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On May 11, 2017, the District Attorneys Office announced that they would not be filing charges against Officer Joshua Lippert for the death of Jocques Clemmons. This decision comes nearly one month after the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation completed its investigation of the shooting of Jocques Clemmons by Metro Nashville Police Department (MNPD) Officer Joshua Lippert.

While this announcement is disheartening, we know fully the long history of charges being dropped, cases dismissed, or officers not being indicted when it comes to Black people being murdered by the police. For this reason, many in the city are not shocked, but instead angry. Angry that despite someone being shot in the back and killed by an officer who has a record of excessive force- the officer walks free. Angry that a police officer can murder a human being and be comforted by the fact that they will be investigated by their fellow officers in blue. Angry that in the days leading up to the no surprise announcement, MNPD and Megan Barry have beefed up police forces all around the city to quell any form of outrage. Angry that Chief Anderson himself stated Nashville is not Ferguson and yet here we are. Jocques murder is a function of the continued occupation and over-policing of communities of color in Nashville. To pretend otherwise would be morally disingenuous.

Today Nashville, the liberal stronghold of Tennessee, joins the other numerous localities that fail to find fault or even recognize criminality in police officers when their violence and brutality takes the lives of Black people. It is troubling to imagine that an incomplete stop, for Black people, may culminate in death at the hands of MNPD. Community members have been warning city officials for years about the unique risks, vulnerabilities, and dangers that Black people experience at the hands of MNPD as detailed in the Driving While Black report on racial profiling in Metro Nashville. The same police department also sought to dehumanize Jocques Clemmons following the killing by calling him a gunman, releasing mugshots, and obtaining a warrant to search Mr. Clemmons social media accounts after his death in an effort to slander his character. Age old tactics used by police to villainize Black people.

Worse yet, Officer Lippert is STILL employed by MNPD and free to continue his well documented pattern of excessive use of force on other members of this community. Many of us are not safe while he is still employed, hiding behind a shield and carrying a gun Unfortunately, the death of Jocques Clemmons is only one instance of excessive force, in a city where according to data produced by Metro Legal in response to a civil rights lawsuit, roughly 700 complaints are filed per year against MNPD. The majority of these complaints go without discipline. It is past time for the COMMUNITY to have oversight and for the city to do something about MNPD other than offer the department more money, continue to host townhalls, visit Black barbershops to talk, and deliver lip service. If the city of Nashville, its council members, and police department are serious about making our city safer for ALL citizens they will strongly and visibly support the following demands created by community members who organized to form the Justice For Jocques Coalition together with Clemmons family members:

These demands are only what an initial step towards justice for Jocques Clemmons looks like. We recognize that even if all of the demands are met, it is still no victory for communities of color. For communities of color, there is no victory in police violence- there is only justice through accountability and shifting our ideologies and practices on policing to ensure that these killings never happen again. We fully acknowledge that these demands will never bring Jocques Clemmons back home. A mother is left without her child, sisters without a brother, and children without their father. A family left trying to cope, knowing that they are up against a system that historically does not lose. These are the devastating realities that create trauma and distrust in Black communities.

In these times, and considering the history of violence in this country- a history that some of us are reminded of daily- hope seems hard to find. Justice seems unreachable. But we push back and we fight for justice, we fight to keep hope, realizing that these things, that justice and hope are intimately tied to our humanity. The moment that we stop fighting for justice, we lose our humanity. Jocques Clemmons should be alive today. And through the trauma and anger, we will continue to fight for justice.

Rest in Power, Jocques.

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#BlackLivesMatter | Black Lives Matter Nashville

As Black Lives Matter and other social justice campaigns focus more on economic inequality, unions see an opportunity

After decades of decline unions have found a new champion in efforts to organize workers: the Black Lives Matter movement.

Unions have suffered as manufacturing has moved south away from their old strongholds in the north of the US. Membership rates were 10.7% in 2016, down from 20.1% in 1983, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time the shift from manufacturing to service industry jobs has hurt them too.

But as the Black Lives Matter and other social justice campaigns increasingly focus on economic justice, unions see a new opportunity. And ironically, a series of defeats for labor in the south is helping to fire up recruitment drives and attracting international support in the process.

Last Augusts bitterly fought attempt to unionize Nissans plant in Canton, Mississippi is a case in point and one that labor leaders say has made multinationals wary of becoming embroiled in high-profile union-busting drives lead primarily by black workers.

The fight at Nissan, where 80% of the workforce is black, drew international attention as Americans for Prosperity, the rightwing Koch Brothers-backed lobby group, ran ads blasting the United Auto Workers, and the former Democrat presidential hopeful senator Bernie Sanders and the actor and activist Danny Glover descended on the plant to lobby for unionization.

After a narrow defeat, labor leaders charged Nissan not only with illegal anti-union conduct, but with racism. The company denies the charges of racism and illegal anti-union busting. But already labor leaders say they are starting to see a shift and that multinationals, particularly European companies, are concerned about being seen as racist when they move their operations to the South.

Nissan has been a warning sign. The bad PR, the money lost, the sense that they are racially insensitive

Nissan has been a warning sign on the road. The bad PR, the amount of money that has been lost, the tarnishing of the brand, the sense that they are racially insensitive to the community, no company domestic or foreign wants to be labeled racist, said Marc Bayard, director of the Black Worker Initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies, who has spent more than two decades attempting to organize multinationals.

I have had conversations with companies and local Chambers of Commerce, who saw what happened at Nissan and are concerned about being seen as anti-union, anti-community, and racially insensitive, said Bayard.

In the meantime, Black Lives Matter is using the voice it has built in social justice campaigns to expand its remit. On 12 February, the Black Lives Matter movement and the low wage workers campaign Fight for $15 are combining for a series of strikes in cities across the US in order to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Memphis sanitation strike.

The union-backed Fight for $15 has been pushing for more union representation in the fast food industry and has successfully pressed for increases in pay in states across the US but, once again, the southern states have proved harder to crack.

The fight will not be easy. Labor leaders like Maria Somma, the first Asian American to act as director of organizing for the Steelworkers, says that multinationals go down south to take advantage of racist power structures that make people of color afraid to speak up in the workplace.

Its a known fact that African Americans make less than their white counterparts doing their same jobs, said Somma. Their work isnt valued and they know it. This creates a sense of fear because you know the people who are your bosses dont value you. I believe that employers understand that psychological impact and take advantage of it.

Somma recently helped lead a union drive of Kumho tire plant in Macon, Georgia, where more than 80% of the workers signed cards indicating they wanted to join the union. But the majority black workforce was again subjected to intense anti-union pressure with daily, hour-long, one-on-one anti-union meetings by a team of seven full-time anti-union consultants for more than two weeks.

The union alleges that Kumho repeatedly threatened to close the plant if workers unionized and to fire workers if they caught them advocating for the union. Kumho defeated the Steelworkers organizing attempt by a margin of 164-136 and the union alleges that Kumho tried to quash further organizing by firing one of the organizers of the drive, Mario Smith, a mere two days after the vote.

Young workers get it that you cant organize without a social justice approach

The news of his firing sent chills throughout the plant and attendance at union meetings dropped precipitously.

Its hard: nobody wants to hear it right now because nobody wants to get caught scared talking about it, said Kumho Tire worker Alex Perkins. They are scared for their job and its really hard to get people to talk.

The United Steelworkers have filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Kumho over Smiths firing and other alleged abuses.

They have also reached out to their allies in the Korean labor movement to help put pressure on Kumho in Korea.

It is a tactic that has already had some success. In 2015, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) attempted to organize the Swedish manufacturer Electroluxs brand new 800-person plant in Memphis, Tennessee.

Like Nissan, Electrolux is unionized outside the US, but management in Memphis decided to hire the notorious anti-union law firm Littler Mendelson to run a hardball anti-union drive at the majority African American plant.

Free T-shirts with a slash through the IBEW logo were distributed throughout the plant while TV screens broadcast anti-union messages.

Supervisors at Electrolux forced workers to attend one-on-one anti-union meetings, where they were grilled about their views on union membership and their work performance. Managers also warned workers that if they unionized, the plant could close. Workers voted against the union by a narrow margin of 57 votes in February of 2015.

After the vote Randall Middleton, the IBEWs director of manufacturing, flew to Stockholm to meet with IF Metall, the 325,000-strong union that represents Electrolux in Sweden, and brief them on the tactics that had been used to scare workers.

Under pressure from the union, Electrolux reigned in anti-unionization tactics, and workers planning a new vote found support from the Black Lives Matter activists marching in the streets. In July 2016, during the lead up to the election, some workers took part in a protest occupying the Hernando De Soto Bridge over the Mississippi river.

When they saw us occupying that bridge, they knew that power, and that people in the community had their back, said Keedran TNT Franklin, an organizer with Coalition of Concerned Citizens.

The IBEW subsequently won a landmark victory at Electroluxs plant by a margin of 461-193.

While such victories are currently the exception to the rule, unions are looking closely at the success of social justice movements. Younger union activists are increasingly focused on not just organizing a campaign based solely on justice for workers, but around race, gender, disability, and sexual orientation, said Somma.

Young workers get it that you cant organize without a social justice approach, said Somma. Ive been in the movement for a good number of years and I believe its a big change. Its not coming from union, its coming directly from our members and I love it.

See the article here:
Justice in the factory: how Black Lives Matter breathed new ...

BLACK LIVES MATTER CHAMPAIGN-URBANA

Community Book Drive Book List

Below is a list of books that we would like folks to donate for the drive. We are primarily interested in books by Black and poc (person of color) authors, featuring Black and poc characters. We will also accept books that have visible ethnic representation, as well as representation across the spectrums of Blackness, ability, gender, religion, etc.

Monetary Donations for the book drive can be made through the Donate link within the Get Involved tab.

We plan to Distribute Books at the following locations: Don Moyers Boys and Girls Club, Douglass Community Center, Crisis Nursery, Courage Connections, Cunningham Kids, DREAAM House, Kendall-Gill House, and Canaan Academy. If you would like to have books donated to a particular group or organization please contact us.

BOOK LIST:

The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor Lavalle

Black Panthers for Beginners by Herb Boyd

Happy to Be Nappy by Bell Hooks

Thunder Rose by Jerdine Kadir Nelson

Dont Let Auntie Mabel Bless the Table by Vanessa Newton

Momma, Where Are You From? by Marie Bradby/ Chris Soentpiet

How Many Stars in the Sky? by Lenny Hort/James E. Ransome

Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison/ Slade Morrison & Joe Cepeda

When the Beat Was Born: Dj Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill/ Theodore Taylor III

Nejma by Nayyirah Waheed

Salt by Nayyirah Waheed

Bone by Yrsa Daley-Ward

Soft Magic by Upile Chisala

Nectar by Upile Chisala

Questions for Ada by Ijeoma Umebinyuo

The Collected Poems of Audre Lorde by Audre Lorde

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur by Amy Reeder

Til the Well Runs Dry by Lauren Francis-Sharma

Aya: Life in Yop City by Marguerite Abouet

Electric Arches by Eve L Ewing

White Socks only by Evelyn Coleman

This is the rope by Jacqueline Woodson

The other side by Jacqueline Woodson

Freedom over me by Ashley Bryan

Warriors dont cry by Melba Pattillo Beals

Coming of age in Mississippi by Anne Moody

The taste of power: A black womens story by Elaine Brown

Revolutionary Suicide by Huey P. Newton

I, too, am America by Langston Hughes

Malcolm Little: The boy who grew up to become Malcolm X by ilyasah Shabazz

Fifty Cents and a Dream: Booker T Washington by Jabari Asim

Crown: An ode to the fresh cut by Derrick Barnes

I know why the caged bird sings by Maya Angelou

And still I rise by Maya Angelou

Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okaparanta

Not Otherwise Specified by Hannah Moskowitz

The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Juliet Takes A Breath by Gabby Rivera

Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi

Life is Wonderful, People are Terrific by Meliza Banales

What Night Brings by Carla Trujillo

If You Could Be Mine by Sara Farizan

The House You Pass on the Way by Jacqueline Woodson

A is for Activist by Innosanto Nagara

Moondragon in the mosque garden by El-Farouk Khaki

My brother Charlie by Holly Robinson Peete

Last stop on market street by Matt de la Pena

Five little ducks by Anthony Lewis

Counting on community by Innosanto Nagara

Bells Knock Knock Birthday by George Parker

Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet by Ta-Nehisi Coates

Black Panther: The World of Wakanda by Roxane Gay and Ta-Nehisi Coates

Sign Up Here: A Story About Friendship by Kathryn Cole

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

A Black Childrens Coloring Book: Black Girl Magic (Volume 1) by Kyle Davis

I Know I Can! by Veronica N. Chapman

The Color of Us by Karen Katz

Rapunzel by Rachel Isadora

The Twelve Dancing Princesses by Rachel Isadora

Dancing in the Wings by Debbie Allen

Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Nikki and Deja: Nikki and Deja, Book One by Karen English

Whose Knees Are These? by Jabari AsimLola Plants a Garden by Anna McQuinn

Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn

Jupiter Storm by Marti Dumas

Girl of Mine by Jabari Asim

Bippity Bop Barbershop by Natasha Tarpley

Dad, Who Will I Be? by Todd Taylor

Peekaboo Morning by Rachel Isadora

Afrobets 1,2,3 by Cheryl Willis Hudson

Whose Toes are Those? by Jabari Asim

Full,Full,Full of Love by Trish Cooke

The Princess and the Pea by Rachel Isadora

My Nana and Me by Irene Smalls

Hijab-ista by Jamila Mapp

Aminas Voice by Hena Khan

X: A Novel by Ilyasah Shabazz

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

The Sun Is So Quiet by Nikki Giovanni

I Am Loved by Nikki Giovanni

Love by Matt de la Pena

Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut by Derrick Barnes

Black Panther The Young Prince (Marvel Black Panther) by Ronald L. Smith

Miles Morales: Spider-Man (A Marvel YA Novel) by Jason Reynolds

Jaden Toussaint, the Greatest Episode 5:Mission Star-Power (Volume 5) by Marti Dumas

The Sweetest Sound by Sherri Winston

June Peters, You Will Change The World One Day by Alika Turner

THe Lost Ring: An Eid Story by Fawzia Gilani-Williams

Noko and the Kool Kats by Fiona Moodie

The Boy who Spat in Sargrentis Eye by Manu Herbstein

Obatalas Daughter Discovers True Friends by Dr. Winmilawe

The Storyteller by Evan Turk

Akosua and Osman by Manu Herbstein

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Black Lives Matter: Champaign-Urbana Engaging in ...

Mr. Moye was originally from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., but lived in the Charleston area and was visiting New Orleans at the time of his death, his sister Kimberli Duncan, 46, said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

He was always fighting for justice, equality and fairness, she said. He always wanted to do for others. He never put himself first.

In 2015, Mr. Moye demonstrated on behalf of the family of Walter Scott, an unarmed black man who was fatally shot by a police officer in North Charleston that April.

Two months after that, nine black churchgoers in Charleston were murdered by the white supremacist Dylann S. Roof. Mr. Moye participated in demonstrations and spoke to news outlets about the history of racial inequality in the United States.

And when Donald J. Trump went to Mount Pleasant, a city near Charleston, for a campaign rally in December 2015, calling for a complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, Mr. Moye was there, too, in protest.

You would think wed learn from history, he told The New York Times, adding that his father was a Muslim.

Last year, when Mr. Moye tried to wrest the Confederate flag from a demonstrator, he did not succeed. The police surrounded him, eventually bringing him down to the ground and then arresting him. But after the video of his flying leap spread online, he told The Washington Post that he had tried to take the flag away from the demonstrator to help them understand what it is to meet a real resistance, to meet people that arent scared.

Ms. Duncan said her family was still waiting for answers about what happened to Mr. Moye, and she hoped his activism would inspire others to keep working for racial equality. Id like to keep up his dream, keep up his faith, she said. He was absolutely serious about it.

Originally posted here:
Muhiyidin Moye, Black Lives Matter Activist, Is Shot and ...

A Black Lives Matter activist who spent the past few years fully engaged in the movement was killed during a visit to New Orleans Tuesday, authorities said.

The circumstances surrounding Muhiyidin Moyes death were unclear, but an officer responding to a call about gunshots found him lying on the ground, according to a New Orleans Police Department report.

Moye, 32, asked for help as police arrived, according to the police report, which also described a bicycle near him as being covered in blood.

The shooting occurred around 1:30 a.m. Tuesday, and Moye later died in the hospital, New Orleans police spokesman Beau Tidwell said in a statement.

Moye was the activist caught on video last year in Charleston, South Carolina, as he grabbed a Confederate battle flag from a demonstrator live on television, but his impact on the community extended much further, his brother said.

He wouldnt just protest; he was in the communities, working, speaking with leaders, checking on families, Ibraheem Moye, 27, told ABC News of his brother. He wanted to show people that social injustice wasnt going to be allowed.

Muhiyidin Moye earned his bachelors degree from the University of South Carolina in Columbia and his masters from Winthrop University in Rock Hill, South Carolina, according to his brother.

His brother wasnt sure why Muhiyidin was visiting New Orleans but he suspected it involved his activism.

Moye had previously demonstrated on behalf of the family of Walter Scott, whom a North Charleston, South Carolina, police officer shot to death after stopping him for a non-functioning brake light. Moye also subsequently interrupted several City Council meetings there, demanding changes be made in the police department.

The former officer, Michael Slager, was sentenced to prison in connection with Scotts death.

No arrest has been made in connection with Moyes shooting death, police said.

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SC Black Lives Matter activist Muhiyidin Moye killed ...