Criminal Justice
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We Can’t Breathe: COVID-19 and Police Injustice Are Suffocating Black People
Today, May 29, would have marked the 30th birthday of Erica Garner, who passed away over two years ago. Some speculated that her death was because of inadequate healthcare, while others attributed her death to the stress and burden of being a black woman trying to survive in America. The daughter of Eric Garner, the…
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How Not to Quarantine: NFL Cornerbacks DeAndre Baker, Quinton Dunbar Accused of Robbing Partygoers at Gunpoint
Stay-at-home orders have made a vast majority of American citizens prisoners in their own homes, yet cornerbacks DeAndre Baker of the New York Giants and Quinton Dunbar of the Seattle Seahawks have still found a way to get caught up in some bullshit. From ESPN: Arrest warrants have been issued in South Florida for New…
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Prosecutors Know Who Killed This Black Man in Georgia but Have Made No Arrests
The family of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery says he was jogging in his neighborhood in Brunswick Country, Georgia in February when he was chased, shot, and killed by two white men. Two months later no arrests have been made—though the identity of the men who chased him are known to police, Arbery’s mother said to CBS…
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NBA Draft Prospect Teshaun Hightower Arrested in Connection With a Georgia Murder
On April 19, 22-year-old Teshaun Hightower declared for the NBA draft. One week later, he found himself behind bars facing some very serious charges. NBC News reports that Hightower was taken into custody in Henry County, Ga.. last Saturday in connection with the April 8 killing of Devante Long. Hightower was arrested alongside his brother…
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Former NFL Star Chris Johnson Accused of Funding Murder-for-Hire Plot
When retired professional athletes trend on social media, my nerves get bad. Yes, it could be related to some prosperous new endeavor or other good news, but far too often, it’s not. And in the case of former NFL All-Pro Chris Johnson, he’s reportedly gotten himself into some serious shit. From Bleacher Report: Former Tennessee…
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Census 2020 Is Happening Right Now. Here's Why It Matters to the Black Community
“Three-fifths. That’s all we were counted for. We were voiceless.” That’s how a recent Fair Count ad began. Of course, the advertisement referenced the 1787 Three-Fifths Compromise, which recommended counting three out of every five slaves as people when determining political representation. Sure, we’ve come a long way, but just how far, exactly? The Urban…
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Colorado Becomes 22nd State to Abolish Death Penalty
Governor Jared Polis officially repealed capital punishment in Colorado on Monday, capping off a heated legislative battle to get rid of the death penalty in the state. For decades, capital punishment was seldom used in Colorado, the New York Times points out. Since reinstating the death penalty in the 1970s, only one person had been…
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Fresno Man Accused of Four Murders Admits He Wanted to Kill White People: 'You Get Fed Up With the Racism, You Get Tired of Letting Things Slide'
We’ve all heard the phrase “an eye for an eye,” and after enduring a lifetime of racism, that was the exact justification that accused killer Kori Ali Muhammad gave authorities for his decision to allegedly murder four people in 2017. From the Fresno Bee: In a taped interview with Fresno detectives, Muhammad explained why he…
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Ayanna Presley and Other Lawmakers and Legal Experts Call for End to Death Penalty in the Wake of Nathaniel Woods Execution
The unfathomably unjust execution of Nathaniel Woods on Friday has sparked widespread outrage and scorn from activists, lawmakers and legal experts and has inspired a renewed sense of urgency in the call to abolish the death penalty. Woods was a criminal but he was not a murderer—a fact not even disputed by prosecutors or the…
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Kim Kardashian Visits Trump to Discuss Criminal Justice Reform That Isn't Really Criminal Justice or Reform…or Even Trump’s
Instagram model, activist and almost-lawyer Kim Kardashian, affectionately known as “the Rosa Parks of people who are nothing like Rosa Parks,” visited President Donald Trump on Wednesday to push for further criminal justice reform. Shortly before she was spotted at the White House, Kardashian tweeted: “Today Alice, Crystal, Judith, Tynice and I, along with the…