Justice for Breonna not served as grand jury indicted officer who shot her with wanton endangerment — but not murder.
“Outrageous and offensive.” Those were by attorney to the family, Ben Crump to describe the grand jury’s decision in the March 13 fatal police shooting of 26-year-old Breonna Taylor. While two of the officers involved in the no-knock raid of her apartment escaped charges entirely, the third — former detective Brett Hankison — was indicted on three counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, reports the Louisville Courier Journal. “If Brett Hankison’s behavior was wanton endangerment to people in neighboring apartments, then it should have been wanton endangerment in Breonna Taylor’s apartment too,” tweeted Crump. “In fact, it should have been ruled wanton murder!”
The essential rule of politics: If you don’t listen to any other voting bloc, listen to African American women.
As the presidential election draws ever closer, campaign officials continue to reach out to voters in election battleground states like Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin through virtual events. They’re also making what they say are “millions of calls and texts” to voters across these regions; investing heavily in TV, radio and digital ads; and supplying supporters with thousands of lawn signs and bumper stickers. Still, some pundits wonder whether this kind of campaigning — in a time when physical rallies aren’t possible — is enough. In an interview with the Philadelphia Tribute, Branden Snyder, the executive director of Detroit Action cautioned: “There are still incredible challenges we face in connecting specifically with apathetic voters and with younger Black voters who might have more progressive leanings. “However, we’ve got about 48,000 new young people who’ve been registered since March that we’re trying to mobilize,” he said. “We’re building an army.”
Lucell Trammer, a 40-year-old father of two who lives in Oakland County is one of those soldiers. He added: “[Black people] are in every single demographic, we’re in every single voting bloc, we’re in every single county. We tend to be the bellwether, especially African American women. I tell people all the time: If you don’t listen to any other voting bloc, listen to African American women.”
Michigan teen serves two months in jail … for not doing her homework.
Today, ProPublica reported on the shocking case of a 15-year-old girl in suburban Detroit who was incarcerated in May 2020 after a judge ruled that by not doing her schoolwork, she had also violated her probation. The teen, whose identity was concealed in the report due to privacy reasons, was originally incarcerated due to fighting and stealing. Besides flying in the face of legal and educational communities who advise leniency for teens during the current COVID-19 crisis, ProPublica also points to the obvious racism involved in that judge’s decision; the teen is Black in a predominantly white community and in a county where a disproportionate percentage of Black youth are involved with the juvenile justice system.