July 23, 2015
By Amen Oyiboke
Staff Writer
Twenty eight year-old Illinois native Sandra Bland was hired for a job at PVAMU on July 10. She was leaving campus grounds when she was pulled over by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper for an improper lane change. Bland was arrested outside of the Hope AME Church located nearby, for allegedly assaulting a public servant. According to the trooper the encounter escalated after she allegedly refused to put out her cigarette, the New York Times reported.
Bland was found dead in her jail cell three days later, allegedly having committed suicide by asphyxiation. The case is now being investigated as a potential murder however, and could be turned over to a grand jury.
Close family and friends called the idea of Bland committing suicide “incomprehensible”. As a fellow student at Prairie View, I had known her via association with mutual friends and Bland always had a smile on her face.
“I remember the first day I met her on the yard in the phases, we became good friends,” said Timothy Chatman on Facebook.
“I knew her [and] harming herself she would never do.”
She was an active member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority and very outspoken against racism. She created weekly videos called Sandy Speaks discussing today’s social issues.
“When you think through the circumstances that have been shared with us to this point, it is unimaginable and difficult for us to wrap our mind around,” Bland’s older sister, Sharon Cooper told the Chicago Tribune.
Located about 45 minutes outside of Houston, the college city of Prairie View is a slowly evolving country town. Hempstead, its neighboring city, has pretty much the same dynamics of most small towns… small grocery stores, a few gas stations planted outside the campus, open fields with the closest major hospital being 20 minutes away. I cannot say that racism was never an issue for students in the area when it came to interactions with residents and police. Everyone knew to be aware of Waller County police officers when it came to traffic stops and interactions.
“This really hit close to home now and it brings back all the memories of my run ins with the police in Prairie View,” said DeVon Marie on Facebook, who recalled his own incident with police in the area. He immediately had to call his mother after his friend was arrested, he said, since he knew how law enforcement was.
There has always been a precarious relationship between Waller County and students from PVAMU. For years we had to fight for the ability to vote in the county. I vividly remember walking 7 miles in protest to the Waller County Courthouse for that very reason.
Bland isn’t the first alleged Waller County suicide jail cell death. In 2012, James Harper Howell IV was also found dead in a Waller County jail cell. Like Bland, he was arrested for assaulting a police officer. In reports of Howell’s death, jailers said they routinely checked on him and that there was no indication he would “engage in suicidal behavior”.
Meanwhile, Alana Taylor, one of Bland’s sisters, told Black Greek Life news, “Suicide would be the last thing on her mind as she was on the brink of starting a new chapter of life: a new job, a strong cause to fight for and a thick network of support.”
July 16, 2015
City News Service
President Barack Obama said this week there is no “mechanism” for revoking the Presidential Medal of Freedom that was awarded 13 years ago to comedian Bill Cosby, who has been accused by more than 40 women — including some in Southern California — of sexual misconduct. Cosby received the honor in 2002 from then-President George W. Bush. In light of the accusations against the comedian, Obama was asked if he would consider revoking the honor.
“There’s no precedent for revoking a medal,” he said. “We don’t have that mechanism. And as you know, I tend to make it a policy not to comment on the specifics of cases where there might still be, if not criminal, then civil issues involved.
“I'll say this: If you give a woman — or a man, for that matter — without his or her knowledge, a drug, and then have sex with that person without consent, that’s rape,” the president said. “And I think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape.”
Cosby, 78, has been accused by more than 40 women of sexual misconduct, including allegations by many that he drugged and raped them in incidents dating back more than four decades. Cosby has never been criminally charged, and most of the accusations are barred by statutes of limitations. Los Angeles attorney Gloria Allred, who represents several women accusing Cosby of sexual assault, said the comedian’s Medal of Freedom should be revoked, saying that if it's issued by the president, it can be revoked by the president.
“The president has not yet cited any legal reason why it could not be done,” Allred said. “If all it takes is a mechanism to do that, then I would hope that the executive branch would begin work on such a mechanism, and if the White House does not do it then the Congress should pass a resolution supporting such a mechanism and suggesting guidelines to be followed to create such a mechanism.
“... I know that the president cares about women’s rights, and the right of women to be free of drugging and rape is a right that I am certain that the president would want for his wife, his daughters and all women wherever they might reside,” Allred said. “Unfortunately, many women were not safe from Mr. Cosby and were denied their right to dignity which the U.S. Supreme Court has recently declared to be an important right. It is time to find a way to revoke the award of the Medal of Freedom to Bill Cosby.”
A group of Los Angeles-area civil-rights activists recently called for Cosby’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to be removed. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, however, quickly rejected the request.
“The answer is no,” Chamber President/CEO Leron Gubler said. “The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a registered historic landmark. Once a star has been added to the Walk, it is considered part of the historic fabric of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Because of this, we have never removed a star from the Walk.”
July 16, 2015
Associated Press
Iran, the United States and other world powers struck a historic deal July 14, to curb Iranian nuclear programs and ease fears of a nuclear-armed Iran threatening the volatile Middle East. In exchange, Iran will get billions of dollars in relief from crushing international sanctions.
The accord, reached after long, fractious negotiations, marks a dramatic break from decades of animosity between the United States and Iran, countries that have labeled each other the “leading state sponsor of terrorism” and “the Great Satan.”
“This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction,” President Barack Obama declared at the White House in remarks that were carried live on Iranian state television. “We should seize it.”
In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said “a new chapter” had begun in his nation's relations with the world. He maintained that Iran had never sought to build a bomb, an assertion the U.S. and its partners have long disputed.
Beyond the hopeful proclamations from the U.S., Iran and other parties to the talks, there is deep skepticism of the deal among U.S. lawmakers and Iranian hardliners. Obama’s most pressing task will be holding off efforts by Congress to levy new sanctions on Iran or block his ability to suspend existing ones.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, predicted the deal would embolden Iran and fuel a nuclear arms race around the world. It will be difficult for congressional Republicans to stop Obama, however, because of his power to veto legislation.
Israel, which sees Iran as a threat to its existence, strongly opposes leaving the Islamic republic with its nuclear infrastructure in place. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has furiously lobbied against a deal, called the agreement a “stunning historic mistake.”
In a phone call Tuesday, Obama sought to reassure Netanyahu that the agreement doesn’t diminish U.S. concern about Iran’s threats toward Israel and its support for terrorism, the White House said.
Economic effects could be substantial for both Iran and the world.
In trading Tuesday, benchmark U.S. crude oil prices were down. Iran is an OPEC member, but its oil production has been affected for years by sanctions over its nuclear program. Any easing of the sanctions could see Iran sell more oil, which could bring down crude prices. That doesn't automatically mean lower gasoline prices, however.
Iran also stands to receive more than $100 billion in assets that have been frozen overseas and an end to various financial restrictions on Iranian banks.
The nearly 100-page accord announced Tuesday aims to keep Iran from producing enough material for an atomic weapon for at least 10 years and imposes new provisions for inspections of Iranian facilities, including military sites.
With Obama’s final term ending in January 2017, the long-term agreement is sure to be a hot topic for the many candidates vying to take his place.
Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton praised the deal and declared herself ready to enforce it “vigorously, relentlessly” as president. Republican Jeb Bush issued a denunciation, saying the deal only delays the danger and “over time it paves Iran’s path to a bomb.”
The deal was finalized after more than two weeks of furious diplomacy in Vienna. Negotiators blew through three self-imposed deadlines, with top American and Iranian diplomats both threatening at points to walk away from the talks.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who did most of the bargaining with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said persistence paid off. “Believe me, had we been willing to settle for a lesser deal we would have finished this negotiation a long time ago,” he told reporters.
The breakthrough came after several key compromises.
Iran agreed to the continuation of a U.N. arms embargo on the country for up to five more years, though it could end earlier if the International Atomic Energy Agency definitively clears Iran of any current work on nuclear weapons. A similar condition was put on U.N. restrictions on the transfer of ballistic missile technology to Tehran, which could last for up to eight more years, according to diplomats.
Washington had sought to maintain the ban on Iran importing and exporting weapons, concerned that an Islamic Republic flush with cash from sanctions relief would expand its military assistance for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other forces opposing America’s Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Iranian leaders, backed by Russia and China, insisted the embargo had to end as their forces combat regional scourges such as the Islamic State.
Another significant agreement will allow U.N. inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties, something the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had long vowed to oppose. However, access isn’t guaranteed and could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on.
Under the accord, Tehran would have the right to challenge U.N requests, and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers would then decide on the issue. The IAEA also wants the access to complete its long-stymied investigation of past weapons work by Iran. The U.S. says Iranian cooperation is needed for all economic sanctions to be lifted.
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said Tuesday his agency and Iran had signed a “roadmap” to resolve outstanding concerns, hopefully by mid-December.
The deal didn’t come together easily, as tempers flared and voices were raised during debates over several of the most contentious matters. The mood soured particularly last week after Iran dug in its heels on several points and Kerry threatened to abandon the effort, according to diplomats involved in the talks. They weren’t authorized to speak publicly on the private diplomacy and demanded anonymity.
But by Monday, the remaining gaps were bridged in a meeting that started with Kerry, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Zarif later joined the meeting, and shortly thereafter, the ministers emerged and told aides they had an accord.
The deal comes after nearly a decade of international, intercontinental diplomacy that until recently was defined by failure. Breaks in the talks sometimes lasted for months, and Iran’s nascent nuclear program expanded into one that Western intelligence agencies saw as only a couple of months away from weapons capacity. The U.S. and Israel both threatened possible military responses.
The United States joined the negotiations in 2008, and U.S. and Iranian officials met together secretly four years later in Oman to see if diplomatic progress was possible. But the process remained essentially stalemated until summer 2013, when Rouhani was elected president and declared his country ready for serious compromise.
A telephone conversation between Rouhani and Obama marked the two countries’ highest diplomatic exchange since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution and the ensuing hostage crisis at the American embassy in Tehran.
Associated Press writers Bradley Klapper and Julie Pace in Washington contributed.
July 09, 2015
City News Service
A 12.7 percent increase in violent and property crime in Los Angeles during the first half of the year is ``bad news,'' Mayor Eric Garcetti acknowledged this week, but he and police Chief Charlie Beck said a ramped-up domestic violence response team and additional back-up officers should help stem the crime rise. The figures marked the first time in about a decade that overall crime has risen in the city. The leap in crime ``is bad news, but ... my administration doesn't run away from bad news,'' said Garcetti, who joined Beck at a news conference to address the crime statistics.
Violent crime rose 20.6 percent overall in the first six months of the year, compared with the same time last year, according to Los Angeles Police Department figures. In the violent crime category, homicide fell 6.7 percent, but rape was up 7.9 percent, robbery up 16.6 percent and aggravated assaults increased by 26.3 percent. Property crimes rose 10.9 percent, police said. Burglary saw a 15.8 percent jump, while auto theft was up 13.8 percent and larceny up by 8.9 percent.
The increase could be driven by higher rates of domestic violence, as well as a rise in homelessness in the city, Beck and Garcetti said. Garcetti said domestic violence response teams, which had been limited to a few police stations, will be expanded to all 21 police division by the end of summer, with funding and contracts already in place. Meanwhile, a back-up unit stationed out of the Metropolitan Division will be boosted by 200 officers by the end of the year to offer police support across the city, Garcetti said.