Black Lives Matter-Ugliness of Racism.

spaminator

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San Francisco reparations committee wants to give $5 million to every longtime Black resident
Author of the article:postmedia News
Published Jan 17, 2023 • 1 minute read

San Francisco’s reparations committee wants to give $5 million US to every longtime Black resident of the city, according to reports.


The pricey plan would cost at least $50 billion if only 10,000 people qualified.


To qualify, people need to have identified as Black on public records for at least 10 years and be at least 18 years old. They also must qualify for two of a number of requirements, including having been born in the city or migrated to it between 1940 and 1996 and then lived there for 13 years, according to the Daily Mail.

The proposal will be submitted to Mayor London Breed and the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the San Francisco Human Rights Commission in June. Board President Aaron Peskin told the San Francisco Chronicle he hopes the proposal will pass.

They were unveiled weeks after the chair of California’s Reparations Task Force claimed the state’s Black residents were owed $1 million each.


The proposal also offers a number of other requirements to be handed out to qualifiers, including the creation of a “comprehensive debt forgiveness program” which would eliminate credit card and other debts, along with student and housing loans, according to the report.

“Black households are more likely to hold costlier, riskier debt, and are more likely to have outstanding student loan debt,” the proposal read. “When this is combined with lower household incomes, it can create an inescapable cycle of debt. Eliminating this debt gives Black households an opportunity to build wealth.”

The proposal also says qualifying low-income households should have their income supplemented to match the city’s median income — $97,000 in 2022 — for the next 250 years.



Slavery was never legal in California.

The proposal was compiled by the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee (AARAC), which was commissioned by the Board of Supervisors. It was first presented to leadership in December.
 

spaminator

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Illinois paramedics, ambulance company sued for man's 'barbaric' death
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Kathleen Foody ()
Published Jan 19, 2023 • 3 minute read

CHICAGO — The family of an Illinois man whose death prompted murder charges against two paramedics who strapped him facedown on a stretcher has filed a lawsuit against them and their employer, attorneys said Thursday.


Ben Crump, whose firm often handles civil rights cases and frequently represents the families of Black men killed by police, is representing 35-year-old Earl Moore’s family in the lawsuit against Peter Cadigan, Peggy Finley and LifeStar Ambulance Service. Speaking to reporters, Crump said police video of the paramedics’ interactions with Moore showed “barbaric” behavior.


“We saw it with so many tragedies in America,” Crump said, referencing killings of Black men by police, including George Floyd. “It’s just so tragic that now this pattern seems to be spilling over to the first responders, to the EMTs. When you look at that video, the reason it’s so shocking is because they offer Earl no consideration.”

Prosecutors have separately charged Cadigan and Finley with first-degree murder, accusing them of tightly strapping Moore on a stretcher after Springfield police who initially responded to a 911 call at Moore’s home requested an ambulance. Under Illinois law, a first-degree murder charge can be filed when a defendant “knows that such acts create a strong probability of death or great bodily harm.”


Moore’s mother, Rose Washington, said losing her only son has been unimaginably painful.

“They tied him down like some kind of animal and killed him,” she said. “My baby suffocated because of their actions.”

Edward Unsell, Cadigan’s attorney, said he had not seen the suit yet but a civil lawsuit had been anticipated. As for the murder charge, Unsell said he doesn’t believe prosecutors have probable cause against Cadigan.

W. Scott Hanken, Finley’s attorney, also called the criminal charge unwarranted, saying, “What happened may be negligent, but it’s not a criminal act and certainly not first-degree murder.”

A woman who answered the phone at LifeStar Ambulance Service’s office and did not provide her name declined to comment.


Experts in emergency medicine have said the Springfield case is a rare instance of prosecutors filing criminal charges against emergency medicine providers. Another prominent example is pending in Colorado, where a grand jury in 2021 indicted two paramedics along with three police officers for manslaughter and other charges in the death of a Black man, Elijah McClain.

Cadigan and Finley remain in the Sangamon County jail on $1 million bond each. They appeared via video for a brief court appearance Thursday, but no additional details of the case were discussed. They were scheduled to appear again Friday morning.

After Sangamon County prosecutors filed the charges this month, Springfield police released the videos which show a woman inside Moore’s home telling police that he is in withdrawal from alcohol and hallucinating. Police then call for an ambulance.


When Finley arrives she enters the bedroom, where Moore is on the floor. Soon after, she yells at him to sit up and asks repeatedly for his birth date.

“Sit up,” she says. “You know what, I am not playing. Sit up. Quit acting stupid. Sit up. Sit up now. I am not playing with you tonight.”

“You’re gonna have to walk cause we ain’t carrying you,” she adds.

Once outside the house, the video shows Cadigan forcefully putting Moore onto his stomach on the stretcher and both paramedics tightening straps across his back.

Springfield Police Chief Ken Scarlette has said he asked Illinois State Police to investigate after learning that Moore died after arriving at the hospital. An autopsy report listed Moore’s cause of death as homicide by compressional and positional asphyxia.
 

spaminator

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Ohio officer who hit woman in McDonald's dispute placed on leave
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jan 20, 2023 • 2 minute read
This screen grab made from video shows Butler Township officers Sgt. Tim Zellers, left, and Todd Stanley, right, restrain and arrest Latinka Hancock outside a McDonald's restaurant in Butler Township, Ohio, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023.
This screen grab made from video shows Butler Township officers Sgt. Tim Zellers, left, and Todd Stanley, right, restrain and arrest Latinka Hancock outside a McDonald's restaurant in Butler Township, Ohio, on Monday, Jan. 16, 2023. PHOTO BY MARIO ROBINSON/ LOCAL NEWS X /TMX via AP
DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio police officer has been put on administrative leave after video showed him punching a Black woman several times as she was taken into custody following a dispute at a McDonald’s over extra cheese on a Big Mac.


The incident, captured on video by a bystander, occurred shortly after 4 p.m. Monday at the restaurant in Butler Township, Ohio. It began after Laticka Hancock, 31, of Dayton, bought a Big Mac and returned to the restaurant a short time later because it did not have the extra cheese she paid for.


Hancock said a restaurant worker asked another employee to remake her burger, but that person later asked Hancock to pay more for the extra cheese. Hancock said she had already paid for it and asked for a refund, which she says she eventually received.

Hancock said she was then told police had been called and was asked to leave the restaurant. Two Butler officers — Sgt. Todd Stanley and Tim Zellers — responded there around 4:20 p.m. and approached Hancock, who spoke with them about what had occurred.

When the officers asked Hancock for her driver’s licence, authorities say Hancock told them she didn’t have one and refused to provide her identification. The exchange soon became heated, and one of the officers decided to place Hancock under arrest.

The officers said Hancock resisted arrest, and Stanley eventually hit Hancock on the right side of the face with an “open palm strike.” Hancock was then placed in handcuffs, put into a police cruiser and charged with resisting arrest and three other minor counts. Authorities said Hancock was bleeding from her mouth and was treated by an EMT who determined the wound was superficial.



Stanley has served on the Butler force for more than 22 years, while Zellers has served for about 2 1/2 years. Butler Police Chief John Porter said Stanley has no formal reprimands in his personnel file and was placed on leave as a result of repeated correspondence from concerned residents, including “a lot of hate emails and phone calls.”

Zellers has not been placed on leave, Porter said.

Hancock and her attorney, Michael Wright, held a news conference Wednesday to discuss the incident. Hancock said that she felt like she could have lost her life over a sandwich and felt lucky that she was able to now tell her side of the story.

“I don’t want people to feel like I’m complaining for a piece of cheese,” she said.

Wright said the responding officers “were looking for a fight, rather than to deescalate.”


He called for Stanley to be fired and charged with assault. He also criticized the restaurant for calling police over the dispute.

“If they can’t manage basic customer service, opting to potentially put a person’s life in jeopardy over a mishandled Big Mac, it doesn’t seem safe for Black people to go and eat at McDonald’s anymore,” Wright said.

Wright said no decision has been made yet on whether a lawsuit will be filed, noting that his firm was waiting for additional videos inside McDonald’s and more information from police.

McDonald’s did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Thursday evening.
CP26695375-e1674185017813[1].jpg
 

spaminator

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Illinois paramedics who strapped patient facedown on stretcher to face trial
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
John O'connor And Kathleen Foody
Published Jan 20, 2023 • 3 minute read

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Two Illinois emergency medical professionals should be tried on first-degree murder charges after a patient they strapped facedown to a stretcher suffocated, a judge ruled Friday.


Peggy Finley and Peter Cadigan are charged in the December death of 35-year-old Earl Moore in Springfield. They pleaded not guilty Friday and are being held in the Sangamon County Jail on $1 million bond each.


If convicted, Finley, 44, and Cadigan, 50, could each face 20 to 60 years in prison. Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow issued her decision following a contentious 3 1/2-hour preliminary hearing.

Springfield police first responded to Moore’s home around 2 a.m. on Dec. 18. Police body camera video shows that a woman inside the home told an officer that Moore was in withdrawal from alcohol and hallucinating.

Finley and Cadigan were summoned to the apartment. The body camera video shows the officers trying to get Moore to his feet to walk out the door for medical assistance, and then placing him in a prone position on the gurney. Cadigan, an emergency medical technician, strapped him in while Finley, a paramedic, put a blanket over him.


Finley later told hospital officials and an investigator that Moore had been combative.

An autopsy revealed that Moore died of “positional asphyxiation” and that he had two broken ribs, which State’s Attorney Dan Wright attributed during Friday’s hearing to Moore’s being strapped in so tightly facedown.

“There’s no medical reason to transport someone in a prone position,” Wright said.

Referring to the video, Wright continued: “Clearly, Mr. Moore is not combative. He was the complete opposite of combative. He needed help. For them to cover themselves by telling hospital staff that he was combative goes to their credibility.”

“If this goes to trial, the state is going to have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that when they placed him on the gurney, that they thought to themselves, ‘I think I’m killing him,”‘ said Justin Kuehn, one of Cadigan’s attorneys. “Were their acts reckless? That’s for another day.”


As the defendants entered the courtroom, Finley saw seven family members sitting in the front row. She took a seat at the defence table and with tears streaming down her face looked at her family and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

Family members declined to comment to The Associated Press.

Under Illinois law, a first-degree murder charge applies when a defendant “knows that such acts create a strong probability of death or great bodily harm.” Experts have said it’s rare for emergency medical providers to face criminal charges in a patient’s death.

Friday’s hearing was riddled with objections, mostly from defence attorneys who claimed Wright was creating testimony in questioning the lone witness, Sgt. Zachary Weisahaar, an Illinois State Police investigator.


Finley and Cadigan told Weisahaar that Moore had been combative. Cadigan said he based that conclusion on seeing Moore flailing and a police officer jump out of the way, Weisahaar said.

Bodycam footage showed Moore unable or unwilling to stand on his own and at times thrashing. His blood-alcohol level was .077, which is just under the legal limit for driving in Illinois of .08. After entering the apartment, Finley yelled at Moore to get up.

Weisahaar said Finley told him that she monitored Moore’s vital signs on the way to HSHS St. John’s Hospital. But Wright played for the court a recording of Finley’s call to alert the hospital of their arrival in which she said, “I’m not messing with vitals because I don’t want to poke the bear.”


Both Finley and Cadigan had sufficient training and knowledge to know that Moore’s position was detrimental, Weisahaar testified. He said Cadigan told him that in 20 years, he had never been instructed that putting a patient in the prone position was dangerous.

Weisahaar also said he learned that Cadigan had attended two training sessions just last year in which the instructor insisted that warning against prone positions was emphasized.

Another Cadigan attorney, Edward Unsell, said it’s more likely that the broken ribs Moore suffered resulted from hospital staffers’ attempts to resuscitate him.

Finley’s attorney, W. Scott Hanken, said the charges aren’t warranted.

“There are two venues — civil and criminal. We’re in the wrong venue,” Hanken said. “You’ve not heard one scintilla of evidence that goes to accountability.”

Their next court date is Feb. 6. Their attorneys say they will seek their release on personal recognizance.

Moore’s family announced Thursday that they have filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Finley, Cadigan and their employer, LifeStar Ambulance Service.

— Foody reported from Chicago.
 

spaminator

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Five Memphis police officers fired after fatal traffic stop
Author of the article:Reuters
Reuters
Published Jan 21, 2023 • 1 minute read

WASHINGTON — Five Memphis police officers who had been involved in a traffic stop that ended with the death of a Black man were fired Friday, the department said in a statement late Friday.


The firings followed the death on Jan. 10 of Tyre Nichols, 29, who had been pulled over while driving three days previously, the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported. Memphis police had said there was one confrontation during the initial stop, then Nichols ran away. He was later arrested after another confrontation, the newspaper said.


The five police officers who were fired had been on the force between five years and 2-1/2 years. The department said that they violated department policies on use of force, among others.

“The egregious nature of this incident is not a reflection of the good work that our officers perform with integrity, every day,” Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said in a statement.

There was also a federal investigation opened into Nichols’ death, the newspaper said.

Rodney Wells, Nichols’ stepfather, has asked for the officers to be charged with murder, the newspaper said.
 

spaminator

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New trial sought over stop after jury mostly favours police
Author of the article:Associated Press
Associated Press
Published Jan 23, 2023 • 2 minute read
In this image taken from Windsor, Va., Police body camera footage, Lt. Caron Nazario is helped by an EMT after he was pepper-sprayed by Windsor police during a traffic stop in Windsor, on Dec. 20, 2020.
In this image taken from Windsor, Va., Police body camera footage, Lt. Caron Nazario is helped by an EMT after he was pepper-sprayed by Windsor police during a traffic stop in Windsor, on Dec. 20, 2020. PHOTO BY WINDSOR POLICE /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHMOND, Va. — Attorneys representing a U.S. Army lieutenant who was pepper-sprayed, struck and handcuffed during a traffic stop have filed a motion for a new trial after a jury found mostly in favor of the police officers.


Attorney Tom Roberts said a new trial is essential to show the justice system works, WWBT-TV reported. The motion was filed Friday, days after a federal jury in Richmond awarded Lt. Caron Nazario less than $4,000 in a lawsuit in which he had sought more than $1 million.


“He was shocked, everybody was shocked, the nation was shocked,” said Roberts, who co-represents Nazario. Letting the verdict stand would be a miscarriage of justice, Roberts said.

Video of the 2020 incident in the small town of Windsor got millions of views after Nazario filed the federal lawsuit, highlighting fears of mistreatment among Black drivers and raising questions about reasonable police conduct.

Last week, the jury found former Windsor police Officer Joe Gutierrez liable for assault and awarded Nazario $2,685 in compensatory damages, according to attorneys on both sides of the case.


Roberts said a new trial is needed because the jury also should have found that Gutierrez battered and falsely imprisoned Nazario.

“In this circumstance, with the assault that the jury found, it triggers the right for him to have that reasonable resistance to say I’m afraid to get out of the car and to stay in his car,” Roberts said. “Therefore, everything they did after that point constitutes battery and assault.”

The jury also awarded Nazario $1,000 in punitive damages after Windsor police Officer Daniel Crocker illegally searched Nazario’s SUV, the attorneys said. A federal judge already ruled last year that Crocker was liable for the search.

Anne Lahren, one of Crocker’s attorneys, said in a statement Monday that they planned to file an opposition to the motion for a new trial this week.


“A motion for a new trial seeks an extraordinary remedy reserved by the Courts for exceptional circumstances which are not present here,” Lahren said. “Caron Nazario is unhappy with the jury’s verdict and seeks to blame the trial itself rather than the merits, or lack thereof, of his own claims. We firmly believe that the jury got it right with its verdict.”

The jury found in favor of Crocker and against Nazario’s claims of assault and battery and false imprisonment, attorneys said. The jury found in favor of Gutierrez regarding the soldier’s claims of battery, false imprisonment and illegal search.

Crocker is still on the force, but Gutierrez was fired in April 2021, the same month Nazario filed his lawsuit.

In August, a special prosecutor determined that Gutierrez should not be criminally charged but should be investigated for potential civil rights violations.
 

The_Foxer

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Roberts said a new trial is needed because the jury also should have found that Gutierrez battered and falsely imprisoned Nazario.
And this is why the left is so fond of totalitarianism.

"A jury of his peers reached a conclusion that is different than what I have determined they SHOULD have reached so the process must be repeated until we find people who DO reach the conclusion i've deemed to be proper. It's the only way to make the system fair."

It's one step from that to "why are we even bothering with juries in the first place, we know what the verdict should be anyway. Save the cost of a trial!"
 

spaminator

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New dawn of racial segregation the opposite of what MLK dreamt for the future
Today, the institutions that lead this country want us to look to race first and character is an afterthought

Author of the article:Brian Lilley
Published Jan 25, 2023 • 3 minute read

A little over a week ago, the United States marked the Martin Luther King Day holiday. It’s not a holiday in Canada, but many took time to honour and pay tribute to the remarkable man that Reverend King was.


It’s too bad that in both countries we’ve strayed so far from his goals, his stated objectives in how we try to deal with racial injustice. Today, in an attempt to deal with race issues, we have everything from segregated hiring to segregated social events happening, it’s truly shocking.


At the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom event in August 1963, 200,000 people listed as King delivered the I Have a Dream speech.

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character,” King said in one of the most memorable lines he ever delivered.

His message resonated with many, it made an impression far and wide.

Those words, whether I knew them or not at the time, influenced how I was raised. I was always taught to judge someone by how they acted, how they treated others, the content of their character instead of the colour of their skin.


Growing up in the melting pot that was Hamilton’s East Mountain, this idea was practical rather than theory. We didn’t have to imagine what it would be like to deal with people of other races and cultures, we lived next to each other, went to school together, played together.

Look at the person, not their race nor ethnicity, we were taught in school.

Today, the institutions that lead this country have reversed that and want us to look to race first and character is an afterthought. We see it in hiring policies and now we even see it in segregationist social settings from yoga events on university campuses held just for “Black-identifying students, staff and faculty” or Black Out nights at the theatre at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.


“A Black Out is an open invitation to Black Audiences to come and experience performances with their community,” the NAC website reads.

“The evenings will provide a dedicated space for Black theatregoers to witness a show that reflects the vivid kaleidoscope that is the Black experience.”

The National Arts Centre, as a federal institution dedicated to presenting the performing arts for all Canadians should be presenting plays that reflect the diversity of Canada. They should also be encouraging all Canadians, from all backgrounds, to attend the theatre or other arts performances.

What is bothersome is the apparent segregationist appeal. Rather than encouraging Black theatregoers, in what is a mostly White but slowly diversifying national capital to attend, the NAC makes it sound like this event is only for Black patrons.


“There are no racially segregated shows at the NAC,” Annabelle Cloutier, executive director, strategy and communications for the NAC, said in response to questions.

While she said one of the nine performances of the play Is God Is will be dedicated “to those who self-identify as Black and their guests.” She added, though, that no one would be turned away — “there will be no checkpoints for Black Out night ticket holders and no questions will be asked about anyone’s identity, race or gender.”

It’s good that Cloutier can confirm that but disturbing that it had to be asked.

Whether it is a job in the federal government, reports claiming that the Ontario civil service is a “White supremacist” organization, or attempts to split people based on race, we seem to be going backwards, dividing more rather than coming together.

We talk a good game about equity, diversity and inclusion, and companies and governments spend millions to hire the latest consultants, and divisions grow. The simple message of the I Have a Dream speech is lost and MLK would weep at where we are today.

blilley@postmedia.com
 

Tecumsehsbones

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I'm pretty sure MLK was American.

That aside, OK, so we're not at his dream. We're also not at "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," nor at "peace, order, and good government."

Question is how to get there. I'm also pretty sure simply bitching about True Dope won't move us far along the path.
 
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The_Foxer

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I'm pretty sure MLK was American.

That aside, OK, so we're not at his dream. We're also not at "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," nor at "peace, order, and good government."True.

Question is how to get there. I'm also pretty sure simply bitching about True Dope won't move us far along the path.
True. voting him and his liberals out will be necessary. And that's just to start.

To be honest - what we need are better voters. There was no excuse for voting for trudeau the second or third time. By that point we'd seen the scandals, the broken promises, the debt, but most of all - the corruption. And corruption like that cannot be tolerated. If that gets punished whenver it shows up, we get better and stronger gov't focused on staying in power by being good boys. I'm sure they'll still cheat but you make it much harder and limit it.

And the second thing is you have to put an end to the blatant racism which is accepted today. And that's the racism that says all white males are terrible people, all black people are 'marginalized'. all Asians must be held back from getting into university because they're too smart, etc. You can't fight racism by being more racist. It just doesn't work - it has the opposite effect

What we have right now is division - black lives matter instead of all lives matter. Special appointed Islam reps for gov't but not for any other religion. East vs west, vaxxed against unvaxxed, rich against poor, etc etc etc. Is there any group that hasn't been polarized?

That has to stop, and gov'ts that practice that have to be punished at the polls.