Archive for March, 2017

BLM Activists Furious With College President: ‘This Is What White Supremacy Looks Like’ – Daily Caller

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Black Lives Matter student activists were enraged with their college president following a meeting between the two parties Wednesday, insisting that the interaction was white supremacy, patriarchy, and that the president should not have his job.

The College of William and Marys BLM movement, named Built on Our Backs, issued demands to President W. Taylor Reveley III in a live-stream of the meeting to their Facebook page. The demands includeda tenured diversity position, a required social justice course, an Africana Studies department, a zero-tolerance policy for racism, the hiring of more staff for W&Ms Center for Student Diversity, an emphasis on recruiting black students, and more employment and retention of black faculty.

President Reveley took issue with the nature of the groups speech, suggesting that they try requests or suggestions instead of demands.

I dont deal in demands, he said. I dont make demands of other people. I dont expect to receive demands from people. I love to get suggestions, recommendations, strong arguments.

The student activists werent pleased.

This is what being censored looks like, meeting attendee Erica West, a student coordinator at W&Ms Center for Student Diversity, said on Facebook after the meeting. This is what white supremacy looks like. This is what patriarchy looks like. This is what condescension looks like. This is what being told you, your issues and your life dont matter looks like. THIS is why we say #BlackLivesMatter.

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Isnt it sad that the basis of our platform for BLMs 10 demands is better education, namely required education in Black history? Damiana Dendy, a W&M student and former intern at the US Department of Education, wrote on Facebook. Its sad that we still have to justify ourselves and our collective history, that this College was #BuiltOnOurBacksand we still have to fight for our stories to be heard.

He felt the need to validate the humanity of a former African American male colleague of his by prefacing his story with he was handsome, great work, good guy and the like, and did not see this as a microaggression, she continued. Dendy also detailed a long list of complaints about the president on Facebook, saying: This man should not be President of our College.

You can effectively go to William and Mary for 4 years, even 5 years, never take a course in Africana for example, never take a course that is non-western thought and I feel that [is] very important that that is required, Dendy said in the meeting.

In response, President Reveley noted that W&M has a Chief Diversity Officer.

But the BLM group demanded a tenured faculty member, detailing that they would like a Vice Provost of Diversity and Inclusion, and citing that other Virginia schools, such as the University of Virginia have such an officer. Marcus L. Martin, UVAsVice President and Chief Officer for Diversity and Equity, earned $338,800 in the 2015-2016 academic year.

Ive got color too; Im white, Reveley said at one point.

Sir, youre white, with all due respect, West replied, moving to leave until another student started speaking.

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Dendy, West, and President Reveley, but received a reply from only the president, in which he stated that he appreciated the students recommendations.

William & Mary has been working hard on racial issues, said Reveley. Over the past year, actions include increased efforts and funding to recruit a more diverse faculty, naming two residence halls for people of color, training for faculty and staff, and additional staffing for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Our admission office continues to seek a diverse student body.

While we have made progress, there remains much to be done. Racial discrimination at William & Mary is flatly unacceptable. We all have a role to play to ensure that our university is a place where everyone is welcome and respected and where we can and do learn from one another.

William and Mary has above average ethnic diversity for students, according to College Factual. While its student body has only a little over 7 percent blacks, whites comprise less than 60 percent. The school has average faculty ethnic diversity, with almost 14 percent blacks and nearly 74 percent whites.

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BLM Activists Furious With College President: 'This Is What White Supremacy Looks Like' - Daily Caller

Black lives blackout: Has the mainstream media forgotten about police violence and African-American resistance? – Salon

The movement for black lives is alive and well across Americaand on social media, but you probably wouldnt know that from watching CNN.

Reported incidents of anti-blackhate crimesandpolice-involved deathsare actually higher this year than they were two years ago, when coverage of cops killing people of color was so ubiquitousit was impossible to ignore. One would think this would be front-page news.

But Donald Trump is our president now and the mainstream media apparently no longer has the bandwidth to cover alleged discriminatory treatment and brutality inflicted on African-Americans by police. Cable-news pundits are too busy trying to kill off the campaign-season, ratings-friendly Frankenstein monsterthey createdover the previous two years.

This reality makes the mission of activists likeKimberly Ortiz that much more difficult.

Theyre diverting our attention to Trump so we dont have to talk about these issues, the 32-year-old Bronx mother of two said on Monday night. She was standing at the corner of 125th Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem,before she andabout 30 other protesters marched through the New York City neighborhoods streets, shouting verbal indictments and obscenities at the two dozen NYPD strategic response officers who shadowed them in police cruisers.

Their flashing lights illuminated the angry black, brown and white faces of Ortiz and her comrades. Smartphone-wielding pedestrians recorded and documented the scene. Members of the press were notably absent.

The people who have influence are being distracted by the grabbing of the pussies, the Russian spy investigations, Ortiz added.I think its intentional.

A founding member of the pro-Black Lives Matter group NYC Shut It Down, Ortizspent the evening doing the same thingshe and her fellow activists have done every Monday for more than two years now: calling attention to the violent killingof black men, women and children by police or other overtly racist acts.

This weeks subject wasRamarley Graham, anunarmed black teenager who was fatally shot five years ago by an NYPD officer inside the 18-year-olds Bronx home. The killing was witnessed by Grahams 6-year-old brother as well ashis grandmother, whom the officer, Richard Haste, also threatened to shoot as shewatched her grandson dying on the bathroom floor.

On Sunday after years of stalled criminal and civil rights investigations that resulting in no disciplinary action, let alone jail time, Haste quit his jobin lieu of being fired.

An internal affairs probe found the officer guilty of misconduct, saying he had exercised poor tactical judgment leading up to the discharge of his firearm and acted with intent to cause serious physical injury, which led to Grahams death.

The story was covered by The New York Times and other local media outlets but drewlittle or no coverage from national cable news networkslike CNN, MSNBC or Fox News part of a growing trendof flagging mainstream media attention.

Mass media outlets are very selective on the news they report. We already know that, Ortizs friend and fellow activist Shannon Jones of Bronxites for NYPD Accountability said onMonday. This country is not attuned to showing black plight. Its not going to happen over an extended period of time.

Two years ago a slew of disturbing videos of police killing unarmed black men, women and children were plastered all over the 24-hour cable news cycle, making national headlines almost weekly.

In a one-month span late in 2014, police fatally shot 12-year-oldTamir Ricein Cleveland andAkai Gurleyin Brooklyns East New York neighborhood, while grand juries in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York Citys Staten Island, respectively, declined to indict the officers who admitted to killingMike BrownandEric Garner, who bothhad been unarmed.

A few months later in April 2015, another onslaughtof daily media coverage covered the day-to-day developments intheEric Harris, Walter Scott, and Freddie Gray;this was followed shortly thereafter by white supremacist Dylann Roofs church massacre in North Charleston, South Carolina, and the mysterious Julydeath ofSandra Bland, the black woman who died in police custody in Texas after a questionable traffic-stop arrest.

But since Trumps election in November, many similarlytroubling videoshave gone viral on Facebook and Twitter, while the mainstream media has turned a relative blind eye.

Last week self-proclaimed white supremacist James Jackson rode a bus from Baltimore to New York, where just a few blocks from Times Square he fatallystabbed through the chest a randomly selected black mannamed Timothy Caughman with an 18-inch blade.

Jackson, who now facesterrorism charges, said he chose to do this in New York because its the media capital of the world, and he wanted to send a message. Thatmessage was apparently lost on reporters and editors at theNew York Postand theNew York Daily News, who for some reason maligned Caughman, rather than his killer, as a career criminal. This has drawn criticism from at leastone writeramong the Daily News ranks as well as members of the pro-Black Lives Matter community.

Media coverage of the racist New York terrorist attack was muted nationally amid the unending litany of stories focusing on Trump congressional hearings concerning hisridiculous tweets, his partys latestfailed attemptto repeal and replace Obamacare andFBI probesof the Trump campaigns possible ties to Russia.

Not only was [Caughman] murdered on the streets, but he was murdered again by the media, organizer Jason Walker of the advocacy group Vocal New York told a crowd last weekof more than 100 people gatheredat the steps of the Union Square park in Manhattan, before a march organizedin the wake ofCaughmans apparent murder.

Other pro-Black Lives Matter activists like Carmen Perez of Justice League NYC, Linda Sarsour of the Arab American Association of New York and Nelini Stamp of Resist Here and the Working Families Party marched with Walker to the corner of Broadway and 38th Street,where supporters created a memorial using bouquets of flowers and flyers bearing Caughmans likeness.

One protester held up a sign that read BLACK LIVES STILL MATTER, echoing the idea that Americas national focus has shifted away from the movement.

[Caughmans] death is reminding us to not be distracted, Sarsour told the crowd at one point during the protest. We dont see the same type of outrage that we did back in 2014. . . . I want you not to be distracted by the clowns and white supremacists in the White House.

But Ortiz saidthis lack ofmedia attentionis hardlynew for Black Lives Matter supporters and it wont stop her from fighting for whats right.

As long as our black and brown brothers and sisters are still dying and there is no accountability, I will march until I cant march no longer, she said with a laugh. And even then, Ill haunt yall motherfuckers!

Originally posted here:
Black lives blackout: Has the mainstream media forgotten about police violence and African-American resistance? - Salon

‘Black Lives Matter in the Trump Era’ – University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

NEWS Guest lecturer from Princeton offers insights on black politics by Isabel Banta | Mar 30 2017 | 03/30/17 1:50am

The Power, Violence and Inequality Collective at the University welcomed Asst. African American Studies Prof. Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor from Princeton University on Wednesday for a public lecture entitled Black Lives Matter in the Trump Era.

Taylors book From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation was published in 2016 and received the Lannan Foundations Cultural Freedom Award for an Especially Notable Book. Like her lecture at the University, the book outlines the progression of black politics in America as well as the Black Lives Matter movement.

I think across the country people have been very receptive to some of the things Im talking about because I think that for millions of ordinary people, there is a desire not just to be critical but to figure out what to we do next, where did these problems come from and how do we confront them? Taylor said. Thats the problem and a discussion thats not really happening among the political parties.

Taylor began her lecture by highlighting a Forbes article written in 2008 after former President Barack Obamas election entitled Racism in America is Over. Taylor said this article could not be further from the truth in President Donald Trumps America.

[It] has imbued the confidence of white supremacists and other racists who have [previously] had to operate on the margins of society, Taylor said.

Taylor also said the growth of anti-Muslim organizations has tripled since Trump began his campaign and said it was important to know how America got to this point in its history, drawing Trumps victory as more based on who didnt come out and vote rather than who did.

I think she did an excellent job contextualizing the moment in which we currently reside, Assoc. English Prof. Lisa Woolfork said. Rather than blaming the political right or the political left, I think she paid very careful attention to everyones responsibility for the deep history and context for this problem.

Taylor then switched her focus to police reform, which she said is a difficult problem in America because many localities turn a blind eye to brutal policing.

Black people in America cannot get free alone, Taylor said. Another world is possible, one free of racism, nationalism religious bias, sexism, homophobia, but it is a world that has to be organized and fought for.

The lecture ended with a half-hour for students and visitors to ask Taylor questions, with the complexity of Taylors lecture providing ample room for discussion.

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'Black Lives Matter in the Trump Era' - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily

Sally Yates is Harvard Law School’s 2017 Class Day Speaker – Harvard Law School News

Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates

Sally Yates, former Deputy Attorney General of the United States, will be this years speaker for the Class Day ceremonies at Harvard Law School. Class Day will take place on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. Yates was selected by representatives of this years graduating class.

Yates spent nearly three decades working in the U.S. Justice Department. She began her career as an assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia. She rose to national prominence when she was the lead prosecutor in the case of Eric Rudolph, who placed a bomb in Atlantas Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Games. The explosion killed two and injured more than 100 people.

In 2010, President Barack Obama 91 named her U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia. Yates was the first woman to hold that position. While there, then-Attorney General Eric Holder asked her to serve as Vice Chair of the Attorney Generals Advisory Committee.

In 2015, President Obama named her Deputy Attorney General. She served in the position the second-highest-ranking job in the Justice Department under Attorney General Eric Holder and Attorney General Loretta Lynch 81.

After Donald Trump was elected U.S. President, Yates agreed to serve as Acting Attorney General. She was dismissed from the Trump administration in January after she instructed DOJ staff not to enforce Trumps first executive order on travel and immigration, writing in a letter that she was not convinced it was lawful.

A native of Georgia, Yates is a graduate of the University of Georgia, with a degree in journalism, and a magna cum laude graduate of the University of Georgia School of Law, where she was executive editor of the Georgia Law Review.

Yates visited Harvard Law School in January and spoke to students about recent strides in criminal justice reform. She told students that both Holder and Lynch had achieved significant reforms in federal sentencing, and that she was hopeful that momentum would continue into the Trump administration. Support for criminal justice reform isnt limited to Democrats or liberals or any single interest group, she said. Rather, there is a strong, bipartisan consensus, from both ends of the spectrum and every point in between, that we need to adjust our approach. And thats because fiscal realities, public safety, and basic fairness demand it.

At Harvard Law School, Yates encouraged students to be active in criminal justice reform: As current and future leaders in a profession dedicated to the integrity of the law, I hope that you will let your voices be heard and that you will demand meaningful change, and most importantly that you will act at every opportunity to effect the changes that are required to make our communities safer and our system more faithful to its core principle of justice.

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Sally Yates is Harvard Law School's 2017 Class Day Speaker - Harvard Law School News

Only 2 Democrat Senators Say They’ll Support Gorsuch – Fox News Insider

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has vowed to lead a filibuster to try to block the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

With 52 Republicans and 48 Democrats in the Senate, the GOP needs eight Democrats to join them to break a filibuster, which takes 60 votes.

So far, however, only two Democrats have come out saying they would support Gorsuch - Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.

Here's where senators stand on Gorsuch, not including those who have taken no position, according to FoxNews.com.

Senators opposed to Gorsuch; supporting a filibuster:

1. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.

2. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.

3. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J.

4. Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del.

5. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa.

6. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

7. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn.

8. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

9. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.

10. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H.

11. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii

12. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.

13. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

14. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

15. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.

16. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

17. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

18. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.

19. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I.

20. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt.

21. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.

22. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.

23. Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M.

24. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.

25. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.

26. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore.

27. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.

28. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass.

29. Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M.

30. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.

31. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.

32. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.

33. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev.

34. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii

Senators opposed to Gorsuch; position on filibuster unclear:

1. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio

2. Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md.

3. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on April 3. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said they plan to vote to confirm Gorsuch on the Senate floor on April 7.

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Only 2 Democrat Senators Say They'll Support Gorsuch - Fox News Insider