Please meet Courtney and Nariya.

Courtney Mike-Wilson and daughter Nariya -- via GoFundme

Courtney Mike-Wilson and daughter Nariya — via GoFundme

A black single mom, along with her foster daughter, are being forced from their Pennsylvania home following a series of hate crimes, including soaking her front porch in gasoline while she wasn’t home.

According to WTAE, local police in Pitcarin have called in the FBI to help with the investigation that began with a racial slur painted on the side of  Courtney Mike-Wilson’s car.

13363309_1469968449.2653_funddescription

A few days later, she discovered dodge-balls her foster daughter Nariya plays with slashed with a knife and left on her doormat.

“That morning they were popped in front of my door just so I can’t miss them. I think that’s what scares me right there is you have no problem coming on my front porch,” she said.

On Wednesday, the stalker struck again, dousing the front porch and her daughter’s toys with gasoline, with a note left behind reading: “Now we’re done.”

Despite the police and FBI investigation, Mike-Wilson has moved her daughter in with family members while she looks for a new place to live, saying she fears for their lives.

“I stay to myself, I go to work, and I come home. I’m a foster parent, so I really don’t have time for anything,” she said. “She [Nariya] can’t walk to the park anymore. She can’t go to the day care. I don’t tell her what’s going on. I’d rather she not be scared, but it’s hard to come up with first and last month rent so quickly, especially when you think you’re going to be somewhere for a while.”

There’s a Go Fund Me for Courtney and Nariya, if you can, please help. I can’t, due to being dire broke, but I can boost the signal. If you’re like me, and don’t have money, but are able to signal boost, please do.

Via Raw Story.

Cops: now we DEMAND IT!

Shutterstock.

Shutterstock.

Boston cops are very unhappy, and have drafted a long letter of complaint and demands. They want more weapons, more ammunition, more body armor, and no accountability. Boston is about to implement a body cam program, and the cops are absolutely against it. This is only a 6 month pilot program, and they are still adamantly against it. You really have to wonder why this is such a problem for Boston cops. If, as the letter states, they are truly frightened every moment for their lives, I’d think they would be enthusiastically in favour of body cams.

“You can sing cumbia (sic) ’til the cows come home, but that won’t stop a Rifle Round Aimed at a Police Officer’s Chest,” the letter stated. “We live in a world where a sitting President has basically ‘fanned the flames of Police hatred’ with political rhetoric and now a sitting Governor is politically afraid to speak.”

The letter, which was signed by the presidents of the Boston Police Detectives Benevolent Society, Boston Police Superior Officers Federation, and Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, demands not only an increase in department staffing but the issuing of long guns with “ample ammunition” for use by patrol officers, as well as ballistic shields and helmets and “extra-loaded” magazines.

The full, 3 page letter can be read here (pdf). This is yet another example, like the ‘blue lives matter’ bills, which clearly demonstrates that all the majority of cops want is unquestioning obeisance, a cowering fear in the face of their well-armed authority, and complete respect, without ever having earned that respect. When you’re busy bristling over wanting more weapons and refusing body cams, the implications are quite clear.

Via WFXT, WCVB, and Raw Story.

SFPD: All Labs Matter.

Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle.

Photo: Michael Noble Jr., The Chronicle.

The union representing San Francisco police officers published a photograph of two dogs in its monthly newspaper that critics say belittles the Black Lives Matter movement and raises questions about the police force’s commitment to repairing its relationship with communities of color.

The picture, which appeared on the back page of the August issue of the San Francisco Police Officers Association Journal, shows a pair of Labrador retrievers, one black and one white. The black dog has a sign around its neck reading, “Black Labs Matter,” while the white dog sports a sign reading, “All Labs Matter.”

[…]

The dog photo “once again shows a severe lack of understanding,” said Sgt. Yulanda Williams, president of Officers for Justice, an organization within the San Francisco police force representing African American and other nonwhite officers. “It’s so inflammatory, and they still don’t get it. They still choose to inflame situations, and it’s just really insulting.”

Union officials did not immediately comment to a request for comment on the journal photo, but Union President Martin Halloran pointed to a radio ad put out by the union about the recent attacks on police officers.

“In light of the rising violence against police officers, we hope everyone can start to turn down the volume,” Halloran says in the ad. “Anti-police rhetoric has been cited as a contributing factor to the violence against police officers. I think we can all do better and the police will do our part. We will continue with our best efforts to build bridges of communication and understanding between us and the community that we serve.”

The headline of the lead article in the August issue of the union journal reads, “Persevering the violence and blame: America’s cops have been there before.”

The union published the photo amid questions about whether the department has a systemic problem with racism, following the emergence of two separate sets of racist text messages exchanged between officers. Halloran has repeatedly said no such problem exists, calling the department one of the most culturally and racially diverse in the nation.

The U.S. Department of Justice is in the midst of a collaborative, top-to-bottom review of the police force that was launched after officers shot and killed a stabbing suspect, Mario Woods, in the Bayview neighborhood in December.

Mario Woods was shot more than 20 times by cops.

A panel of retired judges, assembled by District Attorney George Gascón to investigate potential police misconduct and bias, has questioned whether the union holds too much power in the department, and many activists have accused the union of standing in the way of reforms.

[…]

Anand Subramanian, executive director of the panel of judges investigating bias, also criticized the publication of the dog photo, saying, “It shows a severe lack of judgment and empathy for the real and justified pain and outrage that black communities are feeling.”

Sgt. Williams, who drew ire from the union when she testified before the judges’ panel about racism she experienced in the Police Department, said the photo demonstrated “blatant unwillingness to speak up for black lives.

“The POA is as good at sticking their foot in their mouth as Donald Trump,” she said. “So much for reform, that’s what that looks like. Reforms aren’t going to happen until you get them to concede that they’ve been doing things wrong, and this does not look like a concession or even an understanding or a desire to understand.”

Full story is at SFgate and Raw Story. Cops keep managing to demonstrate just how bigoted they are, and also how determined they are to stay that way, making every narrative all about them. Sorry, stormtroopers, you want respect? Fucking earn it.

White Nationalists Loving Trump.

2White Nationalists Supremacists haven’t kept their love of Trump a secret, but they are now jubilant over Trump & Co.’s attack on the Khan family.

The Daily Stormer is an anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi hate site that’s endorsed Donald Trump. Editor Andrew Anglin repeatedly smeared the late Capt. Khan and his family as terrorists and called on them to be deported. From his post:

So, an Islamic terrorist from Pakistan infiltrates the US military, with the intent of getting high-quality training to use in his jihad against Whites, and also perhaps for the purpose of sabotage, and accidentally gets his dumbass killed.

And now, the Jews tell us we’re supposed to celebrate him as a hero? Just because he’s dead?

No dice, kikes.

[…]

I am hereby calling for the Khan family to be immediately deported to Pakistan. What’s more, I want their terrorist son’s body dug up and shipped back with them.

This terrorist filth has no more right to rot in our ground than he had to walk on it. [Daily Stormer, 7/31/16]

Daily Stormer writer “Tharru Larbi” praised “God Emperor Trump’s rightful criticism of St. Khizr Khan’s flailing remarks about ‘muh constitution’ and ‘muh muslim patriot son.’” The writer concluded:

If Trump wants to point out the hypocrisy of the Democrats parading a Muslim father of a Muslim soldier while his wife sits quietly, and submissively, by his side — so be it. Of course, the Democrats and Jewish media don’t have an issue with this since what they want for all goyim is quiet submission.

[…]

Yes, goyim! This is what you should strive to be like. Look how patriotic and happy those two Muslims are. They’re so American

No thanks. I’ll take a beautiful Aryan woman any day over these two ugly troglodytes and I’ll happily retweet Iron Ann when she rightly calls out the Democrats.

[…]

It’s too bad a traitor like McCain can continue to cite his military career as a prop for his political career despite the record of his many transgressions. Even the people he served with and was jailed with as a POW hated him.

Sad! [Daily Stormer, 8/1/16]

The Southern Poverty Law Center calls video blogger Paul Ray Ramsey (aka Ramzpaul) a white nationalist who “has emerged as the hottest right-wing video blogger this side of former Klansman David Duke.” The pro-Trump racist pundit made a YouTube video attacking Khan and praising Trump for not apologizing:

RAMZPAUL: I think he responded good. And God bless Donald Trump. He didn’t apologize, he didn’t grovel. He’s kind of like Sidonius, the guy in that story. He’s a man, he stood firm. But like the story of the Roman time and Sidonius, our troops, our army, our empire is now starting to be flooded with mercenaries like this guy from Pakistan. He may be an American citizen, but he’s not of the founding stock. He’s not of the white, European Christian that made this country. [Southern Poverty Law Center, 8/21/13; YouTube, 8/1/16]

Leading Hate Website Leader Don Black: Trump’s Khan Attack “Proves To Me That Trump Is The Real Thing.” The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Don Black as a “former Klan state leader and long-time white supremacist” who “is best known for creating Stormfront.org, the first major Internet hate site.” During Stormfront’s radio program, Black said Khizr Khan is a “professional Muslim” and praised Trump for his attacks against the Khans. Black said the episode “proves to me that Trump is the real thing. He really is, I think, sincere in what he’s doing even though he’s of course obviously ego-driven.” [Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed 8/2/16, Rense Radio Network, Stormfront, 8/2/16]

The Southern Poverty Law Center describes VDare.com as “an anti-immigration hate website” with a white nationalist ideology. The website’s Twitter account responded to Republicans defending the Khan family by writing, “And at the very moment when the tide turns, the GOP starts cucking. All these ppl need to do is just shut up.”

https://twitter.com/vdare/status/760155770767839234

[Twitter, 8/1/16; Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed 8/2/16]

Eric Hananoki has the full story at MediaMatters. It’s bad enough, the re-normalisation of virulent bigotry enabled by Trump, but the  putrid re-blossoming of these white supremacist groups, after they had been pushed to the fringe, is damn scary. All thinking people should be scared.

NYC: ‘Blue Lives Matter’ Bill.

CREDIT: eddtoro/Shutterstock

CREDIT: eddtoro/Shutterstock

New York has become the latest state to introduce a Blue Lives Matter bill, which would classify assaulting an officer as a hate crime. The bill was introduced today by New York Assemblyman Ron Castorina (R), with support from Council Member Joseph C. Borelli (R) and NYPD Sergeant Joe Imperatrice, the president and founder of Blue Lives Matter NYC.

Hate crime legislation currently only applies to attacks based on race, sexual orientation, national origin, and religious affiliation. But this new legislation would classify cops as a protected class, aligning them with ethnic and religious minorities and the LGBT community.

In an interview with the New York Observer, Castorina noted the recent attacks on cops in Baton Rouge and Dallas this past month as a driving force for the bill. He also blamed Black Lives Matter protests for provoking violence against law enforcement.

“It’s based on this climate in this country right now where police officers are being abused and they’re being disrespected, and we’re seeing they have a target on their back, in Louisiana and in Dallas,” Castorina said. “You can envision this happening at a protest, where somebody might throw a rock or a bottle or a punch.”

Talk about a bad, knee-jerk reaction. This is completely unnecessary, as punishments for assaulting a cop are much higher than assaulting a non-cop, and everyone knows that cops will already do whatever they need to in order to tack on a resisting arrest charge, so now they’ll be busy finding ways to tack on an assault charge, too. Oh, this won’t lead anywhere bad, no, of course not. :Insert spine popping eyeroll here: Honesty would be welcome. Why not just call this what it is, a brutal enforcement of bowing down to authority? Being a cop is nowhere near as dangerous as a number of other jobs, and the majority of cops are killed in traffic accidents. The stats are quite clear as to there being many more civilians shot and killed by cops, then cops being shot by civilians.

Civilians get killed by police far more often. Law enforcement officers shot and killed some 990 people in 2015 and another 491 in the first half of this year, according to the Washington Post’s award-winning tracking of police shootings.

That’s almost 1,500 police killings in 18 months, compared to 305 law enforcement officers attacked and killed in the line of duty in the six-year span of numbers in the new report. Police officers have shot and killed about 82 people each month nationwide since the start of last year, and have been killed by attackers roughly 4 times per month going back to the start of 2010.

So of course, cops must be made into a protected class, oh my yes! As these bills pass, and they will, we can all look forward to many more people dying unjustly at the hands of cops, and those who don’t die may well end up with extended prison sentences because of cops who will claim assault. Just what our already over-burdened, fucked up penal system needs. Fuck stormtroopers.

Via ThinkProgress.

NO, Gov. Bryant, NO!

Gov. Phil Bryant. AP Photo.

Gov. Phil Bryant. AP Photo.

Apparently, Governor Bryant doesn’t understand the word no, even though it has been explained to him repeatedly.

A federal judge had some harsh words for Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant when he refused—again—to let the state enforce what many have called the country’s most discriminatory law against LGBTs.

U.S. District Court Judge Carlton Reeves refused Monday to stay his injunction against HB 1523 while Bryant organized his appeal, saying that the “absence does not impair the free exercise of religion.”

[…]

Reeves’s irritation with the case came through loud and clear in his brief, claiming he was “passing the baton” to a higher court and openly doubted if the governor would win on appeal.

Maybe that’s because the Magnolia State tried to compare businesses serving LGBT customers with forcing someone to fight in combat or get an abortion.

“Issuing a marriage license to a gay couple is not like being forced into armed combat or to assist with an abortion,” Reeves wrote.

Honestly, you can hear the exasperation in the writing.

I imagine that’s the same exasperation parents feel when presented with a toddler who refuses to take no for an answer. Grow up, Governor.

Via Out.

Francis Denounces Gender Choice.

pope-francis-x750_copyIn the ‘water is wet’ category, Francis has railed against the concept of people being transgender. Here we go again with the whole “oh, it’s just a lifestyle choice” nonsense.

Pope Francis is getting criticism for speaking out against the idea that gender can be chosen.

“Today, in schools they are teaching this to children — to children! — that everyone can choose their gender,” the pope said in a meeting with Catholic bishops in Poland last week, the Associated Press reports. The Vatican released a transcript of his remarks today.

He quoted his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, who retired in 2013 but still lives at the Vatican: “Speaking with Pope Benedict, who is well and has a clear mind, he was telling me: ‘Holiness, this is the epoch of sin against God the Creator, he’s intelligent! God created man and woman, God created the world this way, this way, this way, and we are doing the opposite.’”

Pope Francis has previously denounced the idea of gender mutability, saying that “gender theory … does not recognize the order of creation” and calling for “valuing one’s own body in its femininity or masculinity,” as “it is not a healthy attitude which would seek to cancel out sexual difference.”

[…]

Criticism of the pope came from Kelsey Louie, CEO of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, who said he was “saddened and disturbed” by the remarks. In an emailed statement, Louie continued, “Our children deserve to know that of course they have the right to choose, and GMHC applauds all schools that teach students not to oppress who they are, but instead live the life as the gender they most identify with.” He noted that in light of the mass shooting at the Pulse LGBT nightclub in Orlando, “what we need now is for our world leaders to spread messages of tolerance and acceptance.”

The Advocate has the full story.

31.

Herbert Hoover lived with an uncle who was an Indian agent on the Osage Nation when he was six years old. Whitehouse.gov

Herbert Hoover lived with an uncle who was an Indian agent on the Osage Nation when he was six years old. Whitehouse.gov

Fifty years before Herbert Clark Hoover took office as the 31st president of the United States, he spent eight months living on the Osage Nation in Oklahoma, where he “learned much aboriginal lore of the woods and streams, and how to make bows and arrows.”

Hoover, who was six years old at the time, lived with an uncle who was an Indian agent. He attended “Indian Sunday-school” and “had constant association with the little Indians at the agency school,” he wrote in his memoirs.

Born to a Quaker family in Iowa in 1874, Hoover also had relatives who worked as Indian agents in Oregon and Alaska. He is the only U.S. president to have lived on an Indian reservation.

“Hoover had an empathy for the Indians,” said Matt Schaefer, an archivist at the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library in West Branch, Iowa. “He had all these touch points with Indians as a child and young adult that led to this more enlightened Indian policy.”

[Read more…]

Four White Women Agree.

Fox News presenters Sandra Smith, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, Elizabeth McDonald and Meghan McCain speak to guest David Webb (center)

Fox News presenters Sandra Smith, Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, Elizabeth McDonald and Meghan McCain speak to guest David Webb (center)

The University of Houston’s Student Government vice president, Rohini Sethi, was hit with sanctions last week after she posted a message on Facebook that read: “Forget #BlackLivesMatter; more like #AllLivesMatter”

“For her to say on her social media ‘forget black lives matter,’ it’s almost as if to say if all of us were to die tomorrow, she wouldn’t care,” University of Houston Black Student Union President Kadidja Koné explained to The Washington Post on Monday.

But four white women hosting Fox News’ Outnumbered on Monday expressed outrage over the sanctions.

“The penalty was so harsh,” host Elizabeth McDonald complained. “The student leader, the president also said… you don’t go to jail for First Amendment violations but she deserves tougher sanctions. Who is this guy? He should be tossed out of his job.”

“I still don’t understand why saying ‘All Lives Matter’ is controversial,” co-host Meghan McCain chimed in. “I don’t understand why you can’t have empathy and understanding for the Black Lives Matter movement and also think that all lives everywhere — including by the way in the womb — also matter. Like, it’s really hard for me to understand how this is controversial.”

Monday’s Outnumbered guest, conservative radio host David Webb, declared that Black Lives Matter was a “violent movement” with “anarchists” behind it.

“It is such a false argument,” co-host Lisa Kennedy Montgomery opined. “It’s so offensive because when you say ‘All Lives Matter,’ you are not intending to say — for most people — is black lives don’t matter, but that’s how it’s taken.”

McCain asserted that universities would let students “go off on Trump” and “to say the most awful, disgusting, horrific things and there would be no recourse.”

“But you say this,” McCain added, “you say ‘All Lives Matter’ and you get demoted and you get your job taken away. That’s crazy.”

“Is there just no open discourse?” co-host Sandra Smith wondered. “Can you just not have a conversation on college campus anymore without someone being offended or having to delete a Facebook post where someone shares their opinion?”

“I’m for not backing down anymore,” Webb said. “You can take your safe space crowd — it doesn’t exist, this is college. This is supposed to be an expansion of our minds.”

Spoken from the safe space haven for bigoted, obnoxious, oblivious assholes. Right. Well, there we have it folks, the incredibly stunning, eloquent, and rational argument for all lives matter. Four white women agree!

Via Raw Story.

Facebook, Oh Facebook, Part IV.

636052187367160635-Amy-Pollpeter

A longtime Iowa Department of Public Safety criminalist who publicly posted her personal fears about black people on social media earlier this month is no longer employed by the state, the agency confirmed Wednesday. […] Pollpeter was a criminalist assigned to DPS’ Division of Criminal Investigation.

Rant

What no one from the “blacklivesmatter” seems to remember is that the cold-blooded killer of 5 cops was ONE OF THEM! The movement has not come out and denounced what he did (some have even condoned/supported it). If you are supporting “Black Lives Matter” – You are supporting, even applauding a cop-killer. These men put their lives on the line for your safety EVERY SINGLE DAY! They are rarely respected and even more rarely thanked. The cops in Dallas had never shot a black man, they had nothing to do with the other incidents – we don’t even know what their feelings about blacks were. But yet, the black lives matter movement seems to think it is OK to remain silent about what one of their people did – he shot cops in cold blood. It’s interesting – until a few years ago, I never really saw the color of a person’s skin. They were all just people to me. But BECAUSE OF BLACKS – I do now notice the color of skin – and frankly, I no longer feel safe around them. Yes, not every black person is going to shoot me because I look at them wrong, or because I happen to be attending a training so I’m wearing a DCI shirt that day – but I know that there is a stronger chance that they will today than they would have 5 years ago. BLACKS have effectively created a MORE RACIST environment rather than working to be equal (and let’s face it, I’ve never seen a political statement from blacks that actually wants equality – they want special treatment, special rights, and to be above the law – they want superiority). So yes, if I’m on a sidewalk and you are black, I will now move to the other side of the street and will be watching for whether you have a gun. No, I won’t shoot you, but I won’t trust you either. This is not from some long held belief or teaching that whites are better than blacks, it is purely because there aren’t a bunch of white people running around (instead of working) rioting, looting stores, and shooting cops. The hatred that blacks are experiencing – they have brought on themselves by their actions. I’m sorry that some blacks will suffer for the actions of others – but then again, I’ve seen no apologies from blacks for the suffering that the cops families are going through because of the action of someone else who happened to be in the same profession. #COPSLIVESMATTER.

And this woman was a criminologist, someone who handled evidence. I hope to fuck you remain unemployable for your whole life, Ms. Pollpeter. “I am not a bigot! I’m not! Oh, those people made me one!” Fuck, that was pure bigot bingo. You can tell she was wanting to write nigger rather than black, as she just couldn’t bring herself to attach ‘people’ or ‘person’ to Black. Darn those uppity Black people, if they’d just stay in their proper place and work some shit job, everything would be okely dokely, you bet.

“The Iowa Department of Public Safety has a strong commitment to integrity, impartiality and professionalism in every aspect of our work,” said Commissioner Roxann Ryan. “We have adopted these policies in order to ensure that the public has trust in all that we do, and our policies reflect the high standards that we maintain,”

Gary Licht, a DPS supervisor who oversaw some of Pollpeter’s work, denounced the posts during a Register interview Wednesday.

“What we’re talking about was made public on Facebook. They’re offensive and they do not reflect my thoughts or actions,” Licht said.

Licht said one employee’s comments on social media are not reflective of the department.

“It doesn’t tarnish the rest of us,” Licht said about Pollpeter’s posts. “It’s one person speaking.”

Pollpeter had worked as a DPS criminalist for about 10 years.

Full story is here.

Sunday Facepalm: Stop Clicking Around.

hiltonad

I guess the petition and outrage over Target’s inclusive pee policy has died down, so the American Family Association has found something new to be all outraged over, and have been hawking a new petition in an attempt to shame the Hilton Hotel chain over being terribly inclusive too. I think the advert is kinda cute. Er, I mean it’s obviously evil, those men are in bed!

In the June, 2016, issue of Travel and Leisure magazine, Hilton Worldwide shocked readers by placing a full-page ad that featured two men in bed together. Click here to see the ad.

Travel and Leisure isn’t a gay-specific magazine sent directly to homosexual’s homes. It’s a widely distributed mainstream publication that can be found in many public places such as doctors’ or auto repair waiting rooms.

If Hilton had advertised two men playing tennis, cards, or having lunch, that would have been reasonable. However, Hilton chose to make a cultural and social statement by purposely marketing the promotion of homosexuality to a large segment of the population who finds the idea of two men sleeping together unnatural and offensive.

I guess it didn’t occur to these arbiters of morality that Hilton was aiming at the queer market, letting all the queer folk know that Hilton is inclusive. Not everything is about you, AFA. As for two men playing tennis, cards, or having lunch, well that wouldn’t work with the cute tagline Stop Clicking Around, now would it. Perhaps you didn’t get the double entendre there.

So far, Hilton is defending its decision to promote homosexuality in the magazine and will likely take it further with other forms of mainstream media. Hilton said, “Hilton Worldwide is a global company of diverse cultures serving diverse guests…We are proud to depict and reflect our guest diversity in our advertising…”

Good for Hilton! I think this is great news, and the more mainstream, the better. It’s past time that queer folk are normalized.

Sign our petition to Hilton Worldwide, urging them to market responsibly by advertising in a more family friendly manner when marketing through mainstream media.

Nope, not going to do that. Fuck you and your “family friendly manner” in any marketing whatsoever. If you are going to be that damn upset over an advert, perhaps you shouldn’t be reading things like Travel and Leisure magazine. I understand that bible of yours is advert free. Stick to that.

Via Christian Post and AFA.

Thug is Racist? Really?

Bob Goosman. Facebook.

Bob Goosman. Facebook.

A Dallas weatherman who resigned before he could be fired over a Facebook post calling the victims of police violence “thugs” said he didn’t know the comment would be interpreted as racist, the Dallas Morning News reports.

Bob Goosmann, formerly chief meteorologist for KRLD, posted the comment on Wednesday and by Friday had resigned, stating that he would have “rightly” been fired had he not.

“As many of you have probably noticed, I’ve stayed away from politics on FB,” Goosmann had written. “The DNC parading the mothers of slain thugs around on their stage has me furious.”

He has since deleted the post.

[…]

“I used the word thugs in my post, but I thought a thug was just a violent person,” Goosmann wrote in response to criticism. “The definition of thug does not mention any race. I will say I talked with an African American acquaintance and he told me that he feels like when he hears the word, it is in reference to an African American individual. I had NO IDEA.”

Perhaps if you actually talked with people of colour now and then, you might have known that. Not that I believe that “I had no idea” line.

Via Raw Story.

Video Released of Loreal Tsingine’s Death.

Winslow Police Department via YouTube

Winslow Police Department via YouTube.

A recently released body camera video of a 27-year-old Navajo woman who was shot five times after allegedly being involved in a shoplifting incident in Winslow, Arizona, shows the altercation between the police officer and Loreal Tsingine. Tsingine died, while the officer was cleared of any wrongdoing earlier this week.

No audio was available in first seconds but the video portion shows how the officer aggressively pushes Tsingine to the ground. A pair of scissors is seen in her hand as another officer is seen behind her. The officer pushes her again and something falls out of her pocket, which looks like medication. She gets up and walks toward the officer with the pair of scissors in her hand as he lifts his gun and aims directly at her. The video then fades to black and the audio kicks in. After the sound of heavy, labored breathing the officer says, “She came at me with those scissors.”

“I don’t care if she stole copy,000 worth of merchandise or whether she was brandishing a knife or scissors. In the larger historical context, I see this as a violation of an Indigenous woman and her space was violated,” said Brandon Benallie of the Border Town Justice Coalition of the video. “She responded appropriately. In this larger historical context, she acted bravely. She dared to defend her body.”

Benallie also questioned why the other officer did not get involved. “There was no point for him to shoot. This other cop could have taken her down. (Officer) Shipley chooses to murder her rather than create a situation where Loreal would be alive today.”

Benallie, the family of Tsingine and other members of the Border Town Justice Coalition will line the streets of this small town near the Navajo Nation today in efforts they say will hold the city’s police department accountable for crimes towards Indigenous people after Officer Austin Shipley shot Tsingine on Easter.

“Join us and make sure the Winslow Police Department and the City of Winslow, a bordertown settlement, are held accountable for their inhuman crimes towards Indigenous people and other people of color,” read a Coalition news release.

The group is protesting a recent decision by an independent ruling by the Maricopa County Attorney’s office, which stated that no criminal wrongdoing occurred. The Winslow Police Department requested an independent investigation into the incident by the Arizona Department of Public Safety, which turned over its report to Maricopa County at the request of Navajo County Attorney’s office.

Loreal Tsingine’s death at the hands of cops didn’t make the news anywhere much, outside of local news and Indian news outlets. Indigenous people are killed at high rates by cops, and they are subject to the same harassment as other people of colour. I doubt much will be done in this case, but here’s hoping anyway. My thoughts are with the family, friends, and protesters.

Bodycam footage Winslow Arizona shooting.

Full story at ICTMN.