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The Kansas Reflector welcomes opinion pieces from writers who share our goal of widening the conversation about how public policies affect the day-to-day lives of people throughout our state. Jeromiah Taylor is a Wichita-based writer merging contemplative Christianity with direct action.

Black lives are not symbols. Black lives are not theoretical. And yet, every few years the death of a Black person rises above anonymity to become a touchstone for national anxieties.

In subsequent months, protests seize metro areas, hashtags saturate social media platforms and empty performance plagues national politics. Yet after the initial outrage fades, as the quiet of complacency settles once more over the land, it appears that yet again nothing changed.

CJ Lofton was not an idea, not a poster child. He is not a martyr or the icon of a movement. He was a human being. A human being whose life ended at the hands of public employees.

Something must change.

At the heart of Loftons death lies Kansass untenable stand your ground statute. The law decrees that if a person reasonably believes deadly force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to themselves or another they are not obligated to retreat and are exempted from civil and criminal charges in the event of the attackers death.

Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennet cited the stand your ground statute in his decision to not prosecute the Sedgwick County Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center employees who restrained Lofton for more than 30 minutes while prone. That resulted in what Sedgwick County chief medical examiner Timothy Gorrill ruled Loftons homicide. According to Bennet, no prosecution would hold up in court as a result of the statute.

This ruling is one of several recent decisions in Kansas against prosecution of authorities. In 2018, Johnston County District Attorney Steve Howe cited stand your ground in his ruling against prosecuting the Overland Park police officer who fatally shot 17-year-old John Albers while he backed out of his driveway. Police responded to a call expressing concern that Albers was suicidal. In 2021, Bennet ruled against prosecuting a sheriffs officer who killed 51-year-old Debra Arbuckle in 2019 while she evaded police. Arbuckles expired license plate initiated the pursuit.

Following the public outrage at Lofton's death, Gov. Laura Kelly, the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple committed themselves to investigating the extent to which foster care and juvenile intake procedures were followed in Lofton's case and considering adjustments to procedures.

Following the public outrage at Loftons death, Gov. Laura Kelly, the Sedgwick County Commission and Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple committed themselves to investigating the extent to which foster care and juvenile intake procedures were followed in Loftons case and considering adjustments to procedures.

This narrowing of scope to the procedural function of state systems is a derailing tactic. While I affirm the importance of protecting youths in the system, Loftons status as a foster child was incidental to his death. It doesnt matter why the police are called. What matters is that all too often, when they are, somebody dies needlessly with no consequences.

The essential policy issue of Loftons tragic death is the near impossibility of prosecuting law enforcement within the confines of the stand your ground statute.

The few voices calling for a revisit of the statute are largely Republican lawmakers, many of whom were involved in drafting the original measure. House Speaker Ron Ryckman indicated a House committee designed to examine the impact of the statute was a priority of the legislative session. However, no action occurred on the phrasing or execution of the statute.

The fact remains that Kansass stand your ground policy is an untenable skirting of basic civil rights. At its core, the statute provides a legal way for law enforcement to bypass due process.

Every community member deserves access to the full extent of the law to defend themselves against criminal or civil charges. Death must never preclude justice. As evidenced by the cited invocations of stand your ground, even community members who were quite literally fleeing their ground are legally executed without due process, leaving their survivors and advocates without a legal avenue to prosecute the deceaseds killers.

Conceptually, stand your ground relies on a blatant preference for the experience, perspective, and claims of authorities. To believe oneself threatened, regardless of any documented circumstances, cannot be a credible defense against causing bodily harm. It is not a credible defense for four adults to claim fear of death or injury at the hands of an unarmed, restrained, 17-year-old with a BMI of 19.4.

If not repealed, Kansass stand your ground law must be overhauled. A clear and measurable criteria for reasonable belief and imminent death or great bodily harm must be outlined, legislated and enforced. Moreover, no statute must preclude civil or criminal charges in the event of a human death. When someone is killed, the victims survivors must have access to every available avenue of justice, no matter the circumstances of death.

Until then, the Kansas stand your ground statute functions as a state-sanctioned fail-safe to protect those who feel threatened by civilians.

I entreat Kansans to not let Lofton become just another hashtag, just another news cycle, the subject of another brief outrage. Lofton is lost alongside countless others. Our moral imperative consists of preventing the loss of any more human beings at the hands of law enforcement.

Through its opinion section, the Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary,here.

Excerpt from:
Kansas cannot allow another death at the hand of authorities to go without notice and action - Kansas Reflector

A former city commissioner in Lakeland, Fla., was sentenced Monday to three years in prison after he admitted to fatally shooting a man he suspected of stealing a hatchet from his shop in 2018.

The former commissioner, Michael Dunn, 51, pleaded guilty in March to a charge of manslaughter with a firearm, according to Polk County court records. In addition to the prison term, Polk County Judge Donald G. Jacobsen sentenced Mr. Dunn to 10 years of probation and 200 hours of community service.

In October 2018, Mr. Dunn was working at the Army-Navy surplus store he co-owned in Lakeland, which is about 35 miles east of Tampa, when he saw the man, Christobal Lopez, 50, conceal a hatchet, the Lakeland Police Department said at the time.

Mr. Dunn stopped Mr. Lopez, a transient who had entered the store with his father, and asked him if he was going to pay for the item, the police said. As Mr. Lopez tried to leave the store, Mr. Dunn pulled Mr. Lopezs sleeve and shot him.

Mr. Lopez died at the scene.

Mr. Dunns initial charge of second-degree murder was downgraded to manslaughter after he took the plea deal, according to court records. He resigned from his post as an elected city commissioner a few days after he was indicted in 2018.

At a sentencing hearing on Monday, Mr. Dunn told Judge Jacobsen that his reaction to seeing Mr. Lopez take the hatchet was based on fear, and that he was almost in autopilot. He also apologized to Mr. Lopezs family.

If I had a time machine, thats what I would want: To have never seen Mr. Lopez, Mr. Dunn said.

Mark OMara, a lawyer representing Mr. Dunn, said during the hearing that his clients decision to shoot Mr. Lopez was not well thought-out, but also is not indicative of anger or animosity.

In March 2021, Brian Haas, the state attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit, rejected Mr. Dunns claim of self-defense. If Mr. Dunns claim had been accepted, he would have been protected by Floridas Stand Your Ground law, which makes it challenging to prosecute people who maintain that they felt threatened and acted to protect themselves.

Paul Wallace, an assistant state attorney, said at the hearing that the prosecutors believed Mr. Lopez was not trying to get into a violent confrontation.

The vast majority of shopkeepers do not attempt to use this type of intervention, Mr. Wallace said.

At the hearing, the prosecutors said that Mr. Dunn had confronted multiple shoplifters in his store, including someone he wrestled with who had a gun.

The prosecutors had asked Judge Jacobsen for a 17-and-a-half-year sentence, while Mr. Dunns lawyers had requested a 3-and-a-half-year sentence of community control, under which he could serve his sentence at home instead of in prison.

Mr. Dunns aunt, who was identified as M. Rodriguez, testified at the hearing that, after the shooting, Mr. Lopezs father was never the same.

He talked because he had to talk, he walked because he had to walk, but we would see him and it wasnt him, she said.

When Mr. Dunn was 19, he accidentally shot a man while he was practicing his aim with a pistol at his home, according to The Lakeland Ledger, a local newspaper. The man survived, and the Lakeland police called the shooting accidental and cleared Mr. Dunn of any wrongdoing.

In July 2018, Mr. Dunn hosted a rally at his store to counter a nearby March for Our Lives rally, which called for action against gun violence after 17 people were shot and killed at a South Florida high school, according to The Tampa Bay Times.

Link:
Ex-City Official in Florida Is Sentenced to 3 Years for Killing a Shoplifter - The New York Times

Delegates at the GOP state convention this weekend will consider resolutions that call for protecting those who refuse to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and requiring all Wisconsin elections to be conducted by hand-counted paper ballots.

One resolution proposes supporting U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson on COVID-19, praising the Oshkosh Republican for a panel discussion he hosted last year in which speakers largely expressed skepticism about the vaccine.

Johnson has regularly been accused of spreading misinformation about COVID-19. A Marquette University Law School Poll in February found 31 percent of Wisconsin voters trust a great deal or a fair amount of what the U.S. senator says about the coronavirus and treatments. Sixty-one percent said they dont trust what he says on the topic much or at all.

The package of resolutions, obtained by WisPolitics.com, run the gamut of conservative causes from universal school choice to calling for Wisconsin to pass a stand your ground law. Those laws allow the use of deadly force in public and state that someone who is attacked has no duty to retreat.

The resolutions originated at the local party level before being screened by a state party committee. Theyre scheduled to be voted on Saturday during convention proceedings in Middleton. Party activists can submit additional resolutions ahead of the floor debate.

The resolutions related to election administration include one that calls for firing Wisconsin Elections Commission staff and reorganizing the agency to be truly fair and honest. Another calls for dissolving the agency and putting the Legislature in charge of election administration.

The agency has been targeted by Republicans for criticism over the guidance it provided local clerks ahead of the 2020 election.

The resolution calling for the use of paper ballots claims recent elections have cast doubt on accuracy in the use of electronic vote tabulation. The Legislative Audit Bureaus review of the 2020 election found electronic voting equipment accurately counted the results in the presidential race.

The resolutions that touch on COVID-19 include one calling for banning mandatory vaccinations. It also calls for an investigation into deaths in Wisconsin hospitals where instead of allowing proven and safe alternative treatments such as Ivermectin to be administered dangerous experimental drugs are being used. Randomized controlled trials have yet to find a beneficial use of ivermectin in treating COVID-19.

The resolution calling for a ban on mandatory vaccinations doesnt differentiate between those for COVID-19 and other diseases. Wisconsin law currently requires students to show they have received required vaccinations against diseases such as polio or have a waiver to attend school.

Other COVID-related resolutions argue national, state and local authorities have no authority to mandate disease mitigations such as masks or vaccinations. Another states, no person or agency can fully understand the complexity of the human body or all of the relationships and interrelationships that comprise public health. It calls public health or environmental emergency orders acts of insurrection against the letter and spirit of our free republic and shall be ignored or deemed advisory only.

Other resolutions would:

*condemn critical race theory and call on the Legislature and local school boards to prohibit its teaching at the elementary, middle and high school levels as well as banning public universities and tech colleges from compelling students to adhere to its tenets.

*call for legislation to ban physical treatments for minors who want to transition their gender. It also calls for legislation to preserve womens and girls sports for biological females. Legislation banning transgender athletes from participating in high school and college sports passed the Assembly this session but wasnt taken up by the Senate.

See the proposed resolutions.

See the rest here:
GOP resolutions call for hand counting paper ballots, praising Johnson on COVID-19 - WisPolitics.com

After reviewing the case, the Cleveland County District Attorney's Office has declined to file charges in a deadly shooting that happened near OU's campus this month.

The DA cited the Stand Your Ground law (21 OK Stat 21-1289.25) as the reason for not filing the charges.

Just before 11:30 a.m. on April 9, near the intersection of Lindsey St. and Elm Ave. police responded to a shooting.

The investigation showed that a man approached a car traveling westbound on Lindsey St. while it was stopped in traffic at a red light.

The driver had his windows down when an the man "aggressively approached his vehicle" and attempted to punch the driver.

Fearing for his safety, the driver shot the man.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

The driver stayed on the scene and cooperated with the investigation.

The investigation showed no prior relationship between the two involved.

Original post:
Cleveland Co. District Attorney Will Not File Charges In Fatal Shooting Near OU Campus - news9.com KWTV

REVOLT BLACK NEWS Weekly aired on Friday (Apr. 15) to discuss Marcus Wilson and racial disparities regarding Georgias Stand Your Ground law, Jussie Smollett, a new bill that would legalize marijuana on a federal level, and Black couples leaning toward the idea of open marriage.

Neima Abdulahi hosted the episode, titled Cannabis and Congress, Stand Your Ground On Trial, and Monogamy or Not. She was joined byrecording artist Supa Peach,coalition member of Just Georgia Carey CJ Jenkins, criminal defense attorney Bernarda Villalona, filmmaker Fab 5 Freddy and influencer Alex Porter. REVOLT Entertainment Correspondent Kennedy Rue McCullough also gave viewers a look into Jussie Smolletts life while he appeals the verdict in his 2019 hate crime hoax case.

Abdulahi opened the show by discussing the racial disparities within Georgias criminal justice system and the states Stand Your Ground law after 23-year-old Marcus Wilson was charged with murder for killing a white teen.

On June 14, 2020, Wilson was driving with his girlfriend when a pickup truck allegedly attempted to ram his car off the highway. The trucks occupants also allegedly shouted racial slurs. At some point, Wilson pulled out a weapon and struck one of the trucks passengers, 17-year-old Haley Hutcheson who died a few days after the incident.

Wilsons aunt SaJuana Williams believes her nephew had to take matters into his own hands to protect himself.

To have Caucasian men hanging out of a truck hollering racial slurs at him and his girlfriend and then in the midst of this, to hear something hit his vehicle he was terrified. His life was in jeopardy. I can only imagine all of the things that went through his mind that evening, but he had to protect himself and his girlfriend, she explained to REVOLT.

During the show, Wilsons cousin Chance Pridgen expressed that he was very sympathetic [toward] Haleys family but also believed Marc didnt deserve to be put in a position for that to happen.

Wilsons legal team requested that he receive immunity from being prosecuted for felony murder and other charges, however Judge Ronnie Thompson denied the request. Criminal defense attorney Bernarda Villalona reassured Abdulahi that even though the judge denied immunity, that does not mean that he wont be able to argue self-defense at trial itll be a different case when it is presented to the jury.

During the show, Carey CJ Jenkins, a coalition member of Just Georgia, insisted Wilson acted in self-defense.

What we do know is this young man feared for his life. I would rather us be in trial fighting for Marc Wilson than us being at his funeral mourning like we did Ahmaud [Arbery], he stated.

Before moving on to the next topic, Abdulahi pondered on what the outcome will be for Wilson and compared his predicament to the high-profile homicide cases of Kyle Rittenhouse and George Zimmerman. In both cases, the men claimed self-defense and were acquitted of any wrongdoing.

Next, Abdulahi talked about the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act that passed in the House earlier this month. If passed in the Senate, the legislation will decriminalize marijuana and eliminate criminal penalties for any person who possesses the drug.

Filmmaker Fab 5 Freddy reminded REVOLT BLACK NEWS Weekly viewers that many people in the Black community have been wrongfully punished for possessing cannabis.

A lot of people got nonviolent cannabis charges on their record. That affects where you can live, what kind of jobs you can get. Thats nonsense because cannabis has killed no one, he asserted.

During the show, recording artist Supa Peach discussed racial inequities within the federal legal system and the fact that marijuana laws are not enforced equally.

My brother gets sentenced in two weeks to go to prison when no one should be going to prison over a plant. It doesnt make any sense when the rich are doing the same thing hes doing and [they get to] live free, she noted.

Switching gears a bit, Abdulahi hosted a roundtable discussion about why some people are straying away from traditional relationships.

Influencer Alex Porter said he and his wife decided to have a non-monogamous marriage after being wed for 17 years. He stated he wanted to explore other options, but also mentioned he has faced some challenges being in a relationship with two women.

I realized trying to be with two women and communicating and finding that balance amongst those relationships took a lot more communication, a lot more vulnerability, a lot more honesty, a lot of acceptance and it puts you in a different place, he expressed.

Spirit, a psychologist, cautioned viewers to refrain from entering into non-monogamous connections if they are currentlyexperiencing issues in their relationship.

So many people look at this as an alternative when their relationships are bad. I will tell you to not get involved in a consensual non-monogamous relationship as an alternative to fixing the problems in your relationship because whatever was present before you stepped out and added extra partners, it is only going to magnify that when you bring new players in, she warned.

Later in the show, REVOLTEntertainment Correspondent Kennedy Rue McCullough gave viewers insight into actor Jussie Smolletts life while he appeals his five-year jail sentence for reportedly staging a hate crime in 2019.

The former Empire star has released a new song. Titled Thank You God, it directly addresses his criminal case and pays homage to those who have supported him.

In an interview with REVOLT, Jussie Smolletts younger brother Jocqui stated, Jussies career will be absolutely fine. My brother is one of the most talented, creative, intelligent individuals this world has ever known.

Watch a quick clip from this weeks episode up top. Plus, be sure to catch the next installment ofREVOLT BLACK NEWS Weeklyon Friday, April 22, 2022 at 6 p.m. ET on REVOLTs app.

View post:
Jussie Smolletts brother Jocqui insists the actors career will be absolutely fine - REVOLT