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| via atlantablackstar.com |
#AssaultAtSpringValley
Video of a 16 year-old Black woman being violently assaulted
by a police officer at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina went viral
this October. The young Black woman, who is choosing to be identified as
Shakara, was aggressively pulled out of her chair by officer Ben Fields and
thrown to the floor after being asked to leave because she wouldn't put away
her cellphone. She was promptly arrested along with 18 year-old Niya Kenny who
attempting to help Shakara.Officer Fields has since been fired. Strangely, over
a hundred students staged a walk-out at the school to protest the firing of
officer fields, many of them students of color. The controversy has exposed
much of the internalized white supremacist patriarchy held by students at the
school. Black Lives Matter has issued an open letter to Shakara and Niya
affirming their worth as Black woman and offering support. A GoFundMe account
was also created to help support Shakara. You can donate to that account at https://www.gofundme.com/7w7h7cvw
Arson Continues At Historically Black Churches
At least seven historically Black churches were burned in
St. Louis, MO this October, many of them not too far from Ferguson. White supremacist
terror has recently resurfaced in the media since the shooting of the
Charleston nine at Emanuel AME Church and the rash of church burnings that
followed in late June. The first of the fires began October 8th at Bethel
Non-Denominational Church, which was followed by burnings at New Northside
Missionary Baptist Church, St. Augustine Catholic Church, and the New Testament
Church of Christ. Very recently a Black male, 35 year-old David Lopez Jackson
has been charged with setting two of the seven fires. The Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, and Firearms has jumped on the possibility of Jackson being linked to
all of the fires and has dismissed the attacks race-related. Yet the
identification of Jackson as Black does not automatically mean that the attacks
were not race-related when white supremacist racism can influence the actions
of anyone.
Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations win Million dollar Settlement
The Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations of Oklahoma have finally
won a long standing lawsuit against the United States government. The landmark
case Choctaw Nation and Chickasaw Nation vs U.S Department of the Interior was
filed in 2005. The suit charged the U.S with mismanaging 1.3 million acres of
Choctaw and Chickasaw timberlands, violating the Administrative Procedure act
and the Fifth Amendment. The suit has won 186 million dollars from the U.S
Department of the Interior, which will be divided between the two tribes.
Native Hawaiians to Vote For Independence
November 1st marked the beginning of a 30 day voting period
open to over 100,000 Native Hawaiians who will elect delegates to attend the
convention for self-governance in Honolulu this winter. The eight-week
convention will be focused on drafting a document for the formation of a
government by Native Hawaiians for Native Hawaiians. The Native Hawaiian
community has suffered from exploitation homelessness, poverty, and the erasure
of Native traditions at the hands of the United States government.
Tamir Rice: No Justice
On October 10th Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty
released two reports from the grand jury investigation concluding that Officer
Timothy Loehmann was "reasonable" when he shot and killed 12 year-old
Tamir Rice. A representative of McGinty explained that the reports were an attempt
to keep the investigation as transparent as possible. Outraged family members
and activists demand that a special prosecutor take over the case if McGinty
fails to pursue an indictment himself. A grand jury has already begun hearing
testimony in the case and family members fear that a case brought to a grand
jury will result in a non-indictment.
THE DECOLONIZER
November 2015
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