americans came from different species. 

The photos he commissioned were taken by J.T. Zealy in a studio in Columbia, South Carolina. He published them a month later in an article titled “The Diversity of Origin of the Human Races.”

Agassiz’s legacy still lives on at Harvard. He founded the school’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, and his wife, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz, also a Harvard researcher of natural history, was founder and the first president of Radcliffe College, now the Society for the Collegiate Instruction of Women. A street in Cambridge is named after Agassiz, and so is a Harvard theater, the Agassiz House.

Lanier has spent recent years researching and talking to genealogical experts who she said have validated her ancestry.

Lanier said she began studying her family’s ancestry after her mother died in 2010 to follow up on family stories she heard about Papa Renty. She worked with Boston genealogist Chris Child, who is known for tracing ancestors of Barack Obama, according to a 2018 article in the Norwich Bulletin.

“It was a journey,” she said. “It was important to my mother that I write this story of who Papa Renty was down and to do a family tree.

“I made a promise to my mother,” she added. 

According to the newspaper, Lanier said she can trace her great-grandfather, named Renty Taylor and then Renty Thompson, to a plantation near Columbia, South Carolina, owned by Benjamin Franklin Taylor. This is where the photos are believed to have been taken.

She said she started providing Harvard evidence that she’s a descendant of Renty but that the school has been “non-responsive.” “Most importantly, I want the true story of who Renty is to be told. That’s all I’ve ever asked for.”

The Bulletin quoted Pamela Gerardi, the Peabody Museum’s director of external relations, who described the photos last year as “extremely delicate” and well cared for.

“We anticipate they will remain here in perpetuity,” she said at the time. “That’s what museums do.”

Link click here.

This Beautiful 11 Yr Old Black Female Has Raised 50 grand & Counting For the Cold & Homeless

“Arctic air on the way,” headlines read again….

Meet the beautiful, exceptionally precious and compassionate 11 year old, Khole Thompson. As noted in her photo, she raised $50,000 at least for the homeless in Chicago during this horrifically cold weather.

“When an 11-year-year-old girl in suburban Los Angeles learned Monday how cold it would be this week for homeless people in Chicago, she decided to do something about it.

After watching a newscast about the impending cold snap, Khloe Thompson created a GoFundMe page seeking donations for the local Salvation Army, a nonprofit group whose mission includes getting Chicago’s most vulnerable to a warm place this week.”

I went from grateful to enraged at reading; Bill Gates, who in an unrelated article (I believe it’s unrelated) he said,

“You don’t need to have a billion to be happy but it sure does help.” –Read that article here.

Imagine how much money he could have helped Khole donate to people in cities across America that have been severely impacted by the cold.

Then during the research for this post I found a few ways to help, which I’ll post below. That gave me a little hope for humanity…

We need to ensure that hope lasts, through people such as Khole Thompson, and their selfless actions.

The most recent cold is ongoing and there are things people can do in the less impacted states such as Texas,

Here is an excerpt from an article about a homeless man who was stolen from this world because he didn’t have a home in the absolutely freezing weather. This is just, I hope, to bring this to you emotionally; remember these are actual people suffering… Even when it’s not as severe as now, anyone in the more northern parts of the states knows how hard that cold can hit. This is unacceptable please don’t just close this article and move on to the next. Please be as brave as the precious child and the others like her… Check out links below.

The Maslow’s Army are blaming the cold for Martin’s death. They are also renewing their plea for change. The organization advocates for people battling addiction, alcoholism and mental illnesses.

In a Facebook post, Sam and Susan Landis of Maslow’s Army, a nonprofit called the death “unacceptable” and said the city needs a 24-hour a day facility where the homeless can find relief from the cold and heat.

Martin was familiar to members of The Maslow’s Army.

“We met Ken on our first Sunday outreach on Fountain Square almost one year ago. He was inspired to get his life together and began taking steps towards self-improvement,” read the another Facebook post on the Sam and Susan Landis page.

In August, the post said, Martin slipped in his recovery effort but “Maslow’s Army still continued to love on him and support him every way we could offering to take him to detox, meeting his basic needs every encounter including just last week.”

Maslow’s Army intends to continue its fight for a 24-hour shelter, taking its request to city hall. They have their sights set on the old Queensgate jail, a seven-story, 30,000 square foot space, that could house beds, a kitchen and more, Sam Landis said. All the group needs is funding.

There is one point on which Kevin Finn, President of Strategies to End Homelessness, agrees.

“The reality is, there is no reason a homeless person should be sleeping outside right now,” Finn said.

In Hamilton County, there are 12 homeless shelters and in Northern Kentucky, there are six, he said. Some are for families, some for women only, others men only. There are also two drop-in homeless shelters, both open 24 hours a day, one on each side of the river. They have expanded capacity for the winter months.

Shelterhouse, The Barron Center for Men in Queensgate offers an additional 200 beds in its winter shelter space through the end of February. Space is open to men and women. The Emergency Shelter of Northern Kentucky in Covington expands its shelter space through March, Finn said. Neither has ever reached capacity.

“What they might not know is when the weather gets the way it is now, some of the rules and requirements that are in place during warmer weather months are not required,” he said.

Last year, 90 percent of the area’s homeless people resided in a shelter, Finn said. Another 16 percent stayed outside on the street, the six percent overlap represents people who both went to shelters but also stayed outside.

There are people who, for a variety of reasons, will not go to shelters, Finn said. Reasons can range from mental health disorders, addiction or something else.

For placement or help getting in a homeless shelter, call (513) 381-7233.

Both Susan and Sam Landis have experienced homelessness and addiction. They are also studying for careers in the social service field at Northern Kentucky University. The system is not set up to meet the needs of homeless, Sam Landis said.

“We want to go to city hall and fight this,” Susan Landis said. “Tax dollars are being spent on a stadium and a fraction of this money could be used to help keep people warm. There are many groups out there with multimillion-dollar grants.”

“We still have this problem,” she said. “Let’s face it, something’s not being done.”

Councilman Chris Seelbach was one of the first to tweet the news of Ken Martin’s death. While the coroner has yet to determine the cause of death, Seelbach and others have drawn the conclusion Martin froze to death.

“We must do better,” Seelbach tweeted. “It’s just a matter of priorities. More tax money for those most vulnerable. Less tax money for millionaires and billionaires.”

Exactly where that money would come from and how much, Seelbach didn’t elaborate. He didn’t respond to messages left by The Enquirer.

Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld said he anticipates the council in 2018 will look at the issue of homelessness and make sure there are enough 24-hour shelters to protect people from dangerous weather, either hot or cold.

 

EVERY LITTLE BIT MATTERS; HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED?

Do what you can, please… These are some basic, very basic ways to help…

1. Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s hypothermia prevention and response programs provide emergency shelter, meals and crisis intervention during the coldest months of the year. These programs serve homeless men and women each night from November through February. The program provides shelter, two hot meals (breakfast and dinner) and a bagged lunch. Also provided is access to case management and medical treatment as well as mental health and substance abuse services.

In addition to the caring professionalism of Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s homeless services staff, this life-saving service wouldn’t be possible without faith partners throughout the region, who open their sanctuaries in partnership with Volunteers of America Chesapeake’s programs to ensure that no one is left in the cold.

–

2) How We Help End Homelessness

We reach out to homeless individuals through street outreach and mobile outreach services and once we engage with homeless individuals, youth and families with children, we provide assistance that ranges from paying a first month’s rent to offering permanent supportive housing so that people with disabilities can become stable and productive members of their communities. In 2017, we helped over 100,000 homeless individuals.

We have found that, without supportive services, housing is often not enough to end homelessness. From helping homeless youth, to providing assistance in obtaining disability benefits, to providing transportation, to offering intensive job training assistance to homeless veterans, we operate a number of innovative supportive services programs to support our efforts of ending homelessness in America.

EMERGENCY SHELTER

While permanent housing, often coupled with supportive services, is the best way to end homelessness, many individuals and families need short-term stabilization before they can find housing that will meet their long term needs. That’s why Volunteers of America, for over 122 years, has provided emergency assistance to homeless persons in the form of homeless shelters.

DROP-IN CENTERS

Since homeless persons can be reluctant to leave the streets and accept emergency shelter or transitional housing, we operate drop-in centers — places where homeless youth or adults can get off the streets and find a temporary safe haven. And often, when homeless persons begin to trust drop-in center staff, they agree to leave the streets and enter transitional or permanent housing.

PERMANENT SUPPORTIVE HOUSING

For a significant number of homeless Americans with mental or physical impairments, often coupled with drug and/or alcohol use issues, long-term homelessness can only be ended by providing permanent housing coupled with intensive supportive services.

TRANSITIONAL HOUSING

Our transitional housing programs are operated with one goal in mind — to help individuals and families obtain permanent housing as quickly as possible. Our programs serve diverse populations — from women and children who are victims of domestic violence to homeless veterans who have spent years living on the streets.

America Still Using Media to Attack the People/Brainwash with Racist Ideology

Soon my information strategies, consistency and etc will be changing for the better 🙂 But, as I work on creating and finishing up my new website and YouTube page I still am going to share here; I may even leave this page up after my new one is complete. In fact, I shall do. But I digress…

A few days ago, I heard one of the most typical “I’m not racist, because I had Black friends!” … This is a classic racist statement and by no means does it declare you are not racist, sadly. I would also like to note this moron was defending Donald Trump, I heard him telling the person he was with that he is the best president we’ve had in at least “40 years” — LOL seriously man? What a joke.

He was a white/irish dude, a ‘good ol’ country boy’ who has nothing to worry about when it comes to his rotting white privilege that remains abused.

If you are a regular reader or if you watch my videos you should know I of course did not remain silent. How could I? As I’ve said before I shall say again; it doesn’t matter if you are in a room full of only light skinned people, white people or etc, or if you are in a room full of people with different backgrounds or ‘skin tones’; EITHER WAY IF ANTI-RACISM IS TRULY WHAT YOU STAND FOR, THEN YOU STAND FOR IT WHEN YOU ARE BOTH ON YOUR OWN AND WHEN YOUR NOT! 

Only acting upon this so called “belief” that racism against nonwhites is wrong when there are people who aren’t light skinned or white is the same sort of logic the “Oh but I have Black friends so I can’t be racist!” crowd uses.

Your’e all in or you’re fake to me. But I strayed from my point here, again. Back on topic!

So, after hearing him behind me in line going on about Trump being some kind of god, when he brought in the, ‘you know he wasn’t racist because he used to have Black friends’ comment, I had to let him know that is complete and utter BS. During slavery women were ra*ed, but that doesn’t mean the preposterous white men weren’t racist by any damn means. That’s obviously just one example, a bit extreme but this topic is not a light one.

This guy and I both caught each other off guard, I think, because he wasn’t expecting me to turn around and lash into him with facts regarding his stupid argument and I wasn’t expecting him to just stand there and take it. He looked shocked and I felt confused, so I just turned back around and there was then an award winning silence for the rest of our time in line.

I’ve sat down with idiot racists before, I’ve confronted them many times but never have I got that “uhhh durrrr” look he gave me. I’m not sure what it meant but either way; we didn’t get anywhere other than I got him to silence his ignorance or stupidity.

Why am I sharing this story, you may ask? Because while I do not read nor watch “Fox News” I have seen the guy who replaced . Until tonight, I had never heard him however.

There are some supporters and people who get off on debating who states this doesn’t prove he is “with white nationalists” but I argue that indeed it does mean this and for 2 reasons:

1) I do have research I just don’t have time to type it up & fact check and

2) anyone who has support from any or all white nationalists, who has the views this idiot does on other human beings (i.e., immigrants, refugees, etc) because he wants his European culture preserved…

(which was a slip up there; an admission of what we already know and that is that white Europeans stole African history, made it their own and then denied the Blacks community the two most fundamental thing a community needs (just as a starting point). By stealing sense of identity, the history of a people, their home land, hell I could go on and on here… Stealing all of this, along with the equally as important traditions and cultures; replacing it with the European way of things; that means replacing what was once known  with a world of of violence and meaningless savagery.)

After centuries of denying the African roots and history these white Europeans finally received their wish… in schools, during “Black History Month” what is the starting point? Where does it begin? With slaves, or going to “get” slaves.

Prior slavery these Africans were queens and kings, they are the foundation which everyone from the Greeks, Romans, Europeans to each one of us today can thank for without them we wouldn’t have the wisdom and advancement they blessed us with. Such as (but damn sure not limited to) the philosophical, financial, cosmological, mathematical, complex scientific (and so forth) systems.

These are things that should be taught during “Black History Month”- but going along with European tradition -which this ass complains about being taken away (Ohhh that enrages me!)- it is exactly what they (white Europeans) want taught and not taught.

This is why one reason I soon will have my own livestream and blog, teaching truths that have been buried; among many other things of the concern.

In sum, if this video doesn’t show a racist that is on Fox News, scaring white people who don’t think for themselves or who are already so brainwashed they are just too far gone but his hate rhetoric doesn’t help resolve anything for the better.

With white nationalists praising him left and right, there is something going on, underground… We need protection..

 

Newark, NJ, ICE LockUp’s Exposed: Once Again! ANOTHER CRITICAL WATCHDOG REPORT: ROTTEN FOOD, DECAYING MATTRESSES

Why in hell do we have people in any positions of power who are abusing, in any shape or form, fellow humans, sexually harassing them, making them sleep in decaying beds…and then sarcastically playing it off as if it isn’t an issue… HOW DO THEY SLEEP AT NIGHT!?

And how do those of you who turn the other way live with your selfish souls?

This is more than I humane… and if you are one of these jerks who can’t even stand against what’s wrong but complain about those who DO speak out; it is you that is the fool and should be ashamed. I sure as hell am not and by being silent you only aid cruelty.

What is more, someone came talking to someone near me about a woman complaining about her food quality. He played some YouTube video they’d made into a joke of her, I didn’t fully understand what in hell they were on about…

Now I do. If I’d been more up to date then I’d have torn into their sick souls for truth and knowledge I will always inflict; I don’t care when or who you are… please share!

+++ start

A Newark, New Jersey immigrant detention center has been feeding detainees moldy, spoiled and foul-smelling food—an abuse that’s led detainees to file scores of grievances and to report symptoms of food poisoning, according to a report released Friday by the Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General.

The center, which can house more than 900 men, is run by the Essex County Department of Corrections, under an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. DHS inspectors conducted a surprise visit last July and found multiple health-and-safety violations of detainee rights and ICE standards. The inspector general’s report noted that the Essex County Correctional Facility also failed to disclose to ICE, as required, incidents involving fights among detainees and hospitalization of detainees for mental illness.

A detainee also found a loaded gun belonging to a guard in a bathroom, the inspector general’s report said.  Center staff admitted to inspectors that they told the detainee who found the gun “not to discuss the matter with anyone,” according to inspectors.

In the report, inspectors noted that detainees filed about 200 grievances about food quality during the first six months of 2018.

“For dinner, we were served meatballs that smelled like fecal matter,” one detainee wrote.

“The food that we received has been complete garbage,” another wrote. He also wrote: “I have a stomach infection because of it and the nurse herself told me it was caused by the food.”

Inspectors observed “expired and moldy bread” in a refrigerator, despite requirements that staff toss it out.  “The food handling in general was so substandard that ICE and facility leadership had the kitchen manager replaced during our inspection,” inspectors reported.

ICE asserted that after seeing a draft of the report its officials “immediately initiated a follow-up review process” at the Essex facility. ICE and Essex detention officials could not be reached for comment.

ButWNYC radio in New York reported that ICE, in a statement,

said that conditions inside Essex had improved and that ICE was “committed to continually enhancing” detention operations to promote “a safe and secure environment.”

The inspector general additionally detailed how inspectors last July found showers at Essex covered with mold. Staff had placed trash cans under holes in ceilings to collect rain leaking in; two leaks were in detainee rooms right over their beds.

When inspectors asked guards about decaying mattresses they observed, the report says,

guards said they “wait for detainees to complain” before staff put in a request that mattresses be replaced.  😡😡

The Newark immigration detention center isn’t the first facility where DHS inspectors have found neglect and substandard conditions.

In October, a DHS inspector general report found violations at the Adelanto detention center in California that included inappropriate handcuffing and shackling of detainees and medical neglect, as theCenter for Public Integrity reported.

A dentist employed at Adelanto, which is operated by the private GEO Group, Inc., told inspectors that detainees could use strings from their socks to floss their teeth if dental floss was not available to them.

Inspectors also found evidence that a disabled detainee in a wheelchair was placed into “segregation,” or isolation, for nine days, during which time he was unable to sleep in a bed or brush his teeth.

In January, another DHS inspector general reportaccused ICE of issuing only two penalties against contractors holding immigrant detainees despite finding 14,000 violations of detainee rights and ICE standards. The violations were found at 106 contract detention centers from 2015 to 2018. Violations included contractors’ failure to report alleged sexual assaults to ICE. Last September, the Center reported on private-prison companies’ history, and allegations of abuses that include medical neglect.

Excited to Report Colin Kaepernick’s Nike Commercial Drops During NFL Opener —

“The person said Nike will feature Kaepernick on several platforms, including billboards, television commercials and online ads. Nike also will create an apparel line for Kaepernick, including a signature shoe, and contribute to his Know Your Rights charity. The deal puts Kaepernick in the top bracket of NFL players with Nike.”

And let us not forget, Nike provides all NFL teams with both game day wear and other apparel, such as sideline wear. The partnership between the two was extended in March to run through 2028.

I think it’s both very depressing how heartless, selfish and mindless people are outraged at people who want to draw attention to an on going evil, especially to this degree. I would say it is almost funny but…it’s not funny at all, really. It’s tragic and the racism in this country that is tolerated -by the government alone- leads me to think about what the beautiful soul of Malcolm X said about civil rights vs human rights. Perhaps it is time to begin reaching for what he spoke of and was working on; appealing to the international community for assistance… Things since he was working for justice and equality have only grown more complex, but I also think in some ways we have an upper hand now.

But I digress. Back to those of you mad at Nike and Kaepernick for doing the right thing. 

It’s so funny how many people are hating on Nike now; such as in Denver one store is “clearing out” their Nike stock in, and I quote, “protest.” Yeah. Nike’s losing a lot of sleep over having a clear conscience.

If you are going to protest, make it something worth while like, oh, I don’t know, protesting innocent men, women and children being murdered or beaten, seems like a nice and moral place to start. That and/or demanding these killers do not walk free. Refusing to accept them being treated as innocent the entire trial IF it makes it that far. Paid vacations for killers… All because they protect you and you have no reason to fear them? Hmmm… what about those they don’t serve OR protect?

People are outraged over the display Kaepernick in particular is making. Why should I respect a government or the traditions held by many american’s when this country, the law enforcement here, they don’t give a damn about what they do to others. The good hearted will speak out, and get fired. Is this really an american tradition I want to follow? Hell no. How can any of you really think this “american tradition” is more outrageous than humane treatment, equality and justice?

Police vow to “serve and protect”— wait, I’ll say it this way as it reminds me of a post I came across earlier. Some guy was complaining about all the negativity towards cops. He said something like, “meanwhile, the police save thousands a day and no one pays attention” or something. So I replied, in part, with what I reply to this, “it’s disrespecting the national anthem and the american tradition,” BS:

“And meanwhile, not happening in any legal jurisdiction but once a year, police officer kills and is actually punished for his crime. being sworn to protect the people, not slaughter them, one murder by a cop should carry a heavy sentence unless he can prove he was not to blame. police in america can be caught on camera killing and walk away with nothing. or go buy and sell the gun they used to kill an unarmed human with. police are never in the wrong in america, except with people who want justice…and that doesn’t happen. so stop whining as though you really have it bad. try being a fishermen. they die more often than police while working as do others. and defending is different from what police do. the few i have seen do good were fired. real just system. “

Point of that comment post is… 1) all the players who haven’t or don’t join in protest against a wrong that has been done in one form or another; under one name or another, for hundreds of years, every last one of them should feel a great deal of shame for not being man enough to do what they could… If all players protested even just in the NFL, think of how things would change… Money forces change. But money also made some too damn blind; or perhaps they already were.

Either way, no real man would just look away, letting victims of the inhumane, unethical and on going homicides continue to be targets. Moreover, they are saying it is acceptable behavior to NOT punish those who abuse and/or murder if they have a blue shield in front of them. It’s okay, they are saying, to not have law enforcement not report to the FBI annually the number of people who have lost their lives. 

I am so grateful Nike has made the choices they have… They have selected NFL opening night as the night to air the first “Just Do It” commercial with Mr. Colin Kaepernick and others. Apparently Nike, as the following article describes, has always pushed for athletes to strive for more. Their actions give me reason to believe that rich as Nike as a company and such may be, they thus far are proving they actually are on the side of justice.

That being said, I’ll end my rant here and let you read on about the latest with Nike and Kaepernick. I hope others will come through…  And that includes anyone reading this as well as myself… Be a hero, regardless of how popular or unpopular you are… Every good and every bad action matters. Do the right thing even if those around you are not…

 

Nike has unveiled its first “Just Do It” ad narrated by Colin Kaepernick, and a person familiar with the situation says the spot is scheduled to air during the NFL season opener on Thursday night and during football games throughout the season. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the airing have…

via Colin Kaepernick’s Nike Commercial Drops; Will Air During NFL Opener — Black America Web

North Bay Man Sentenced For Stealing Funds Intended For Homeless Veterans — CBS San Francisco

This shows just how little the homeless matter; more over, to all you ‘patriots’. this is a huge slap to the face for if veterans truly mattered to you as much as they should and as much as so many people claim, there would be national outrage that this psycho is only getting a year (who wants to bet he is out before a year?)

Had these people not been homeless this case would be taken a lot more seriously by the courts and the people. Add fighting for the rights of homeless to the list of things I’ll be researching and writing about from here on out.

 

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) — A former case worker at an East Bay nonprofit organization has been sentenced in U.S. District Court to one year in prison for stealing $26,300 in federal funds intended to aid homeless veterans with short-term housing. William Andrews, 50, of Windsor, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge James Donato in…

via North Bay Man Sentenced For Stealing Funds Intended For Homeless Veterans — CBS San Francisco

We Need to Realize the Dreams of Young Black Immigrants…

****

“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” – Emma Lazarus

 

They are Black! They Are Beautiful! And, they too have a dream!

The current tension over protecting the dreamers is merely an extension of an historical conflict between those in America who support the sentiments espoused on the base of the Statue of Liberty and those who want a country that fulfills the most egregious desire of White Supremacists, to purge the country of non-white residents on their road to fulfilling their vision of an all-White America.

Last week, the nation bore witness when the president dispelled all doubt about the racist ideology that undergirds the agenda of his white house. Trump allegedly demanded to know during a White House meeting on immigration, why he should accept immigrants from “shithole” (Black) countries like Haiti or Africa–I’m not sure if the president realizes Africa is not a country but a continent—rather than White countries like Norway.

This was not the first time the president put his full racist attitude on display. The country saw it throughout the 2016 presidential campaign and again and again since he took office.

The president’s apparent attitude toward people of color is not only telling but also threatening to the hundreds of thousands of dreamers at risk of deportation since he ended DACA last September. Although the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals blocked Trump’s efforts to stymie the DACA program last week, the ultimate fate of the dreamers remains uncertain.

Amid the discussions on the probable racist ideology permeating the white house and the president’s implementation of obvious racist immigration policies that have resulted to date, there are nearly 3.7 million Black immigrants who account for about 8.4 percent of all immigrants—many of them from the very countries the president recently disparaged.

According to a report by the Center for American Progress, among the largest groups of Black immigrants, 48 percent are from the Caribbean, 43 percent from various African countries, and 3.6 percent from South America. Black immigrants also make up 25 percent of at least five major metropolitan areas including Boston, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, and Seattle.

The president has also inferred that immigrants from countries like Norway are preferable. He never qualified that statement. However, if his preference is based on qualifications rather than race, we must assume he is unaware of the fact that Black immigrants have as high a rate of education and employment as any other group of immigrants.

For example, 29 percent of Black immigrants have a bachelor’s degree or higher compared to 30 percent from White nations, and at least 29 percent have some college or an associates degree compared to only 19 percent from other countries.

Another area where the president is ill informed is in regard to employment. The reality is that at least 73 percent of Black immigrants sixteen years of age and older are employed, compared to 67 percent of all immigrants and only 64 percent of those born in America.

Currently, there are about 11,000 Black immigrants under DACA protection, although the Migration Policy Institute has estimated there are 36,000 African immigrants eligible for the deferred action.

There are those who believe African Americans should not sit idly by on the issue of immigration. Make your voices heard on this issue. Call your congressman, attend a rally, raise your voice in this discussion.

As the president and his supporters continue to push their racist agenda, minorities can not afford to sit silent. We have learned from history—to be silent is to be complicit. We must speak out before silence morphs from complicity to something more sinister. As history has also taught us—silence, equals death.

You can reach your U.S. representative by calling (202) 225-3121, and your U.S. senators at (202) 224-3121. Ask the operator to connect you to the individual office. To find out the name of your representative, enter your zip code here: www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative.

Center for American Progress Note: Data analysis of 2016 American Community Survey 1-year public use microdata accessed via Steven Ruggles, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Josiah Grover, and Matthew Sobek, “Integrated Public Use Microdata Series: Version 7.0” (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota, 2017), available at https://doi.org/10.18128/D010.V7.0. Labor force participation rates reflect the civilian, noninstitutionalized population.

Feature photo: Photo taken at a U.S. Naturalization Ceremony. (U.S. National Archives)

Originally posted here.

PRISONERS UNITED IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY JAILS WIN 5 CORE DEMANDS & SACRIFICE 3 DAYS OF CUSTODY MEALS FOR THE HUNGRY

This is vile and this sheriff is the true criminal…I am honestly at a loss for words, all the information is below and on the original posts page, which I strongly encourage you to read and share….
This is vital and should be on international news… But if you watch “Fox News” or “CNN” chances are you won’t see this… They are for-profit media, controlled by greed, money and the government… Please check the below link for the full information…and please, share….

Silicon Valley De-Bug thanks Prisoners United on every floor in the Main Jail and housing units M-5 and M-8 in Elmwood D.O.C. for courageously sacrificing all their custody meals to be donated to the homeless and hungry at Emmanuel House Salvation Army.

We also appreciate all efforts made between jail administrators, community organizations and the jail population to come to an agreement to meet the 5 core demands to end meaningless classification reviews, indefinite solitary confinement, group punishment, cruel and unusual punishment during out of cell time, and rigid visitation policies.

FACTS THAT REFUTE SHERIFF SMITH’S COMMENT:

• Over 70% of the Santa Clara County jail population is pretrial – meaning they have not been convicted of a crime.
• Being in jail does not automatically mean someone is a gang member, according to the JFA Institute Jail Classification System Evaluation audit prepared by James Austin in 2016, there is only 21 verified prison gang members in Santa Clara County.
• Prisoners United of Silicon Valley is the collective voice of the entire Santa Clara County jail population including all classification/security levels, color tops, racial groups (Black, White, Asian, Latino, Pacific Islander etc.) and creeds and is not lead by one man alone.
• Salvation Army is a tremendous community resource for those in need, including programs for those who have been convicted of a crime.

 ###

FURTHER DETAILS/CLARIFICATIONS:

Santa Clara County jail administrators came to an agreement to meet the 5 core demands to end meaningless classification reviews, indefinite solitary confinement, group punishment, cruel and unusual punishment during out of cell time, and rigid visitation policies. However, the administration stated it will take 3 weeks for the new classification system to kick in.

According to the agreement, the classification system will have face-to-face hearings, opportunity for prisoners to call witnesses to speak in their defense, the use of things such as education and rehabilitation certificates to have influence on their hearings, and the opportunity to contest anything.

The administration also agreed to suspend all in-custody inputs until the new system is in place. ⁱ

Prisoners in the jails should also be able to see what is in their file.

Captains Grumbos and Taylor finalized agreements with some of the prisoners inside.

The challenge of only having 35 classification officers is still a question. 

10/26/17 MEDIA UPDATE

Due to the understanding that there was an agreement made to avoid a hunger strike, Prisoner United in the 6C sureno unit, who were just recently rehoused to unsanitary cells in 6A in the Main Jail, ordered from commissary this past Sunday/Monday.

Due to Sheriff Smith’s comment, Prisoners United reverted their efforts to refusing all custody meals to see to it that their food is in fact donated to the homeless and hungry at Salvation Army who serve gang impacted, those recovering from drug and alcohol recovery and formally incarcerated.

Just last night when Prisoners United in 6A (formally 6C) received their commissary orders, prisoners protested and courageously left food items from their order, with some of their orders as large as $100, outside their cells to ensure that their commissary food is donated to the homeless and hungry at Emmanuel House Salvation Army, and prevent food waste.

Prisoners United in sureno units 6A Main Jail and M4B in Elmwood will continue to go on strike until they can sit down with jail administrators to guarantee inclusion that their Protective Custody status will be removed from their classification file in the new classification system set to be active in the next following weeks.

i “…another form of conduct that is reported by staff on inmates [are] called the Custody Input Reports or CIRs. These are used to record both positive and negative conduct behavior. Unfortunately, the CIRs are not part of the Custody Bureau’s database and cannot be analyzed for the entire jail population. However, as shown later in the report, these data were manually collected for the pilot test on the inmates who had been in custody for at least 60 days.” from Aug 2016 Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff Custody Bureau Jail Classification System Evaluation

Custody Inputs are basically an additional punitive tool that that does not fall under a rule violation/infraction or charge. The prisoner is given no notification, so the prisoner never knows what Custody Inputs are being put in their file. The administration agreed to give notice of every Custody Input in 3 weeks and to currently suspend all custody inputs so that it will not hold someone back from down-classing. Custody Inputs can also be used in the courts and follows you in prison. There should be no custody input. If its not an infraction or charge, then it should not be used as a tool of punitive action.

PRESS: JOSE (408) 661-2604 jose@siliconvalleydebug.org FAMILIES: BENEE (408) 529-5971 benee@siliconvalleydebug.org 10/25/17 Though a hunger strike in Santa Clara County jails could have been avoided after jail administrators agreed to meet the core demands during the week of October 16, 2017 — Prisoners United on every floor of the Main Jail and M-5 and M-8 lockdown […]

via PRISONERS UNITED IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY JAILS WIN 5 CORE DEMANDS & SACRIFICE 3 DAYS OF CUSTODY MEALS FOR THE HUNGRY — Prisoner Hunger Strike Solidarity

D.C. The 8th Annual Black is Back Conference & March on The White House This Week!

If ever there was a time to make note of a very important social event… And this
occurs on the upcoming 4th and 5th of November… Black is Back Rally, march and conference in Washington, D.C., has arrived for the 8th year! If you think this is a year to skip out on, I ask you to please reconsider… Things have been escalating for for hundreds of years, but as we clearly see, things are getting even more increasingly out of control regarding hate crimes, racism and this government. So, any glimmer of hope a select few may have believed in should be more than clearly gone now (if it were ever even there.)

In my opinion it is more vital now than ever for social action and unity… SO! Below you will find all the information you need regarding the 8th Annual Black is Back Rally, March & Conference starting November 4th.

Visit the Official Page if you are looking for information regarding travel arrangements and such.

Facebook Even Page HERE.

Official Page & Further Information HERE.

14 Year Old Black Female Missing in Las Vegas; URGENT Please Share

**update by original poster: the missing teen has been found and is well, safe with her family…. Blessings to all who assisted ❤ – 10/24/17

 

Urgent repost of article regarding a missing 14 year old girl in Las Vegas who may be with another girl, who is identified as a “chronic runaway”-please repost and share or contact her cousin at the email  Article Begins Below:

Fourteen year old Selina Brandon has been missing since Friday morning in Las Vegas. Selina has special needs and requires medicaion that she has been without for two days. Her family is desperate to find her.

Selina is 5’9” with long box braids and had on a floral shirt and blue jeans. She boarded her school bus at 7 a.m. and made it to the campus of Shadow Ridge High School in the northwest part of the city, but never made it to class. She was last seen at around 9 a.m. Friday morning leaving the campus of Shadow Ridge.

Selina is believed to be in the company of another teen by the name of Maggie, who is a known, chronic runaway.

Although Selina is 14, she functions on about an 11-year-old level. She likely does not understand the seriousness or gravity of what is happening right now.

This is the hardest and most personal post I have ever had to write. Selina is the only daughter of my first cousin, Shane Brandon. Listening to him choke up as he told me what was going on yesterday morning gutted me. I have never seen him so broken.

My family is asking for everyone’s help. If you see Selina or Maggie, please let me know right away. You can email me at my work email, monique.judge@thefmg.com.

We are not asking anyone to approach either of the two girls. That could simply put them in even more danger, or prompt them to run again, further delaying Selina’s safe return home.

Please just contact me or even the Las Vegas Metro Police and let them know that you have information on the whereabouts of Selina Brandon. The number to the LVMPD Missing Persons Detail is 702-828-2907. 

Selina was last seen with this girl, Maggie. This first post is from a previous time that Maggie ran away, but shows a good detail of her face.

Originally posted here.