Erick Tavira's Family Files Lawsuit Against Rikers. Latino Man w/Mental Health Issues Hung Himself Waiting 16 Months for Trial. Held on $20k Bail for Misdemeanor in Reprehensible Jail Run by Liberals

From [HERE] The grieving family of the latest detainee to die in New York City jails has filed a wrongful death claim against the Correction Department.

Erick Tavira, 28, used a bedsheet to hang himself about 2:15 a.m. on Saturday in a mental observation unit at the George R. Vierno Center at Rikers Island. He is the 17th person to die in custody this year.

The circumstances, including whether staff had been monitoring him, remain unclear and are under investigation.

“According to [the Correction Department’s] own version of events he never should have been able to take his life while in a mental observation unit,” said the family’s lawyer M.K. Kaishian.

Tavira struggled with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as a teen, the family said.

“When he sought help from hospitals, courts, judges or systems, they failed him again and again,” the family said.

Kaishian said Tavira was arrested for assault on a police officer when he went to Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem to seek treatment for his mental condition.

“He was actively seeking mental health care at the time and he was criminalized for it and now he’s dead,” Kaishian said.

Tavira was let go on supervised release and then arrested again June 13, 2021, for a misdemeanor. He was accused of attacking a 14-year-old boy without provocation in Washington Heights. At the time, Tavira was living at a homeless shelter on Randalls Island.

Facing assault and strangulation charges, Tavira was ordered held on $20,000 bail because of the previous charge of assaulting the officer, landing him at Rikers Island.

Tavira was optimistic on the phone with family during the 16 months at Rikers before his death, reminding his relatives to put funds in his commissary account right up until the week he died. But Kaishian said the family was also aware he wasn’t getting the treatment he needed while there.

“He was always checking in on us and putting our needs first,” the family said. “He eagerly looked forward to reuniting with us as a free person.”

A rally in memory of Tavira and the 32 other people who have died in the jails since Jan. 1, 2021, is planned for Tuesday at City Hall.

“The Department of Correction has been on notice that the conditions in its jails are deplorable and deadly but has, at best, repeatedly refused to protect the people in its custody or meet their most basic needs,” the family said. “Meanwhile, others in power knowingly and continually send New Yorkers to [Correction Department] jails, places from which many, like our beloved Erick, will never come home alive.”

As Liberals in Baltimore Seek to Criminalize More Things Black People Do, a White Judge is Mad b/c 2 Black Men Wrote "Racist" in Soap Suds on His Windshield after He Declined their Request to Clean it

From [HERE] A federal judge overseeing Baltimore Police’s reform efforts called officers last Sunday and reported that a pair of squeegee workers gave him the middle finger, spat on his car and wrote “racist” in suds on the windows.

No property was damaged, no one was injured, and neither squeegee worker was charged in the incident, according to a police report. But U.S. District Court Judge James K. Bredar’s run-in with squeegee workers, and the ensuing police response, has renewed focus on squeegeeing and raised questions about the necessity of having law enforcement respond to certain situations.

“The fact of the matter is not every challenge should be met with policing and prosecution,” said Dave Jaros, who heads the University of Baltimore School of Law’s Center for Criminal Justice Reform.

Bredar and his wife were stopped last Sunday afternoon at the intersection of North Avenue and Mount Royal Terrace when two squeegee workers approached their SUV and offered to clean the windshields, according to a police report. Bredar and his wife refused them, and the pair became hostile, with one of them giving the middle finger to Bredar’s wife, the report said.

Bredar, who was a passenger in the SUV, took a photo of that man, age 20, who then proceeded to spit on the car, the judge later told police. Bredar, who is White, reported that the other worker used his squeegee to spell out the word “racist” on the SUV windows.

After the couple drove off, Bredar called Baltimore Police, asking the department to send officers to the intersection. Once there, the worker who apparently gave the middle finger spoke with officers, who gave him a warning and told him to stop squeegeeing at that intersection. [MORE]

Can Unelected Federal Reserve Authorities, Issue a Digital Dollar without Support from Congress or Public Input or Review?

From [HERE] The White House’s exploration of a government-backed digital dollar is raising an implicit question that has received little attention: What role does Congress have in the decision?

Federal Reserve officials, including Chairman Jerome Powell, have said the central bank wouldn’t issue a digital dollar without support from Congress, but that leaves open at least the possibility that the Fed could move forward with buy-in that falls short of legislation. And that, in turn, raises a new question: What would buy-in have to look like to satisfy the Fed?

“The definition of support is the piece that remains murky,” said Jennifer Lassiter, executive director of The Digital Dollar Project. “We know they're looking to the administration and to Capitol Hill for some type of concurrence or guidance to move forward, but we don't know what shape that takes.”

Congress’ role could prove decisive in a project that may profoundly change how Americans handle their financial affairs and that some see as essential to U.S. standing in the global financial system. Depending on how congressional support is expressed, it could undermine consumers’ confidence in a digital dollar, raise legal challenges that stop the project in its tracks or fail to deliver the stability the rest of the world has found in the dollar for decades.

In eight reports on digital assets released in September, the White House sidestepped the question of whether legislation is needed. The reports, done in response to President Joe Biden’s executive order in March, included two that examined potential technical designs and policy objectives of a government-backed digital dollar should it “be deemed in the national interest and pursued.” 

The administration, however, declined to release a Justice Department document commissioned by the same executive order assessing whether legislation would be needed to issue a digital dollar. The administration didn’t respond to questions about why the assessment was withheld or whether it will be made public in the future.

“It's kind of the missing piece to the puzzle in order to fully understand what the next step is,” Lassiter said in an interview. 

‘Bipartisan concern’

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, including some of the earliest supporters of a digital dollar, say the Fed should not issue a central bank digital currency without legislation clearing Congress first. 

The undisclosed Justice Department document didn’t escape the notice of members of Congress. A handful of House Republicans led by Financial Services ranking member Patrick T. McHenry, sent a letter this month to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland asking for a copy of the assessment. 

“I think there's bipartisan concern about it and an interest in better understanding these trade-offs,” McHenry, R-N.C., said in an interview. He and other committee Republicans also sent a letter to Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard in September asking her to clarify whether legislation is needed. 

Unelected Black Rolebot DA Walks Out of Debate in Liberal San Francisco After Being Heckled by Black Protesters, Students

This is the moment protesters heckled the District Attorney of San Francisco off a university stage after she postponed a trial set to prosecute a police officer.

DA Broke Jenkins, a black rolebot who is running for office by promising to restore order after ousting her predecessor, left after around 10 minutes of heckling.

Among other things, the students were demonstrating against Jenkins' postponement of a trial against Christopher Samayoa, a San Francisco police officer who shot and killed alleged carjacker Keita O’Neil in 2017.

The DA is set to face SF voters four days after she was appointed to replace the recalled Chesa Boudin.

A poll conducted by Bay Area-based EMC Research found Jenkins leading the race with 49% of survey respondents, 20 points ahead of her nearest rival - as she is the candidate supported by the wealthy liberal, white establishment. [MORE]

Lawyers’ Committee Applauds Department of Agriculture for Provision of $800 Million to Distressed Farm Loan Borrowers

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the Federation of Southern Cooperatives/Land Assistance Fund applaud the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) announcement that it has provided nearly $800 million from the $3.1 billion in assistance for distressed farm loan borrowers through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).

“The USDA’s recent actions to expedite debt relief for distressed farm loan borrowers is an important first step toward alleviating the economic pain suffered by the most marginalized farmers, who are disproportionately Black farmers and other farmers of color,” said Damon Hewitt, President and Executive Director of the Lawyers’ Committee.

The Lawyers’ Committee and The Federation recently shared recommendations with the USDA designed to ensure that the planned relief and reforms under the IRA reach Black farmers, who have historically experienced discrimination by the USDA.

Previously, the Lawyers’ Committee represented The Federation as a defendant-intervenor in Miller v. Vilsack, a lawsuit in which white farmers sued to block the more targeted and fulsome form of debt relief promised to Black farmers and other farmers of color in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, a $1.9 trillion economic stimulus bill designed to speed up the country’s recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit unanimously ruled in favor of intervention by the Federation in Miller.

Although the Miller case was later dismissed on mootness grounds as a result of the repeal of Section 1005 by the IRA, the Lawyers’ Committee and The Federation remain committed to ensuring that Black farmers and other farmers of color receive the relief they need and deserve. The Lawyers’ Committee and the Federation look forward to working together to advance equal opportunity in the implementation of the relevant provisions of the IRA. 

“McDonald’s Takes Billions from Black Consumers and Gives Almost Nothing Back." McDonalds Fails to Dismiss Byron Allen’s $10 Billion Lawsuit. Suit Claims It Refuses to Advertise with Black Media

EAT IT FAST WHILE ITS HOT B/C ITS NASTY WHEN IT COOLS DOWN. McDonald's Commercials Use "Showcase Blacks" to Imply that Speed Eating its 1/4lb Sugary SHamburger & "Genocide Fries" Won’t Cause McSweats or McIndigestion

From [HERE] Byron Allen’s $10 billion racial discrimination lawsuit against McDonald’s will go to trial next May after the fast food giant tried and failed to have the suit dismissed three times.

The Chicago Crusader reports the trial is set for May 30, 2023, after Judge Fernando Olguin determined last month that McDonald’s failed to meet the bar to prove Allen’s Entertainment Studios made no reasonable claim for discrimination.

“McDonald’s apparent refusal to even offer terms for advertising on The Weather Channel makes little business sense given that The Weather Channel has higher ratings and wider distribution than the two [white-owned] comparator networks,” Olguin wrote in the dismissal.

Allen, the owner of the Allen Media Group, filed the $10 billion lawsuit alleging McDonald’s, which has an advertising budget of more than $1 billion, has refused to advertise on his networks and spends just $5 million advertising with Black media.

The suit also claims McDonald’s created an “African American Tier” with a smaller advertising budget where Allen’s TV networks have been categorized.

This isn’t the first time McDonald’s has been sued for racial discrimination. In 2020, 52 Black former McDonald’s franchise owners filed a discrimination lawsuit claiming they faced “systematic and covert racial discrimination,” with McDonald’s denying them the same opportunities as their white counterparts. A federal judge recently dismissed the class-action lawsuit, but the plaintiffs have until Oct. 21 to file an appeal.

Last year, the burger chain bought 13 locations from former MLB player Herb Washington as part of a settlement in a racial discrimination lawsuit. Washington, who once owned more than 20 McDonald’s locations, sued the burger chain claiming it racially discriminated against him by having him purchase low-volume restaurants in Black neighborhoods and forcing him to downsize his base years later after grading his locations unfairly.

MCTROUBLE. PHOTO ABOVE is FROM “SUPER SIZE ME,” a movie about THE SHAM BURGER CHAMP.

In a statement, Allen explained the motive for his lawsuit.

“This is about economic inclusion of African American-owned businesses in the U.S. economy,” Allen said in a statement according to the Crusader. “McDonald’s takes billions from African American consumers and gives almost nothing back. The biggest trade deficit in America is the trade deficit between white corporate America and Black America, and McDonald’s is guilty of perpetuating this disparity.”

Last year, McDonald’s said it would increase advertising with Black-owned companies from 2% to 5% of its total budget by 2024.

Allen has sued other large companies for their lack of Black advertising, including Comcast cable.

Oldest Black-Owned Insurance Company Goes Quietly into Liquidation

From [HERE] After more than 120 years, the oldest black-owned insurance company in the United States has all but come to an end, and will soon be liquidated.

North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Co., which began in 1898 and whose iconic headquarters building helps define the Durham skyline, stopped writing new business in 2016. With a heavy debt load, it was placed into rehabilitation two years later, according to local news reports and state regulators.

The rehab and recovery has not succeeded. This week, a Wake County judge approved a petition from state regulators that the 240,000-policy insurer be liquidated. Premiums and claims will be covered by the North Carolina Insurance Guaranty Association, the state Department of Insurance said.

“The entry of an order of liquidation enjoins all persons from instituting any action at law or in equity or any attachment or execution against NC Mutual,” the insurance department said on its website.

Questions can be directed to the claims department at (800) 626-1899 or (919) 682-9201, and claims correspondence should be sent to NC Mutual, P.O. Box 281709, Nashville, TN, 37228.

NC Mutual was founded by several Carolina businessmen who initially sold burial insurance. The firm eventually expanded to 48 U.S. states and created other institutions, including Mechanics and Farmers Bank, according to reports in Spectrum News 1 and the Triangle Business Journal.

The company was credited with establishing Durham as a burgeoning business hub known as “the Black Wall Street.” But in later years, reports said that The Mutual, as it was known, lagged in technology, customer service and underwriting.

Strawboss Chicago Mayor in Talks w/Feds Over Forced City Reforms in Environmental Racism Probe. Pollution, Storage and Waste from Factories and Plants in Latino/Black Areas Impacting Residents Health

ELECTING BLACK ROLEBOTS IS BLACK POWER? WHERE EXACTLY HAVE THE BLACKS BEEN EMPOWERED? ACCORDING TO SOPHIE RASOF:

Environmental racism is a term used to describe the disproportionate exposure to toxic and hazardous waste in low-income minority communities due to the inequality of environmental policymaking and laws (Pellow 2000 and Brulle and Pellow 2006). Environmental racism is an extension of the systematic racism that minority groups have faced in the United States throughout history. Specifically, Latinx and African Americans are at a systematic disadvantage, unable to access appropriate resources, and are put at a higher risk for health and economic disparity. In Chicago, factories and industrial manufacturing production plants are placed in predominately Hispanic and Black communities. Air, water, and ground pollution from these production facilities impede on the health of the overall community both directly or indirectly. The collective exposure to these pollutions is at much higher rate than the surrounding white-affluent neighborhoods. Improper storage of hazardous waste, illegal dumping, and lack of education and protection for the workers all contribute to unjust and unequal environmental protection. This is a human health crisis causing higher rates of asthma, cancer, respiratory illness, lead poisoning, and cardiovascular disease seen at exponentially higher rates in these communities (Brulle and Pellow 2006). The accessibility to healthcare is limited in low-income minority and immigrant communities. This, in combination with unsafe living conditions, leads to suffering of specific populations. Chicago’s segregated neighborhoods allow for specific minority communities to be targeted and ultimately exploited. [MORE]

From [HERE] Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is negotiating with President Joe Biden’s housing officials over potential city reforms after federal investigators accused Chicago of environmental racist zoning and land-use practices.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has held off on making an official declaration of next steps in an almost two-year civil rights investigation. The agency could force the city to make significant and permanent changes to its planning processes or risk losing millions in federal dollars.

After Lightfoot just months ago appeared to be bracing for a fight, HUD said Thursday that the two sides are now in discussions.

“The department seeks to obtain voluntary resolution of matters throughout the course of an investigation and has paused enforcement processes to advance negotiations,” HUD said in a written statement. [MORE]

Track-a-Trick: In Tenn, 1 in 5 Blacks are Barred from Voting [Racists Make it Hard to Vote to Promote the Illusion that Voting is Power. Your Vote Only Matters If the Election is decided by 1 Vote]

According to FUNKTIONARY

Track-a-Trick – the political version of trick-or-treat where the big-pimping elected ghoul turns a trick on the voting fool—and covers its tracks by robbing directly from you whatever it lacks! Addicted to the political process you abuse—and every single time you vote, you still seem to lose. (See: VOTE, Elections, Pollworkers, Taxtortion & Politicians)

Two-party System – Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-dumb—working together systematically to keep you down, confused, and passively subservient to a system that is relegated to solving life’s problems and conflicts through the iron rule of political power. The real two-party system is the tail-gate and the after-party. Don’t vote—Act! Delete the Elite! Secret Ballots beget secret “government.” In order to bring in a new dawn of civilization, an advancing one, we must educate ourselves on the liberating power of symbioacracy and its four noble pillars: individuality, spirituality, noble law and knowledge—which restructure the dynamics of human relationships through the Golden Rule of serving others without being subservient to anyone while beneting all. We can invoke and activate (unleash) this dormant aspect of the Kingdom of heaven on Earth as soon as enough people have seen enough and realize that political power happens only through coercion and deception. Political structure and process has been a failing experiment for aeons. It’s not to late to join the afterparty of Reality and begin to see what the promises of infinity hold for everyone—including you and me. (See: Big Brother, Golden Rule, Contract, Kingdom of Heaven, Political Power, Authoritarianism, Iron Rule, The Representative System, Politics, VoteScam, Creativity, ChoicePoint, Republican, Tyrannolaw, Voting, Campaign Elections, VOTE, Electionomics, VOTERS, Freedom, Plutocracy & Electoral College)

From [HERE] One in five Black residents of Tennessee are prohibited by state law from voting. In combination with numerous other election barriers, advocates say, people of color have been broadly disenfranchised by white lawmakers maintaining their grip on power in the state. 

Tennessee has one of the most draconian laws in the country stripping voting rights from people convicted of felonies. More than 450,000 citizens in the state, disproportionately Black and Latino, are affected.

“We are not going to have a fully functional electorate unless more people have access to voting,” said Kathy Sinback, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee. “All of these policies have a disproportionate effect on our marginalized communities, our Black and brown communities. It truly is a remnant of what happened after the Civil War, when mass incarceration began and there was a concerted effort to disenfranchise, to police Black people to the point where they did not have full citizenship rights.”

Since the 2020 presidential election, access to voting and political representation has become even less equal.

In 2020, amid concerns about COVID-19 exposure, a court blocked the state’s requirement that first-time voters appear in person at a polling place. That ruling has since been overturned. 

Voters must qualify under a specific set of circumstances to cast absentee ballots in Tennessee. Fear of COVID-19 exposure or transmission is not one of them. When casting a ballot in person, Tennessee voters face one of the strictest voter ID laws in the country. They’re required to present a photo ID issued by the state or federal government, and student IDs, even from state colleges and universities, are specifically prohibited. [MORE]

6 in 10 Whites want Race out of College admissions [Most whites also believe in white supremacy] and Believe Black Kids are Excluded Due to their Inferiority Not the Racist Public Fool System

From [HERE] More than 6 in 10 Americans support a ban on the consideration of race in college admissions, according to a Washington Post-Schar School poll, but an equally robust majority endorses programs to boost racial diversity on campuses.

The findings illuminate the turbulent crosscurrents of public opinion on affirmative action as the Supreme Court revisits the fraught subject barely six years after it upheld the limited use of race in admissions at the University of Texas. On Oct. 31, the justices will hear arguments in cases challenging race-conscious admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

If the court’s conservative majority reverses decades of precedent and prohibits the consideration of race and ethnicity, the Post-Schar School poll conducted this month finds 63 percent of adults would support the change. At the same time, 64 percent say programs designed to increase racial diversity of students are a good thing. Support for boosting diversity is high across racial and ethnic groups, while Black Americans are less supportive of banning race as a factor in admissions than people of other backgrounds.

Americans appear torn over policies meant to remedy historic inequities in educational opportunity and uphold the principle that students learn a great deal through encounters with classmates who don’t look like them. [MORE]

Amos Wilson: Is Black America Dying of Natural Causes or Strangulation by White Supremacy/Racism?

The bane of the African community is the exploitative White American community which projects a so-called civilized, fraternal, egalitarian, liberal face while concurrently seeking to maintain White supremacy. This means that the White American community must maintain African subordination while not appearing to do so. It must cannibalistically sacrifice the vitality, autonomy, and if need be, the life of the African American community while posing as its benefactor and savior. It pleads innocence while washing its hands of the blood of African people. This duplicitous task can only be accomplished by making it appear that the African community is dying of natural causes, not of an ingenious attempt on the part of the White American community to strangle it to death. This means that African American hands must be used to plunge White American-manufactured daggers into the hearts of African American citizens. This is the assigned role of the Black-on-Black violent criminal. How this role is played out will be delineated in the chapters that follow.

To explain the problem of African subordination in terms of racism, racial hatred, and the like, is to misdirect and mislead the African community down the irrational and destructive path of seeking to overcome "racism" (as if "racism" could exist without some race of people being empowered to practice it) while leaving the power (and need) to practice this behavior in White hands. The African American and worldwide African communities have chased phantom explanations and solutions to their detriment. While the explanations and solutions expressed in this book may or may not be accepted by the reader, he or she must accept the fact that new explanations and solutions must be found and applied full speed ahead!. [MORE] and [MORE]

Brazilian Muslims demand Harvard return skull of slave who fought in uprising

From [HERE] The Islamic community of Salvador, in Brazil’s Bahia state, has pushed Harvard University to repatriate the skull of an enslaved man who allegedly took part in a famous uprising of African Muslims in the city in 1835.  

The skull is part of a Harvard collection of human remains of 19 people of African origin likely enslaved in the Americas.

The University’s Peabody and Warren museums also hold the remains of some 6,500 Native Americans, and have for decades faced pressure in the United States to return all of them to their communities or descendants.

Earlier this year, Harvard established a committee to investigate the institution’s collection of human remains and ways of returning them.

According to student newspaper The Harvard Crimson, the university agreed in September to repatriate the remains, though no further details on the process have been published.

Bahia's Muslim community, which began its campaign in September, now plans to make direct contact with Harvard through the Islamic Centre and House of Nigeria in Salvador. [MORE]

Gun Ownership Among Law Abiding Black People On the Rise, according to researchers [defying liberal clogic that possessing a gun somehow makes you less safe]

From [HERE] Gun ownership trends in Ohio and across the country are shifting, especially in the Black community and among women, authorities say.

Annette Sumlin is one of the faces of that trend.

“I know a lot of single African American women of all ages, and they’re scared to leave their homes at night, and sometimes in the day because they are afraid something may happen to them,” said Sumlin, 36, of Cleveland. “I also believe that my gun gives me my sense of security and it ensures that I can protect my home no matter what happens.”

The country began to see a spike in firearm purchases in 2019, when a little more than 13 million background checks were recorded. The numbers increased to 21 million in 2020 amid the pandemic, then decreased to 18.5 million in 2021, according to an analysis conducted by the National Sports Shooting Foundation. This year is set to fall in place as the third highest year for background checks.

In 2021, there were more than 5.4 million first-time gun buyers, a decrease from the 8.4 million in 2020. Half of guns the guns purchased were handguns.

Over 33% of gun buyers in 2021 were women. [MORE]

Black Strawboss Sheriff Tells Fed Jury that He Strapped Handcuffed Inmates to Restraint Chairs for Up to 6 Hours at a Time for their Own Benefit, Not Punishment in Atlanta Area Jail [run by liberals]

ACCORDING TO FUNKTIONARY:

Straw-Boss – a Sambo who is appointed a certain oversight role for the white power structure Overseer. It is the job of the Straw- Boss to establish a formal organization to effectively and systematically carry out the wishes of the racist white supremacist power matrix while serving his own personal needs and ends through patronage power. 2) a ranking Snigger. 3) Toby. 4) “Safe-House Negro.” 5) responsible (to the white racist supremacist ideology) Negro. 6) the gatekeeper for Black professional positions gained through (acquiesced to) various sexual positions. 7) Pork Chop Boy. (See: McNegro)

Quisling – the name for a traitor, coined in April, 1940, meaning one who is content to accept the yoke of the conqueror for the sake of being given office and trinkets, even against the feeling and expression of the conquered people, and moreover, prepared to use the force continuum against his/her own people to impose the conquerors decrees. (See: SNAGs)

From [HERE] and [HERE] An Atlanta-area sheriff defended himself Thursday in federal court against charges that he violated the civil rights of multiple detainees by strapping them into restraint chairs for several hours as punishment.

Federal prosecutors indicted Victor Hill in April 2021, accusing the Clayton County Sheriff of using the restraint chairs for purposes other than for emergencies, such as when an inmate threatens to injure themselves, someone else, property or "has demonstrated violent or uncontrollable behavior."

The controversial yet popular sheriff, who has served in the elected position for ten years despite having already faced prosecution before, took the stand in the seventh day of trial. 

He told the court that he put detainees in restraint chairs because they showed "pre-attack indicators" and because of "the totality of the circumstances." He added that restraints can be used by law enforcement even during traffic stops to avoid potential attack or escape attempts. 

Hill and his defense counsel argued that the restraint chairs are used as a "preventative action as opposed to a reactive action," and that detainees can be placed in them based on their actions prior to their arrest.

But prosecutors argue that the seven alleged victims were already handcuffed and compliant with officers after their intake into the jail and exhibited no threatening signs to justify Hill strapping them into chairs for four or more hours.

One of the detainees was 17 years-old at the time and was brought into custody for vandalizing his home after having a dispute with his mother.

"Destructive behavior is a pre-indicator of violence," Hill said as his reason for placing Chryshon Hollins in a restraint chair.

When asked by prosecutors why he told Hollins and another detainee, "I'm going to sit your ass in the chair for 16 hours straight," Hill said they need a "strong male role to keep them in line" because many of the detainees were raised by a single mother and that females may not be able to get them under control as well. 

Hill also said that he was not aware that the teen had been put in the chair for an additional six hours after he had already been restrained for four, which is the maximum time for it to be used according to the official guidelines. 

Hollins said during his testimony on Monday that he cried throughout and that it "felt like torture." 

Despite Hill's statements that medical personnel check on inmates who are in restraint chairs every 15 minutes, two of the detainees said that they were not offered bathroom breaks and were forced to urinate on themselves. 

Walter Thomas, who was arrested for speeding with a suspended license and drug possession, told the court Tuesday that he urinated on himself "about three or four times."

While Hill testified that he ordered for the chair to be used on Thomas because he was not complying with an officer during intake, there is no video evidence, even though the sheriff said there is constant video surveillance inside the jail. 

When asked by U.S. Attorney Brent Gray if the two detainees who were taken out of their cells and then put in restraint chairs were being destructive, Hill said "No, not at the jail."

One of the detainees, Glenn Howell, was shown obeying an officer's instructions while being searched and calmly sitting in a chair handcuffed for several minutes unattended in a video presented to the jury earlier in the trial. 

A deputy complained to Hill that Howell had damaged his property after they had a payment dispute over landscaping work. Hill said he called Howell out of concern for the deputy's safety and as the conversation grew ugly, was told to "go fuck himself."

Hill said that because of this threat to law enforcement by Howell, he put him in the restraint chair after arresting him for "harassing communications."

"These type of people are a threat to jail security," Hill said, contradicting testimony provided Wednesday by two officers working in the jail during Howell's arrest who said he never threatened anyone or showed aggressive behavior. 

“It felt like a lifetime," Howell said about his five hours spent in a restraint chair. 

Howell testified that he began to experience claustrophobia while restrained in the chair and was denied medical attention when he expressed concern that he was having a heart attack.

Prosecutors presented the jury again with a video of Joseph Arnold, one of the detainees who is shown in handcuffs, complying with officers and asking if he was entitled to a "fair and speedy trial," to which Hill responded, "You're entitled to sit in this chair," before strapping him in.

Based on information he had received about Arnold's alleged crime of assaulting an elderly woman, Hill said he had made the decision to put him in the chair before he was even brought into the jail. 

Arnold said the restraints were “very painful and humiliating,” during his testimony.

However, Hill repeatedly testified Thursday that to his knowledge no inmates have been injured while being strapped in the chairs.

His statement contradicts photos and videos shown by prosecutors of red welts on the wrists of multiple detainees, and a grisly gash on both wrists of one of the men, Desmond Bailey. 

Hill's defense counsel also questioned Elizabeth Smith, a nurse from the jail and Clayton County Chief Deputy Roland Boehrer, who both said they had no knowledge of, or involvement with, any of the seven detainees. 

Mississippi Courts are Helping Cops Keep Search Warrants Out Of the Public’s Hands

From [HERE] No-knock warrants remain under fire as they continue to needlessly increase the death toll of residents who often have no idea who’s violently entering their home and, therefore, respond in unpredictable ways. Supposedly obtained to increase officer safety, these warrants often seem like a handy way to put officers in “fear for your safety” mode, thus justifying the violence that follows.

But how often are they obtained? That’s tough to tell. Very few law enforcement agencies are willing to speak openly about their use/abuse of these warrants. Fortunately, public records and court proceedings will often provide the information cop shops and prosecutors won’t share freely.

Unfortunately, that’s not always the case. Warrants and affidavits are part of the court record in criminal proceedings. Warrants and their accompanying paperwork are often sealed by court orders, preventing the public from seeing them until the government (judge, law enforcement agency, etc.) feels comfortable sharing them.

In Mississippi, however, the status quo is even worse than the hit-and-miss warrant access available elsewhere in the country. This ProPublica report shines a light on the seemingly concerted effort to keep warrant documents out of the public’s hands across the state. (via FourthAmendment.com)

The opening details the struggles of public defender Merrill Nordstrom, who was simply trying to challenge the warrant (which happened to be no-knock) that had led to her client’s arrest. Police had violently entered her client’s home searching for drugs — an assault predicated by the alleged sale of less than a gram of marijuana to an informant. No drugs were found but cops came across a gun her client wasn’t allowed to own. 

Hoping to find warrants showing a pattern of violent no-knock raids predicated on alleged criminal acts that seemingly would not require this show of force, she went to the Greenville courthouse to read through other warrants. That’s when she discovered the court did not keep these records. Perversely, the local justice system was lending itself to injustice.

Though she had the search warrant for Bryant’s home, she couldn’t find records for most other raids in the city. The search warrants and supporting documents weren’t at the courthouse, even though the state Supreme Court’s rules require law enforcement to return warrants to the court.

Instead they were at the Greenville Police Department, hidden from view because law enforcement agencies, unlike the courts, can claim a broad public records exemption over records in their possession.

Wow. It’s as if no one in the Greenville courthouse is aware files can be copied, either physically or digitally. The police have no right to stash away the sole copies of search warrants in their own files, especially when it appears the sole purpose is to invert the presumption of openness that guides court proceedings.

It’s a statewide problem.

An investigation by the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal and ProPublica has found that almost two-thirds of Mississippi’s county-level justice courts prevent access to some or all search warrants and related documents. So do municipal courts in at least five of the state’s 10 largest cities, including Jackson, the capital.

The court-enabled opacity takes multiple forms. Some courts violate state law by not requiring law enforcement to turn in search warrants and other documents once the warrants have been served. In some cases, courts don’t even bother having cops do the dirty work. They simply refuse to give the public access to these documents.

It’s this opacity that encourages abuse of no-knock warrants. The public defender discussed above discovered a majority of warrants issued in Greenville were no-knock. And most were likely approved by Municipal Judge Michael Prewitt, the only circuit judge in the area for the last two decades. Judge Prewitt admitted as much when questioned by the defender, stating that he’d issue a no-knock warrant to “search for a sweater.” His excuse? There’s a lot of drug crime in Greenville.

This information came from the judge himself. The court claimed it had no records of any searches authorized by Judge Prewitt, despite his two decades of service. And it didn’t. The only person with access to the documents was the person who rubber-stamped them to send cops searching for sweaters.

Prewitt said in an email to the Daily Journal and ProPublica that he personally keeps copies of all search warrants that are returned to him.

The courts in Mississippi are serving law enforcement, rather than the public. Multiple court clerks were questioned by ProPublica. Far too many admitted they weren’t in the business of assuring public records were accessible by the public.

“We don’t keep those,” said Lamar County Justice Court Clerk Sandra Owen.

“Usually the return goes back to the sheriff’s offices,” said Jones County Justice Court Clerk Stacy Walls.

“I hardly ever see search warrants — before, during or after,” said Marion County Justice Court Clerk Wynette Parkman.

Once again, government employees are conveniently pretending it’s impossible to make a copy of a court document before giving it back to a law enforcement agency. In other cases, they’re simply pretending the rule ordering law enforcement to provide these documents to the court following a search doesn’t apply to them or the cops.

There is some justifiable ignorance tucked into all the law enforcement subservience. In many cases, clerks aren’t made aware that warrants have been signed by judges. As such, there’s no way they would know documents cops are mandated to return to the court have not been returned. 

But there’s also a lot of seemingly willful ignorance. Clerks seem to be aware of law enforcement’s obligations. However, they claim that, despite the clear wording, they’ve never been explicitly told these documents must remain in the hands of the court when (or, more likely, if) they’re returned by law enforcement officers. 

The entire report is an infuriating read. The general tone that comes across is that both involved government parties — law enforcement and courts — believe the general public has no right to access these documents, despite them clearly being part of the public record, in terms of court proceedings. [MORE]

Alabama Prisoners Continue to Strike Over ‘horrendous’ conditions. Inmates Refuse to Work for no pay in Prison jobs in food service, laundry and maintenance

From [HERE] An estimated 80% of prisoners from Alabama’s “major male facilities” went on strike on September 26th, in response to a wide range of conditions and grievances. Inside organizer Kinetik Swift Justice stated,

Basically, the message that we are sending is, the courts have shut down on us, the parole board has shut down on us. This society has long ago shut down on us. So basically, if that’s the case, and you’re not wanting us to return back to society, you can run these facilities yourselves.

The strike has now entered its third week, and at least five facilities, each with around 7,000 prisoners, continue to participate. Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) has punished prisoners by drastically reducing their meals, essentially attempting to starve them off the strike. “They have been killed, they have been abused, they are being tortured right now as we speak,” said Eric Buchanan, a formerly incarcerated person who spoke at a rally for the strike.

They are retaliating against our brothers right now by giving them very little food to eat.

ADOC has also used lower-custody prisoners to help break the strike, threatening to re-classify them back to a higher security facility if they refused to scab. Some of these minimum custody prisoners have still refused, however. One prisoner, who was thrown in solitary for refusing to help break the strike, stated,

They forced me to come over here from Decatur to put my life in jeopardy by working against the inmates, my own people, in this peaceful protest… I believe in what y’all doing. I’ve got a 21-year sentence. Y’all are helping me.

Statements From The Small Prison

From : All confined citizens in Alabama prisons.

Since the peaceful labor strike within the Alabama Department of Corrections began on September 26, those who are striking have faced relentless attempts to break our spirit by the correctional staff. We have been starved, placed into solitary confinement and suicide cells as retaliation, and forced into dangerous situations as ADOC tries to turn us against each other. In spite of this, international media and activists have turned their attention toward Alabama and its inhumane treatment of and policies around incarcerated individuals. The world is watching.

We will not relent under these retaliatory tactics. Our brothers, particularly those with health conditions, addiction and mental health challenges, have faced challenges not only to their psychological well-being but also their very lives.

Especially alarming is ADOC’S intentional “bird feeding” food deprevention, which presents a severe health risk to those who suffer from diabetes and other illnesses that require a wellness diet.

Unlike the ADOC we value life.

By no means are we waiving a white flag of defeat. We are still demanding our concerns be heard before our Legislators and other elected officials. We also demand that our outside representatives be given a platform to be our voice and the public hear our arguments.

At this time, some have chosen to returned to work to ensure that ADOC does not continue to target the most vulnerable in our population. Others will continue to strike.

We will continue to escalate our strike, peacefully, until our voices are heard.

Alabama Confined Citizens

Individual Statement from Prisoner at Donaldson

My name is Gerald Griffin#247505. I’m serving a 22 year sentence under the Habitual Offender Act that’s is unconstitutional and that has the Alabama prisons over crowded in inhumane conditions prisoners here in Alabama connected their daily struggles for humanity and survival to the broader political context we entered collectively as one whole.

The prisoners in Alabama are tiered. Prisoners across the United States right now are actively engaging in some of the most passionate, consistent and effective rebellion in the country. The Alabama prisoners want better living conditions, workers pay incentives for programs they’ve completed, stop the abuse mentally and physically by ADOC officials, to put in action to oversee these unconstitutional sentences from the Hibitual offender act law, and for them to let go these elders that been in prison for excessive sentences at Donaldson Correctional Facility.

We are going to stay strong. Thank you for the ones that support us in this shutdown.

Break every chain to have a opportunity to hug my mother and sister again…

North Carolina’s Use of Death Qualification Disenfranchises Black People From Serving on Death Penalty Juries

From [HERE] The process of death qualification, which excludes people who oppose the death penalty from serving on capital juries, is racially discriminatory, civil rights advocate Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II wrote in an October 10, 2022 op-ed.

Rev. Barber and his co-authors, pastor Dumas Harshaw Jr. and preacher Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, introduce their article with a recognition of J.W. Hood, a Black man and AME Zion pastor, who fought to abolish slavery and co-authored North Carolina’s modern constitution. “Today, he’s exactly the kind of person who’s most likely to be denied the right to serve on a jury,” they write. “A century and a half after Hood spoke of the importance of jury service, a Wake County death penalty case is exposing the reality that Black people’s right to be represented in the jury box is still under threat in North Carolina.” 

They explain that “studies show that Black people are more likely to oppose the death penalty and question evidence presented by law enforcement,” and are therefore more likely to be excluded from capital juries during the death qualification process. This ignores the fact that the views of Black jurors are shaped by racial discrimination in the legal system. The authors write, “this perspective is the result of the African-American experience in the United States, which is shaped by the racist history of policing and the death penalty. Rules that do not recognize this fact make it impossible for us to work together toward a multiracial democracy.”

UN Experts: ‘Almost Impossible’ for Countries to Administer Death Penalty without Violating Defendants’ Human Rights

From [HERE] Two leading United Nations human rights experts have condemned capital punishment as incompatible with international legal requirements, saying the death penalty is “almost impossible” to administer while respecting the human rights of the accused.

In a joint statement issued from Geneva, Switzerland on Oct. 10, 2022 in connection with the observance of the 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty, Dr. Alice Jill Edwards, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and Morris Tidball-Binz, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions called death-penalty abolition “the only viable path.” “Although the death penalty is permitted in very limited circumstances under international law, the reality remains that in practice it is almost impossible for States to impose capital punishment while meeting their obligations to respect the human rights of those convicted,” they said.

The Special Rapporteurs criticized death-row conditions, torturous execution methods, and the use of capital punishment against vulnerable classes of defendants and as an instrument of political oppression. “A number of states continue to impose the death penalty for non-violent crimes such as blasphemy, adultery and drug-related offences, which fail the ‘most serious crime’ standard for the application of capital punishment under international law. A growing trend of imposing the death penalty on those exercising their right to peaceful political protest is deeply worrying,” they wrote.

EU Elite Josep Borrell Expresses the Delusion that Whites Must Dominate Non-Whites to Survive and Avoid Replacement: saying, ‘Most of the World is a Jungle that Could Invade Europe, which is a Garden’

NON-WHITE PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY BLACKS AND LATINOS MUST UNDERSTAND THAT SOME RACISTS PRACTICE RACISM TO SURVIVE. THEY BELIEVE THEY LITERALLY MUST DOMINATE AND CONTROL NON-WHITES IN ORDER TO SURVIVE AND NON-WHITES THREATEN THEIR ACTUAL SURVIVAL. RACISM IS A POWERFUL MOTIVATING FORCE. And persons who are classified as white are indeed replaceable. Most white people consciously or subconsciously understand the following;

White plus Black equals Colored.

White plus Brown equals Colored.

White plus Yellow equals Colored.

It is scientific fact that white people are genetic recessive. In general, this means they cannot reproduce a white child when they have sexual relations with non-whites. In reality, 90% of the world's population of 7 billion people are non-white, PERSONS CLASSIFIED AS White make up less than 10% of the world's population AND ARE IN CONTINUAL DECLINE. NEVERTHELESS, EVERYWHERE NON-WHITES AND WHITES LIVE TOGETHER, THE WHITES ARE IN CONTROL OF NON-WHITES. THE ONLY PERSONS CONCERNED ABOUT THE DECLINING HUMAN TRAIT OF WHITE SKIN, A MEANINGLESS HUMAN CHARACTERISTIC, ARE RACISTS (DELUSIONAL persons WHO believE in the granfalloon of “RACE.”). [MORE] and [MORE]

DR. WELSING’S “Color-Confrontation theory” postulates that whites are vulnerable to their sense of numerical inadequacy. This inadequacy is apparent in their drive to divide the vast majority of non-whites into fractional, as well as frictional, minorities. RACISTS HAVE structured and manipulated their own thought processes and conceptual patterns, as well as those of the entire non-white world majority, so that the real numerical minority (whites) illusionally feels and represents itself as the world's majority, while the true numerical majority (non-whites) illusionally feels and views itself as the minority.’ [MORE]

IF BLACK AND LATINO INDIVIDUALS CAN UNDERSTAND RACISM AS A BEHAVIORAL SYSTEM OF WHITE SURVIVAL AND THEREFORE THAT RACISTS “are playing a White survival game [which] has to inferiorize the functioning of Black and other people of color,” THEN THEY CAN LOGICALLY SEE THAT NON-WHITES CAN NEVER BE INTEGRATED WITH RACISTS. TO SOME RACISTS, INTEGRATION IS WHITE SUICIDE OR GENOCIDE. WITH SUCH AN UNDERSTANDING NON-WHITES COULD ALSO ONCE AND FOR ALL DROP MORAL SUASION AS A STRATEGY TO SOMEHOW TRANSFORM RACISTS AND BECOME EQUAL PARTNERS WITH THEM. SUCH GUILLIBLE THINKING HAVE CAUSED BLACK PEOPLE’S CENTURIES LONG LOSING STREAK WITH RACISM WHITE SUPREMACY. NON-WHITES WHO UNDERSTAND THE COLOR CONFRONTATION THEORY KNOW THAT RACISTS ARE THE PERMANENT ENEMIES OF BLACK PEOPLE AND THERBY UNDERSTAND THAT YOU CAN NEVER BE ALLIES WITH PERSONS WHO SEEK TO BE YOUR MASTER.

From [HERE] The European Union’s top foreign-policy official showed how the colonialist mentality is still very much alive on the continent.

EU foreign-policy chief Josep Borrell said “Europe is a garden,” which is “beautiful” and superior to the vast majority of the countries on Earth. On the other hand, he claimed, “Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden.”

Borrell argued that “the world needs Europe,” because it is a “beacon” that must civilize the rest of the world.

The enlightened Western “gardeners have to go to the jungle,” he insisted, because if the supposed barbarians are not tamed, “the rest of the world will invade us.”

Borrell delivered this overtly racist rant at the inauguration of the European Diplomatic Academy in Brussels on October 13.

According to the official transcript, published at the EU website, Borrell said the following:

Europe is a garden. We have built a garden. Everything works. It is the best combination of political freedom, economic prosperity and social cohesion that the humankind has been able to build – the three things together. And here, Bruges is maybe a good representation of beautiful things, intellectual life, wellbeing.

The rest of the world – and you know this very well, Federica – is not exactly a garden. Most of the rest of the world is a jungle, and the jungle could invade the garden. The gardeners should take care of it, but they will not protect the garden by building walls. A nice small garden surrounded by high walls in order to prevent the jungle from coming in is not going to be a solution. Because the jungle has a strong growth capacity, and the wall will never be high enough in order to protect the garden.

The gardeners have to go to the jungle. Europeans have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world. Otherwise, the rest of the world will invade us, by different ways and means.

Yes, this is my most important message: we have to be much more engaged with the rest of the world.

Dr. Amos Wilson states, "[Blacks] must question how is it that a minority people [whites], a very small percentage of mankind, a people who are essentially resourceless in terms of their natural resources, maintain the power they have. Why is it that the peoples whose lands contain the wealth of the earth are the poorest people? Why is it that Afrika with some twenty (20) or thirty (30) strategic metals that make the space age possible — why is it that the image of Afrika is projected at us time and time again as that of starving children, as societies in disorder, as societies on the verge of disaster? This implies that there must exist a political, social situation wherein the mental orientation of our people must be so structured that the power and the ability of the Europeans to rule this earth are continually maintained.' [MORE]

FUNKTIONARY STATES

Europe – northwest Asia—a geographic lie—continentally speaking, a continent is land surrounded by water. Europe is surrounded by land-grabbers. Europe—so little history and so much crime. Europe is a thawed-out ice-box. It is a section of contiguous land mass named after “Europa,” an African woman, the daughter of Belus, and the sister of Phineus, the Nubian. The oldest extant record of European history is titled “The Ethipians.” Contrary to popular belief, so-called Europe is not a continent—go look on any map. The inaccurate official version of the etymology for the name “Europe” comes from that of the Greek moon goddess Europa, which means white face or pale face. At first she rode her luna bull over the seas and through the world. Then with the Patriarchal revolt, he raped her and became instead her abductor. Europeans (the so-called white race) as a distinct ethnicity, have no factually certain or known historical origin so they adapted the Roman mythological story of Romulus and Remus as their biological ancestry. The more probable history is being the offspring of the Cave-Man and Homo-Sapien Sapiens. So few controlling the rest of the view—to the history, the mystery, and the vast ancient past. So, Afrikan folk, what is there left to do? History changes its view when you fight back. Don’t be frightened, the fight will be spiritual—not physical. Melanin strives in stress but shuts down with fear. (See: Caucasian, Melanin, Racism White Supremacy, His-Story, Self-Determination, Manifest Destiny, Empire, Imperialism, Fascism, Mutual Aid, Violence, Conflict, War & Yurugu)

The EU foreign-policy chief failed to mention that, for more than 500 years, European colonialist powers have run the most violent empires in human history, overseeing mass genocides, racialized chattel slavery, ethnic cleansing, and constant wars.

Instead, Borrell continued later in his remarks portraying Europe as a superior “beacon” of civilization:

Believe me, Europe is a good example for many things. The world needs Europe. My experience of travelling around the world is that people look at us as a beacon.

Why [do] so many people come to Europe? Are there flows of illegal or irregular migrants going to Russia? Not many. No, they are coming to Europe but for good reasons.

Keep the garden, be good gardeners. But your duty will not be to take care of the garden itself but [of] the jungle outside.

In the same speech, Borrell claimed Europe is superior because of its “institutions”:

There is a big difference between Europe and the rest of the world – well, the rest of the world, understand me what I mean, no? – is that we have strong institutions. … The big difference between developed and not developed is not the economy, it is institutions.

Here, we have a judiciary – a neutral, independent judiciary. Here, we have systems of distributing the revenue. Here, we have elections that provide a free for the citizens. Here, we have the red lights controlling the traffic, people taking the garbage.

…

The big difference between us and an important part of the rest of the world is that we have institutions.

Despite his implications, countries across the Global South do indeed have independent judiciaries, tax services, free elections, traffic lights, and garbage collectors. But the EU’s top foreign-policy official apparently believes that the majority of the world’s population consists of illiterate knuckle-dragging cavemen.

Borrell evidently could see that his comments were racist, so he cautiously added, “I cannot go to emerging countries and build institutions for them – they have to be built by them. Otherwise, it would be a kind of neo-colonialism.”

But while he superficially rejected neocolonialism, Borrell’s remarks reflected a blatant neocolonialist mentality.

And the EU foreign-policy chief’s use of the term “emerging countries” made it clear that his rant was aimed specifically at the formerly colonized nations in the Global South.

EU is waging a new cold war to integrate ‘post-Putin Russia’ into West-led hegemonic system

In the same October 13 speech, Josep Borrell obliquely acknowledged that the West is fighting a new cold war against Russia and China.

“Now, we are definitely out of the Cold War and the post-Cold War. The post-Cold War has ended with the Ukrainian war,” he said. [MORE]