April 23, 2015

 

By George E. Curry 

NNPA Columnist 

 

Feidin Santana, the young Dominican immigrant who videotaped North Charleston, S.C. police officer Michael Slager firing his gun eight times, killing Walter Scott, an unarmed Black man who was fleeing, was a hero. His quick decision to videotape the unfolding action on his telephone led to the arrest of Slager for murder.

 

However, in some states, instead of being hailed as a hero, Santana would be the one behind bars.

 

Illinois, Maryland and Massachusetts have used their wiretapping laws to prevent videotaping police in public places. Some states are moving in that direction.

 

But, as we can now see, videotape can be a game changer.

 

This was vividly illustrated in 1991 with the brutal beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles. More recently, the July 17 choking death of Eric Garner in New York City was captured on video as he pleaded, “I can’t breathe.”

 

Thanks to a passerby, we also saw the July 1 video of a California Highway Patrol Officer Daniel Andrew straddling Marlene Pinnock, a 51-year old Black woman near a Santa Monica freeway and punching her 10-15 times. She reached an out-of-court settlement that required a $1.5 million payment and the resignation of Andrew.

 

Although no one can creditably deny the value of citizens being able to videotape on-duty police officers operating in public spaces, courts are sharply divided on whether that’s protected under the First Amendment.

 

In an article titled, “The Legal Right to Videotape Police Isn’t Actually All That Clear,” the Atlantic Citylab noted, “… The truth is that courts have not uniformly recognized that a right to record police actually exists. Though the U.S. Department of Justice has expressed its support for the right to record, only four federal appeals courts have ruled that such a right exists; others have either not ruled at all or narrowly rules that no right had been ‘clearly established.’”

 

I am not a lawyer and I don’t play one on TV. But the best available legal advice seems to be that generally speaking, it’s legal under the First Amendment to videotape on-duty police officers as long as it is on public property and you are not interfering with them performing their official duties. As noted above, some state laws ban such recordings.

 

One legal site, findlaw.com, recommends that you:

 

Tell police you are recording them;

 

Comply with their requests to step back or identify yourself;

 

Keep your camera out of the way (low and close to your body); and

 

If need be, calmly remind them of your right to film them.

 

Another site, reasons.com, lists seven rules for recording police, including knowing your state’s law and passcode protecting your cellphone.

 

Given recent success, you can expect police unions around the nation to push for legislation that would bar citizens from videotaping such incidents involving police.

 

Even before the recent spree of police killing African Americans, there was strong resistance. A woman in Rochester, N.Y., for example, was arrested and charged with obstructing governmental administration in 2011 after videotaping three White police officers interrogating a Black man from her front yard. Charges were later dropped against the woman, Emily Good, 28.

 

What would have happened to Officer Slager in South Carolina had there been no videotape?

 

In a word –nothing.

 

In fact, the officer had radioed, “Shots fired… Subject is down. He grabbed my Taser,” a charge not supported by the videotape. Instead, what we see in the video is Slager dropping the Taser near Scott’s motionless body. The cover-up was underway before Scott’s body could be moved to the morgue.

 

The local newspaper reported the next day:

 

“A statement released by North Charleston police spokesman Spencer Pryor said a man ran on foot from the traffic stop and an officer deployed his department-issued Taser in an attempt to stop him.

 

“That did not work, police said, and an altercation ensued as the men struggled over the device. Police allege that during the struggle the man gained control of the Taser and attempted to use it against the officer.

 

“The officer then resorted to his service weapon and shot him, police alleged.”

 

Of course, that was a lie.

 

According to the Washington Post, Victoria Middleton, executive director for the ACLU of South Carolina, said: “…I think one of the concerns that immediately comes to mind is the discrepancy between the initial story, the kind of rush to judgment, the rush to say that procedures were followed and this was justified, and then when the video surfaced that quickly unraveled. That could raise concerns about other incidents in which we have been assured that nothing was out of order and the officer acted completely properly but there were no witnesses or video documentation to dispute that.”

 

And that’s why we must resist all efforts to prevent citizens from freely videotaping police while they are supposedly acting in a lawful manner.

April 16, 2015 

By Marc Morial 

President & CEO, National Urban League 

 

“I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states...Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter from Birmingham Jail, April 16, 1963

 

 What is the state of Black America in 2015? In short, and on many fronts, Black America remains in crisis-and we see justice challenged at every turn.

 

A few weeks before the launch of the 39th annual 2015 State of Black America® report — “Save our Cities: Education, Jobs + Justice,” the U.S. Department of Justice released a scathing, and perhaps for some, startling report on the systemic racial bias inflicted upon the African-American citizens of Ferguson, Missouri by the city’s police department. The report's tragic catalyst was-and sadly remains-an all-too-familiar story in Black and Brown communities dotted across our nation: an unarmed black male was approached by an armed police officer and lost his life in the encounter.

 

The National Urban League’s analysis of the relevant data told much the same story: the Ferguson narrative could be the narrative of so many U.S. towns, but within that dark cloud we discovered strands of silver linings. Today, fewer African Americans are the victims of violent crimes, there are more Black lawmakers in Congress than ever and the U.S. Department of Justice is actively working to confront police misconduct and improve police-community relations. Yet we cannot easily forget the images of anger and despair we have seen in communities rocked by protests over the killings of unarmed Black males at the hands of law enforcement. These encouraging and necessary strides in our struggle for equality in justice are overshadowed by justice miscarried, with outrage spilling onto our streets as a seemingly endless parade of police officers are not held accountable by grand juries for their actions. We are also witnessing a continual assault upon our voting rights, as several states prepare to pass legislation that would erode access to the ballot box for people of color.

 

The state of justice in Black and Brown communities is very often a shameful tale of injustice and clear racial disparities in the implementation of the law.

 

NUL State of Black America 2015

 

The tragedy of Mike Brown’s death in Ferguson, Eric Garner's death in New York, and the deaths of so many others, should underscore a difficult truth that should not sit well with any American: law enforcement, in too many cases, provides neither equal protection nor equal justice in far too many communities of color. And this is no blanket indictment of police officers. There are, and will always be, good police officers who put their lives on the line to keep law-abiding citizens safe. As the heated debates and protests continue, we know that police officers have become victims of violence, most notably the two officers in New York City late last year and police officers in Ferguson this year. But this should not-and cannot-silence our call to action in communities besieged by police officers who treat the people they are intended to serve and protect as presumptively guilty.

 

The exoneration of the police officers in those deaths of unarmed men by grand juries signaled that police accountability for the taking of Black and Brown lives was reaching a modern-day low. Attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the family of Mike Brown, penned an essay in the 2015 State of Black America® report: “It’s Time to Pass the Grand Jury Reform Act of 2014.” The bill calls for judges to determine if the State should bring criminal charges against police officers who fatally use deadly force and calls for governors to appoint special prosecutors for those hearings. Deciding whether or not to indict would be a judge’s decision, not a grand jury’s, and the proceeding would remain open to the public, unlike grand juries that are, by law, secret proceedings.

 

Following the Supreme Court’s 2013 decision to strip preclearance from the Voting Rights Act, allowing states to bypass federal approval before changing their voting rules, 40 states are now in line to codify into law new ways to make it difficult for people to vote-laws that would disproportionately affect communities of color. Voting is a powerful tool for any individual or group in a democracy to influence their government and create change. Without this right, you have no voice. The National Urban League and others will continue to press Congress to pass the bipartisan Voting Rights Amendment Act of 2014.  This legislative fix would create new rules to  determine which states require federal approval before making any changes their voting rules. Truth be told, we cannot maintain our commitment to democracy as a nation while, at the same time, deny the ballot box to so many of our citizens.

 

There are tremendous challenges ahead of us in what should be our national fight for equality under the law, because to deny justice to one is threaten justice to all, and as long as justice is challenged on any front, we must-as a nation- keep pushing on every front.

April 09, 2015 

By McKenzie Jackson 

California Black Media 

 

As far as Ronail “Stretch” Shelton knows, his health is great.  

 

Strong, athletic and fit, the Los Angeles-based personal trainer, is one of hundreds of thousands of Californians of all races who renewed or began Medi-Cal coverage this year. Despite having a clean bill of health, Shelton, 31, who is African American, says he understands why he needs reliable health coverage.  

 

“If something were to happen suddenly, I might not be able to afford to pay for it,” said Shelton, who is self-­‐employed. 

 

According to the most recent numbers, 779,000 Californians either enrolled or re-enrolled in Medi-Cal, the Golden State’s safety-net health insurance program, during its second open enrollment period.  This statistic includes numbers from November 15, 2014, to January 31, 2015. 

 

While Covered California, the state’s health exchange, has not yet released statistics concerning the number of African-American Californians who signed up for health coverage through the state program during this most recent enrollment period, Black Californians made up six percent, or 114,000, of the 1.9 million people who registered for Medi-Cal during the initial enrollment period of October 2013 to April 2014.  

 

Medi-Cal provides low-cost health coverage for children and adults with low to no incomes and resources. The program is administered by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS). Under the Medi-Cal program, qualified persons receive free or low-cost health coverage. Eligibility for free Medi-Cal is determined by household income and family size, among other requirements.

 

Every year the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sets guidelines that determine whether or not families or individuals qualify for certain federal assistance programs based on their income.  In 2015, according to that measure, a family of four has to earn less than $23,550 to fall below the poverty level. For an individual, that number is $11,490, and $15,510 for a family of two.

 

However, the State of California has its own index for determining who qualifies for Medi-Cal.  According to DHCS, a family of four has to earn less than $32,913 to fall below the poverty level. For an individual, that number is $16,105, and $21,708 for a family of two.

 

Toni Newman, the Development and Administration Coordinator with To Help Everyone (T.H.E.) Health and Wellness Centers in Los Angeles, one of the Southside Coalition’s community health groups, said with Medi-Cal and other low-cost plans offered through the Affordable Care Act (ACA), African Americans can get affordable, even no-cost, health insurance.

 

“Health plans offered by Medi-Cal include benefits known as ‘essential health benefits,’” Newman told California Black Media in an e-mail.

 

Those health benefits include dental services, emergency services, hospitalization, outpatient services, prescription drugs, laboratory services, and children’s services such as oral and vision care. Maternity and newborn care, preventive and wellness services, chronic disease management, mental health services, substance use disorder services, and other rehabilitative devices and programs such as physical and occupational therapy are also covered by Medi-Cal insurance.

 

According to numbers from the Southside Coalition’s website, from2008 to 2012 T.H.E.’s six centers and one mobile clinic in the south Los Angeles area had a patient base that is 61 percent African American. Seventy-­two percent of the patients earned less than 100 percent of the federal poverty line and 43 percent were uninsured, the website also reports.

 

Newman said T.H.E.’s doctors and nurses are accustomed to dealing with health issues associated with the communities it serves. “Sixty percent of T.H.E. patients use Medi-­Cal and most of that population are minorities,” she said. “A lot of African Americans suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes .”

 

At each of the centers, T.H.E. offers medical services for men, women, children, and teens, as well as public health and preventive education services.

 

Although enrollment for the program jumped dramatically during Covered California’s open enrollment period from November 15, 2014, to February 15, 2015, enrollment or renewal for Medi-­Cal is available all year long to those who qualify, as opposed to the private health insurance plans offered through Covered California as part of the ACA – commonly known as “Obamacare”.

 

There are a number of ways individuals or families can apply for Medi-­Cal coverage. They can sign up in person at their local county’s human services agency; visit a Covered California certified enrollment counselor; or apply by mail with a Medi-­Cal Single Streamlined Application found on Covered California’s website at www.coveredca.org.

 

Newman said T.H.E. has 10 certified enrollment counselors who have been trained and certified by Covered California to assist uninsured patients in enrolling in Medi-Cal and Covered California plans.

 

For most, the renewal process is simple and straightforward. It entails requesting the Medi-­Cal renewal documents from your local county human services agency. Upon receiving, the applicant must fill the forms out and send them back to the human services agency.

 

Shelton said getting through the renewal process was smooth even though he experienced a hiccup early on. “I didn’t get the paperwork,” he said. “So they assigned me someone that helped me get it done.”

For more information about Medi-­Cal visit www.dhcs.ca.gov/ services/medi-cal/pages/apply­formedi-­cal.aspx or call your local county human services agency, or visit Covered California’s website at www.coveredca.com or call 800-300-­1506.