I believe that children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride, to make it easier
Black student brutalized in Chicago
I have been waiting in vain. Seeing that both the Mayor and the Superintendent of Police of the city of Chicago could not contain themselves, their anger, and disgust at the bad behavior of a celebrity, I felt sure that they'd have an equal reaction to law-enforcement officers acting in their names and representing their city showing wanton disregard for the humanity, safety, and dignity of a black teenager. Surely those two officers of the city — puffed up as they were with their sense of righteous outrage, their pretend holiness — would have something to say about a young girl being dragged down the stairs by her leg, repeatedly punched, kicked and tased in front of her parent? Surely this type of violent over-policing would trigger another condemnatory news conference to make it abundantly clear that that type of sadistic cruelty is unacceptable and would not be tolerated in the Windy City? And so, I waited.
Dnigma Howard, 16, had allegedly disobeyed a teacher who told her to put her phone away when she was kicked out of class in the early February incident. [...] School surveillance video newly released by Chicago ABC station WLS on Thursday tells a different story than what police said at the time -- that the 16-year-old began fighting the officers. Instead, in the surveillance video, Dnigma Howard and an officer can be seen standing at the top of the stairs when the officer grabbed her and tackled her to the ground, then dragged her down the stairs by one leg.
We have to give it up for Dnigma’s father, though. I don’t know how many mothers or fathers could have stood there and watched as their child is brutalized in front of them and not lose their minds and self-control. That’s traumatizing a family, emasculating a father, terrorizing a community.
"I thought maybe they were going to try to choke her out or she would lose consciousness or something like that," he added. "They had their foot on her chest. She has asthma, she's telling me she can't breathe."
This has to be unacceptable behavior. Shame on Rahm Emanuel and Eddie Johnson for running to the TV microphones to grandstand about Jussie Smollet and his staged bit of idiocy while totally ignoring the sadistic behavior of agents of the justice system.
Action: If you have a minute to spare and would like to say something about this uncalled-for act of cruelty, you may get in touch with some Chicago officials here. And Eddie Johnson here: (312) 746-6000
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11-year-old black child body-slammed on concrete
You wanna cry? You wanna howl like a wounded animal? You wanna scream to the heavens out of frustration and a sense of helplessness? Take a look at the video below. Imagine that was your 11-year-old son.
This child lives with his aunt. His father is not in the picture. Two years ago he lost his mom. Reports are that she was killed...meaning, that this child had a traumatic, life-changing, life-defining experience at age nine. The Sheriff said that the wanna-be-murderer cop knew this child. That he had interacted with him “many times.” He [sheriff] smirked when he said “many times.”
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascara absolved his deputy of any wrongdoing. Interpreting the Sheriff’s words, his deputy needed to attempt to murder this child because he deserved it. He was a bad kid and what should we do with bad black kids when they walk away from a deputy while he’s trying to detain him? At least he didn’t shoot out his little black back. He’s alive today, ain’t he?
The deputy who claimed to “know” him, didn’t see a little boy mourning the loss of his mother; a lost little soul who had no idea how to process his loss; no resources available to him to help in relieving his calcified pain. This deputy didn’t see a child who needed kindness, needed a loving word, yearned for a fatherly pat on his little head. He saw a thug. A future or present candidate for the prison industrial system. He saw someone whose life didn’t matter. And so he picked him up, hoisted him over his shoulder and body slammed him hoping that his little limbs would not survive the contact with the unyielding concrete sidewalk. And the deputy’s boss said he did everything right.
Listen to the Sheriff's supremely uncaring words at the news conference called to defend the deputy and further do harm to this child:
- Nine-year-old has a violent history
- Deputy was detaining him for his own safety (ha!)
- The optics look bad
- We don’t know what happened to this child (translated: we don’t give a fuck what happened to him)
- The child is being criminally charged with (1) battery on the “dean and principal” (2) Resisting arrest (3) Disorderly conduct on campus
As you watch that video, take a look at the people doing the questioning. Do they seem outraged that an 11-year-old was so violently violated? Or are they willing participants in the otherizing of this kid?
Black students are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers, according to the U.S. Department of Education. And in the American South, racial disparities in punitive discipline are even greater. A 2016 report from the University of Pennsylvania, Center for the Study of Race and Equity in Education, found that 13 Southern states (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia) were responsible for 55 percent of the 1.2 million suspensions involving black students nationwide.
Action: If you have a minute to spare and would like to say something about this uncalled-for act of cruelty, you may get in touch with County Sheriff Ken Mascara here: 772-462-3205.
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Cop smashes black student’s face in the pavement
I seriously thought of abandoning this diary when I came across this next case of unfettered cruelty.
The witness told NBC 6 that when police first grabbed one teen to handcuff him, his friend approached the deputies to ask why he was being arrested. That teen was then doused in the face with pepper spray and thrown to the ground.
As the video shows, the teen was not initiating any violence toward the officers and was merely attempting to rub his eyes and possibly cover his head from the punches being doled out by the deputy.
As the teen lies face first on the ground, one deputy holds him down while another punches him. After a couple of punches, the deputy then grabs the teen’s head and repeatedly smashes his face into the asphalt.
I had a very hard time as I watched the cop sitting atop this teenager and repeatedly smashing his face in the asphalt. According to the reporter, his blood still stains the pavement. I know people are going to be disturbed by this diary...for those who even bother to click on. This is not just for us to get outraged and sickened by these acts of terrorism. This is for us to want to do something about it. These acts are being done in our names and by people who are paid by our tax dollars. I am begging for us to do something.
This incident happened yesterday. Yesterday people wearing badges and entrusted with the awesome task of serving and protecting students decided to brutalize them instead. Did you see that one cop with his foot in the second boy’s back? Mass murderers are treated like human beings while these kids are treated as the worst threats to humanity.
Action: If you have a minute to spare and would like to say something about this uncalled-for act of cruelty, you may get in touch with the Broward Sheriff”s Office:
Non-Emergencies (954) 764-HELP (4357)
To report a crime tip (954) 493-TIPS (8477)
To report abuse (800) 96-ABUSE (22873)
General Information (954) 765-4321
Update 4/20/2019:
Lucca is the name of the 15-year-old having his face smashed on the asphalt. The sadistic torturers are Officers Christopher Krickovich and Greg Lacerra.
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14-year-old black teen body-slammed & beaten up by two cops
Body-slamming seems to be a tactic reserved for dealing with black kids...male and female. This case happened last November (yes, all the other cases and more happened in the last couple months) but I've included it because I want you to take a look at the people in the office. The people who called the burly bully in the first place. Watch as the cop has the boy on the floor and one woman walked right by without even looking. Watch as two of them seem to be more concerned about the cop than for the teen. Nobody saw themselves or their children in that boy. They just didn’t care.
See below why we continue to have the problem. People indifferent to the brutalization of black bodies.
This case is being resolved.
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Innocent 10-year-old black boy handcuffed and arrested
Chaquitta Williams’s baby boy was on his way home from school when cops swooped down on him, questioned him, ‘cuffed him, and placed him in the back of their police car. Reason? He fits the profile of a robber. Some kids had robbed another and here, this little one here looks like it could be him. Let’s cuff him.
Chaquitta’s son was totally innocent.
Given the grave consequences of getting it wrong, wouldn’t you think that the cops would have taken the time to get it right before traumatizing and criminalizing this young boy? Unless they didn’t think of him as a child in need of nurturing and loving care. Unless the color of his skin blinded them to his humanness. Even had he been guilty, is this the way we treat grade school kids?
Attorney General Karl A. Racine seems to want us to believe that he cares, but a cursory reading of his statement revealed that he is primarily interested in covering his ass rather than seeing to the wellbeing of the victim.
"Typically, we do not publicly comment on any of our juvenile cases because District laws protect the confidentiality of all juveniles involved in the justice system," Racine said in the statement. "But this is necessary because in the court of public opinion this innocent 10-year-old was deemed guilty and criminalized."
Not nearly good enough. We want to know what you learned from this experience. We want to know how you will change your standard operating procedure. We want to be assured that this will never happen to another mother’s child...black, brown or white.
Action: If you have a minute to spare and would like to say something about this uncalled-for act of cruelty, you may get in touch with the District of Columbia Attorney General here:(202) 727-3400.
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I believe the children are our future
Teach them well and let them lead the way
Show them all the beauty they possess inside
Give them a sense of pride to make it easier…
* Huge thanks to our own Yasuragi.