DOJ says Phoenix Cops Routinely Unlawfully Stop, Detain and Arrest Black, Latino and Homeless People and DA Disproportionately Charge and Over Charge Them w/Crimes, Violating Their Imaginary "Rights"

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QUICK QUIZ FOR LEGAL SCHOLARS: DO SO CALLED CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS EXIST A) ON THE STREET B) ONLY IN LAW BOOKS C) ONLY IN THE COURT HOUSE OR D) ONLY IN YOUR MIND? [MORE]

Thanks for Your Vote NGHR but Keep the Change: Treadmilling Black Puppeticians Run Their Mouths About Police Brutality But Cops are Murdering Black People in Cities Where White Liberals are in Control

From [HERE] The U.S. Department of Justice found on Thursday that the Phoenix Police Department uses excessive force, violates constitutional rights, particularly those of homeless people, and discriminates against Black, Hispanic and Native American people.

The results came after a lengthy investigation, which found a "pattern" of violations by the police department, saying they frequently stop, detain and arrest homeless people without reasonable suspicion that they've committed any crime. The city and its police department also seize and destroy the property of homeless people without providing adequate notice of fair opportunity to collect their belongings, the DOJ said.

The DOJ also said certain laws, which include drug-related crimes and certain misdemeanors, have been applied with greater severity to Hispanic, Black and Native American people, also finding that the Police Department used "dangerous tactics that lead to unnecessary and unreasonable use of force."

The behavior violated the First, Fourth and 14th Amendments of the Constitution, which protect free speech, prohibit unreasonable searches and seizures and guarantee equal protection under the law, according to Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. She recapped the Department's finding in the 126-page report.

"This finding is historic," Clarke said. "This marks the first time that the Justice Department has found violations of the civil and constitutional rights of people who are homeless." [what a clown! homeless people’s so-called “rights” have been destroyed by authorities for decades. the real question is where do these MF rolebots come from?]

She also highlighted that about 37% of the department's misdemeanor offenses were against unhoused individuals.

At the same time, she noted, officers are disproportionately targeting communities of color. For instance, Black drivers in Phoenix are 144 times more likely than white drivers to be arrested or cited for low-level moving violations, while Hispanic drivers are 40% more likely to be arrested or cited for the same thing.

Similarly, DOJ data shows that Phoenix cites and arrests Black people for marijuana possession at nearly seven times the rate of white people and Hispanic people more than three times the rate. Black, Hispanic and Native American people are disproportionately charged with pedestrian traffic violations and loitering, the Justice Department said.

These behaviors are applied to children of color as well, who are often treated the same as adults, according to the DOJ.

"Not only does such conduct harm children but it can contribute to fear and distrust of law enforcement by the next generation of Phoenix residents," Clarke said.

The police department referred requests for comment about the findings to the city. Then, Mayor Kate Gallego said the city had received the report at the same time as the public.

"The City Council will meet this month— in Executive Session on June 25— to receive legal advice, better understand the report, and discuss next steps," Gallego said in a statement. "I will carefully and thoroughly review the findings before making further comments."

Clarke said the DOJ will work with the city to find solutions. She stopped short of saying the department would be out under a consent decree, which typically is used to create and enforce changes within a local or state governmental agency when evidence of misconduct is found, according to NBC News.

DOJ Probes Trenton Cops Use of Excessive Force, Violating Civil Rights of Black People, Racism Not Alleged [enforcing "Rights" After they are violated means rights only Exist if an Authority says so]

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From [HERE] The U.S. Department of Justice has launched a federal civil rights investigation into New Jersey's capital city and its police department's use of force, stops, searches and arrests.

The "pattern or practice investigation" will determine whether the Trenton Police Department has systemically violated federal law or the Constitution. It will include a comprehensive review of the department's policies, training, supervision, internal investigation protocols, disciplinary decisions and other protocols regarding complaints, the Department of Justice said in a statement Tuesday.

"Unfortunately, we have reviewed numerous reports that Trenton police officers may have used force inappropriately and conducted stops, searches, and arrests with no good reason in violation of individuals’ constitutional rights," U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said Tuesday. "Today’s announcement reflects our office’s commitment to ensuring effective, constitutional policing in Trenton and throughout New Jersey."

The investigation was welcomed by Mount Laurel attorney Gregg Zeff, who represents a former Burlington City resident who was shot and paralyzed by Trenton police in February 2022.

"I'm also frustrated that it took the paralysis of Jajuan Henderson to bring this to the attention of the federal government, but it did not wake up Trenton," Zeff said.

Henderson's lawsuit contends police officers approached his parked car shortly after midnight, smashed the driver's side window and shot him as he tried to call for help on his cellphone.

But police said Henderson, then 29, was unable to produce an ID or driver's license, and that he refused to leave the vehicle after being told he was under arrest. Police also alleged Henderson reached around the vehicle's interior, "including below seats."

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who oversees the Justice Department's civil rights division, said the investigation was not prompted by a specific incident and the department is not alleging racial discrimination.

Jefferson Parish Cops Claim They Had to Shoot Calvin Cain to Death b/c He Started to Drive Toward Them but a Witness says the Car Never Moved. 1 Year Later Cops Refuse to Release Body Cam, Suit Filed

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From [HERE] A Black family in New Orleans has announced they're filing a lawsuit against Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto and some of his deputies accusing them of using excessive force. Last summer a deputy shot and killed a man they say was trying to escape and then drove towards a deputy. 

WWL Louisiana's Eleanor Tabone sat down with Calvin Cain's mother and his best friend days after the shooting, now the family is suing the sheriff's office.

At the time of the shooting, Lopinto said NOPD asked for help in locating the man suspected in a shooting in New Orleans. Armed with the information that the suspect lived in The Lumiere apartment complex in the 3300 block of West Esplanade, Lopinto said officers found a car identified in the New Orleans shooting and waited for the suspect."

At a press conference after the shooting, the sheriff said, "They attempted to block that vehicle in which he tried to make his escape from it. Running into the back of the fence, turning the vehicle wheels forward, where I had one of my deputies approaching him at that time. My deputy ended up firing shots into the windshield."

Mallory Woodfork, Calvin's mother told Eleanor Tabone last year she watched her child die, saying, "My son Calvin, walked out the building...  I'm watching my son, I could tell he was on FaceTime because of how he was holding the phone. I saw when he turned where the car was at, and as soon he got in the car, I saw a white F-150, whatever pickup truck, when boom, bam, and I heard shots instantly."

The family maintains Calvin never started the car and drove towards a deputy. Woodfork said last year, "He didn't move, he didn't have the opportunity to move. And I was there. His mama witnessed his murder. I was just 15 feet away."

Martin said on that fatal day she was on Facetime with him as he was walking to his car, saying, "He put the phone up, he sit down. As soon as gets ready to start the car, I just heard a car crash, the phone just dropped to the floor. So I am like 'Calvin, Calvin, Calvin,' he's not saying nothing. So I hung up the phone. I call back he doesn't answer. I call back again, he doesn't answer. I call back, he doesn't answer."

Now the family is calling for justice. Lawyer Bobby DiCello said, "She needs to know that her community is safe and this lawsuit is about exploring the problems in Jefferson Parish." 

The family's legal team is pushing for JPSO to release the body camera video.

DiCello said, "It's a chance to get to the bottom of the story, a story the Jefferson Parish sheriff will not allow to be told. If Calvin did wrong, it would be on that video."

Woodfork said, "I want him to release the bodycam, release the camera." 

Lawyers say the suit is being filed in federal court. Calvin would have turned 20 next week.

Between 2014 - 2023 the St Louis Police Solved Fewer than Half the Homicides of Black People but Two-thirds of Cases Involving White victims. Detectives investigating Murders are Overwhelmingly White

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From [HERE] The unsolved killings on Shulte Avenue reflect reality in St. Louis. In a city where nearly 90% of homicide victims are Black, police have struggled to solve the killings of Black people.

Between 2014 and 2023, the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department solved fewer than half the homicides of Black people but two-thirds of cases involving white victims, according to an analysis of police data by APM Reports, St. Louis Public Radio and The Marshall Project. The news organizations found that the department at times struggled to solve homicides in the past decade partly due to shoddy detective work, staffing shortages and eroding community trust.

St. Louis police officials declined repeated interview requests to discuss the findings.

Some Black community leaders have contended that police aren’t making the same effort to solve crimes involving Black victims as crimes involving white victims.

“These are communities that don’t trust the police,” said community activist Jamala Rogers, co-founder of the Organization for Black Struggle. “These are communities that have had bad relationships and experiences with the police.”

While nearly half of the city’s population is Black, the detectives tasked with investigating homicides overwhelmingly are white.

Families of homicide victims on Shulte Avenue echoed Rogers’ concerns. They said contact with police investigators was short-lived, and they have little hope of ever seeing justice for their loved ones.

“I knew in the beginning they wouldn't be doing anything,” Sherya Hawthorne said. Her son, Travis Hill, was shot and killed in an alley behind a Shulte Avenue home in 2017. Hawthorne said police never talked with her about her son’s death, and she felt there was no point in following up. “I never wanted to keep reliving and reliving and reliving it,” she said.

Hill’s killing is one of about 1,000 unsolved homicides involving Black victims between 2014 and 2023. That’s close to double the enrollment of the high school serving students living in the neighborhoods around Shulte Avenue. [MORE]

FULL OF SHIT: White Liberal Prosecutor Drops Murder Charges against White MN Trooper who Shot Ricky Cobb. Takes the Word of the Cop Despite Video Showing Him Shoot Fleeing Black Man as He Drove Away

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From [HERE] A white Minnesota trooper who fatally shot a Black man during a routine traffic stop last July has had the charges against him dismissed.

Ryan Londregan, the white state trooper accused of killing Ricky Cobb II, 33, had faced charges of second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault and second-degree manslaughter.

In a statement Sunday night, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced that the charges against Londregan would be thrown out. The dismissal comes after the defense said Londregan would testify that he saw Cobb "reach for the trooper's firearm," and that a Minnesota State Patrol trainer said "he never instructed officers to refrain from shooting into a moving vehicle."

As a result of this new “evidence,” prosecutors claimed they could no longer prove beyond a reasonable doubt "that Mr. Londregan's actions were not an authorized use of force by a peace officer," and decided to drop the case.

Moriarty expressed regret that she would not be able to bring the case to trial at a press conference Monday morning.

"Ricky Cobb should be alive today," she said. "And that makes our inability to move forward even more difficult for Mr. Cobb's family and for our community. And for that, I'm deeply sorry."

Civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers, Harry Daniels and F. Clayton Tyler, who are representing the Cobb family, criticized the county attorney's office, saying they had "bowed to political pressure to drop the charges."

"Apparently, all you have to do to get away with murder is to bully the prosecutors enough and the charges will just go away," the attorneys said in a statement. "The people don't believe the excuses and neither do we."

Cobb was pulled over on July 31, 2023, around 1:50 a.m. -- initially because his taillights were out, but upon being stopped, troopers learned he was wanted for violating a protective order in a nearby county and were asked to take him into custody, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.

Bodycam footage shows two troopers talking to Cobb while they stood outside the car. The troopers attempted to detain Cobb, but he allegedly refused to exit the car and tried to drive away. One of the troopers appeared to try to grab the steering wheel to stop him, but he drove away, the body camera video shows. A trooper, since identified as Londregan, shot multiple times at Cobb, who drove a short distance before striking a median and dying at the scene, authorities said.

The video clearly shows that the Black was driving away from police, not toward them and in no way did they face imminent fear of harm from the Black man’s actions. Video evidence would potentially impeach the white cop’s claim that Cobb reached for his gun - as he drove away. But a jury won’t have an opportunity to decide as a result of the prosecutor’s failure to prosecute.

Hennepin County is a liberal jurisdiction controlled by elite white liberals.

Cobb's family filed a federal lawsuit in April against Londregan -- as well as Minnesota State Trooper Brett Seide, who was also involved in the traffic stop but was not charged in this case -- accusing them of "unreasonable seizure" and "excessive use of force."

According to the complaint:

Defendant Seide told Trooper Doe and Defendant Londregan that Ramsey County wanted Decedent Cobb arrested and brought to jail.

After a short discussion between the troopers, Defendant Seide approached the driver’s side of Decedent Cobb’s vehicle while Defendant Londregan approached the passenger side, and Trooper Doe positioned himself behind Defendant Seide near the rear of the vehicle.

At this point, Decedent Cobb’s vehicle was in park with its doors locked and both front windows rolled down.

Defendant Seide told Decedent Cobb that he needed to step out of the vehicle because they had “some stuff to talk about [having to do with] Ramsey County” and Decedent Cobb responded by asking why he was being required to leave his vehicle.

Defendant Seide repeated that they had “stuff to talk about” and that Decedent Cobb needed to step out of the vehicle, but did not divulge a reason for ordering Decedent Cobb out of the vehicle.

Decedent Cobb asked Defendant Seide if there was a warrant for his arrest and Defendant Seide acknowledged that Decedent Cobb was not subject to a warrant for his arrest, but indicated that he would “explain it all when you get out of the car.”

Defendant Seide thereafter asked Decedent Cobb to hand over his keys while Decedent Cobb repeated, “Why? Why?” and asked, “Can y’all keep it a buck with me, bro? Y’all pulled me over for my headlights.”

Defendant Seide then responded, “Yep. We’re way past that[,]” before telling Decedent Cobb to step out of the vehicle three more times.

Decedent Cobb asked “Where are we at though?”, and said “When you say, step out of the vehicle [and] you gonna – explain it to me,’ and then y’all say . . . ,” before Defendant Seide interjected and stated for the first time, “This is now a lawful arrest.”

Throughout the one-minute exchange, Decedent Cobb’s hands were in the air in full view of the troopers, including Defendant Seide and Defendant Londregan, as he gestured while talking and his vehicle remained in park.

Decedent Cobb’s hands were not touching the steering wheel or gear shifter, and he had not stepped on the brake.

Just as Defendant Seide told Decedent Cobb that he was under arrest, Defendant Londregan moved his hand into the inside of the passenger door, unlocked the vehicle’s doors, and began opening the passenger-side door.

While Defendant Londregan was opening the door, Decedent Cobb placed his foot on the brake and moved his hand to the transmission shift and, when Defendant Londregan pulled the passenger door fully open, Decedent Cobb shifted the vehicle into drive and took his foot off the brake.

At this point, Defendant Seide grabbed the driver’s side door handle and began opening the door while Decedent Cobb’s vehicle began to slowly move several feet forward.

Both Defendant Seide and Defendant Londregan, who were fully outside of the vehicle, took steps forward to remain at the vehicle’s side as Defendant Seide opened the driver’s side door wider.

Defendant Seide then leaned his torso inside the vehicle and began to reach over Decedent Cobb toward his seatbelt, while Defendant Londregan remained on the passenger side and reached for his firearm.

At that moment, Decedent Cobb stepped on the brake, stopping the vehicle’s forward movement and Defendant Londregan drew his firearm and pointed it directly at Decedent Cobb.

At the same time, Defendant Seide continued to lean his torso inside the vehicle over Decedent Cobb while Decedent Cobb kept his foot on the brake.

Defendant Londregan then opened the door to the car, leaned his torso inside the car, pointed his gun at Decedent Cobb’s body, and loudly and aggressively yelled, “Get out of the car now!”

As Defendant Londregan said the word “car”, Defendant Seide physically grabbed at Decedent Cobb and Decedent Cobb took his foot off the brake causing the vehicle to begin slowly moving forward.

Within several tenths of a second after Defendant Londregan yelled the word “now,” Defendant Londregan fired his handgun twice at Decedent Cobb’s torso, striking Decedent Cobb both times.

After Decedent Cobb was shot, his vehicle increased its acceleration forward as Defendant Seide’s torso remained inside the vehicle.

Defendant Seide, who acknowledged that by shooting Decedent Cobb, Defendant Londregan did not prevent Decedent Cobb’s vehicle from moving forward and did not prevent Decedent Cobb’s vehicle from dragging him briefly until he fell out of the vehicle onto the road.

BCA agents also attended an interview with the State Patrol’s lead use-of-force trainer, who provided use-of-force training to Defendant Seide and Defendant Londregan.

The trainer was asked whether a reasonable officer would believe that pointing a gun at a fleeing driver and yelling at the driver to stop would cause the driver to stop, to which the trainer responded “No.”

The trainer was further asked, “Would it be foreseeable to expect the exact opposite, meaning [the driver] would continue to leave?”, to which the trainer responded, “That was probably his intention was to flee the area, so he’s go[ing to] keep going in that direction away from me.”

In a press conference Monday, Londregan's attorney, Christopher Madel, called Moriarty’s claim that her team did not have prior knowledge of the trooper's allegation that he had shot Cobb while trying to protect himself and his partner “absurd." Madel also called for Moriarty's resignation over remarks she made comparing Londregan's supporters with "Jan. 6" rioters.

"I do take great offense to that," Madel said. "These are people that supported a hero that was charged with murder. When did that become wrong?"

Liberal Prosecutors Drop Murder Charge Against White Columbus Cop Who Shot Casey Goodson 6X in the Back as He Walked into His Home Holding Keys and a Bag of Subway Sandwiches. Still Faces 2 Charges

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From [HERE] Prosecutors are dropping one of three charges against a white deputy before he goes to trial for a second time over a Black man’s death in 2020.

Jason Meade, who took disability retirement from the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in 2021, was facing two counts of murder and one count of reckless homicide. A previous trial against him tasked a jury with determining whether or not he was justified in shooting 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr. because he genuinely feared for his life.

However, a court filing on Friday showed that special prosecutors H. Tim Merkle, Gary Shroyer and Joshua Shaw are not going to pursue the same charges they did in a first trial against the ex-deputy, which ended with a deadlocked jury. The trio entered nolle prosequi for the first charge of murder, meaning they will no longer pursue it in court. Meade will instead face a single count of murder alongside the reckless homicide charge.

The government did not state why they made the request and Merkle said Monday that prosecutors would have no further comment on the motion.

Casey had just left an appointment at the dentist’s office and was bringing lunch back to his grandmother’s house when Jason Meade shot him six times from behind, killing him. Meade’s lawyer says the deputy fired when Goodson pointed a gun at him. Goodson’s family has said he was holding a sandwich, not a gun.

The complaint states in relevant part,

“a group of officers tasked to the U.S. Marshals were in the neighborhood to arrest someone that was not Casey and was in no way affiliated with Casey. Jason Meade was working with the task force as a member of their Southern Ohio Fugitive Apprehension Strike Team (SOFAST) and as a member of their District Fugitive Task Force (DTF). The U.S. Marshals were heavily armed, and Jason Meade was not in uniform and was carrying a rifle.

The SOFAST and DTF did not find their target, however the target’s sister did encounter Meade when he and his colleagues raided her home. As she stated in a Facebook post, “#JasonMeade was already on bullshit before he left my house. Knowing I wasn’t dressed busted in my room knowing I was naked and we had a brief argument as he felt I had ‘plenty of time’ to get dressed. They were aware my brother was AT WORK. Truth be told, they shouldn’t have been on this street PERIOD. It was as simple as communicating with the parties involved.” The sister also later described Meade as a ticking time bomb who was extremely angry and aggressive when inside of her home.

The mission of SOFAST and DTF ended without apprehending their target, and the members of the team began to disperse.

Around this time, Casey had finished his appointment at the dentist. After leaving, Casey went to Subway to buy sandwiches for his family.

As Casey was returning home from Subway, upon information and belief, Jason Meade saw Casey and followed Casey back to his home.

Upon information and belief, Casey arrived home, parked, and exited his vehicle. He grabbed the bag of subway sandwiches, and began walking toward the side of the house to enter through the side door.

Casey was not committing any crime, was not suspected of committing any crime and did not present any threat to Meade or anyone else. He was simply attempting to enter his own home.

Jason Meade—armed with a rifle— targeted and hunted Casey, following him as Casey proceeded towards his house.

Casey proceeded to enter the side door of the house. The side door of the house is comprised of an exterior door with a metal-screen, and a wooden interior door with a lock. Casey opened the exterior door and used his keys to unlock the wooden door. As Casey unlocked the wooden door, Jason Meade opened fire. Casey was entering through the door when Jason Meade shot him to death.

Meade fired six bullets into Casey’s body with his rifle. Two bullets pierced Casey’s back, ripping through his body, bullet’s trajectory exiting through his chest, next to his heart.

Another bullet pierced Casey’s back, about six inches from where the first and second bullet pierced his body, exiting directly left to his chest.

Meade fired another bullet into Casey’s left-lower-back. Unlike Jason Meade’s first, second, and third bullet, the fourth bullet did not rip through Casey’s body. Instead, it blew a chunk of flesh off of Casey’s body.

Meade fired another bullet into Casey’s lower-right-back, ripped through Casey’s body up to Casey’s chest.

A sixth bullet entered Casey’s right buttock and remained lodged directly above his hip bone. At least three of the bullets flew through the metal screen, shattering the glass contained within the door.

Wound mapping provided Bauer Forensics demonstrates that Meade shot Casey all six times while Casey was facing away from him, entering his home.

Nine members of Casey’s family were in the house at that time but did not know that Meade was nearby. They did not hear any alleged orders or commands from Meade.

When Casey’s family heard gunshots and the glass in the metal screen door shattering, they ran toward the door to see what was happening. There, Casey’s family members observed Casey lying on the kitchen floor, bleeding to death.

While still in the house, an officer pointed his rifle at Tamala’s brother, who was holding his three-year old daughter and commanded them to “get out of the house before [he] shoots them too.”

Casey’s grandmother suffered a stroke that night, which caused her to fall and injure her head in her own home—the same place where Jason Meade shot her grandson in the back six times.

This shooting was unjustified, objectively unreasonable, and constituted excessive force, in violation of Casey’s constitutional rights.

Meade’s first trial ended in a mistrial in February when a jury couldn’t agree on a verdict, ending tumultuous proceedings that saw four jurors dismissed. His retrial is scheduled to start Oct. 31.

It wasn’t known Monday when a decision would be made on the dismissal request.

Meade testified that Goodson waved a gun at him as the two drove past each other so he pursued Goodson because he said he feared for his life and the lives of others. He said he eventually shot Goodson because the young man turned toward him with a gun.

Goodson’s family and prosecutors have said he was holding a sandwich bag in one hand and his keys in the other when he was fatally shot. They do not dispute that Goodson may have been carrying a gun and note that he had a license to carry a firearm. Although the Supreme Court has made it plain and ruled that individuals have the right to carry firearms on their person in public- in reality said rights only exist for white citizens are inapplicable to Black people. Here, note that the white journalist is impressed with just the fact that the Black man had a gun in his possession - not that he did anything with it dangerous - such as point it someone or shoot someone

Meade was not wearing a body camera so there is no footage of the shooting, and prosecutors repeatedly asserted during the first trial that Meade is the only person who testified Goodson was holding a gun.

Can there be a Domestic Dispute if You're Home Alone? FLA Cop who Murdered Black Air Force Airman Still Not Charged. Roger Fortson's Palm was Up and His Gun was Down @ His Side when White Cop Shot Him

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KNOCK KNOCK NGHR: JUST BECAUSE SOMEONE SAYS “POLICE” AT YOUR DOOR, DOESN’T MEAN POLICE ARE AT YOUR DOOR. RACISTS AND AUTHORITarians and their media PRETEND not to understand this.

From [HERE] The mother of a Black Air Force airman who was shot and killed by a Florida sheriff's deputy last month said at a press conference Monday morning that she wants the deputy criminally charged.

Eddie Duran, the Okaloosa Sheriff’s Office deputy who shot Senior Airman Roger Fortson on May 3, was terminated from the department on Friday, according to a sheriff’s office statement obtained by ABC News.

“I want justice for my child. You're not going to throw me a bone [by firing him]. Take his credentials. Take his pension,” Chantemekki Fortson, Roger Fortson’s mother, said Monday in Atlanta, Georgia. “Bring up charges against him.”

Fortson, 23, was in his home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, when he was shot by Duran, who was responding to a call reporting a domestic disturbance, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office.

In body camera footage released by the sheriff's office, Fortson is seen holding a gun in his right hand with a gun down at his side as he opens the door, who can be heard announcing twice that he's with the sheriff's office. The footage also shows Fortson had his left hand up, palm showing, gesturing that he meant no harm towards the deputy when he opened the door.

Duran shot Fortson within mini-seconds of the door opening. Fortson died of his injuries

Duran said he saw Fortson armed with a gun and that Fortson took a step toward the deputy and had a look of aggression in his eyes, according to an interview Duran conducted with the sheriff’s office during their subsequent investigation.

“I put so many pictures of my baby on social media,” Chantemekki Fortson said. “He would never put aggression in his eyes if he wanted to. Roger was helping to raise his 16-year-old brother.”

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Fortson family, said at Monday's press conference that the deputy went to the wrong apartment.

He [Roger Fortson] was in the apartment by himself with his dog, Chloe, video-chatting with his girlfriend,” Crump said. “There was no domestic dispute. ...”

Fortson's girlfriend, who asked not to be identified due to fears for her safety, spoke last month to Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB-TV, telling the station the couple was having a conversation about weekend plans when the shooting occurred.

Former deputy Duran was placed on administrative leave following the shooting while it was investigated. "Hearing sounds of a disturbance, he reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun,” according to a sheriff’s office statement released on May 9. "[This was] after the deputy had identified himself as law enforcement."

“This tragic incident should have never occurred,” Okaloosa County Sheriff Eric Aden said in a statement on Friday, announcing that Duran had been fired. “The objective facts do not support the use of deadly force as an appropriate response to Mr. Fortson’s actions. Mr. Fortson did not commit any crime. By all accounts, he was an exceptional airman and individual.”

The Florida state attorney's office did not respond to ABC News’ most recent request for a statement, but in a previous statement said they would wait for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) to finish their investigation before deciding on whether to file charges. That investigation is ongoing, according to Friday's sheriff's office statement.

“Our role is to investigate the deputy’s use of force and we will submit our investigative findings to the local state attorney’s office,” FDLE previously told ABC News in a statement. “Each investigation is thorough and unique and there is not a definitive timeline for completion. Our investigation remains active until the prosecutorial review and their findings are completed.”

Dr Umar: 'CoinOperated MassaBators who Tried to Destroy Kyrie Irving Failed. SNiggers Charles Barkley and Stephen A Smith, Vaginal McNegro Michael Wilbon and Halfrocentric SNAG Broussard are Traitors'

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FUCK ALL SNIGGERS

According to FUNKTIONARY:

blackstabbers – flunkey buck-dancing and sniggering Negroes who multiply their trinkets by carrying out division amongst their own people. Blackstabbers typically come in the form of “trusted” friends who work as spies and agent provocateurs for the FBI. Blackstabbers were bountiful during the FBI’s COINTELPROgram. FBI’s domestic spying budget has increased and so have the bucket-mouth Negro flunkeys and Snigger operatives. The names and dirty deeds of Blackstabbers and their families will be enshrined, dishonored and disgraced (posthumously and currently) in the soon-to-be erected African-American Hall of Shame. The website will have pictures, linking evidence and biographies. Sing!! “They smile in your face—plotting to turn on their race—the blackstabbers.” With credits and apologies to the good O’Jays. (See: Sniggers, Coin-Operated, Sambo, Black Flask Brigade, UNCLE TOM & Piece-Activist)

auto-coon – (noun) a cookie-cutter rapper/entertainer that sells his/her community and dignity out to profit from ignorance. Auto-coons are typically produced in great numbers by major recording labels and corporate media. (Verb) –to fall back on the gimmicks, buffoonery, and swagger-jacking to sell records due to lack of intelligence, real talent, and creativity.

$nigger – a sold-out snitching-smiling Sambo-Negro. 2) a South-Bender offender. $niggers smile for nothing except an empty mind while selling-out their own kind. They typically have an intellectual base yet are devoid of intelligence, thus promoting the on-going smiling face. They also often giggle and have a frivolous conception of society and scant knowledge of the vestiges of the trans-Atlantic slave trade that even brought their sorry-ass selves to shore. $niggers are traitors and pawns of the downpressors. Watch the company you keep! $niggers like famed Civil Rights era photographer Ernest Withers, an FBI informant, who “shot” (photographed) Dr. Martin Luther King before providing the FBI with critical details about where King was staying and information on his meeting with black militants on April 3, 1968—the day before they (FBI government operatives, informants, Memphis police, and/or their unsuspecting patsy) shot him dead in Memphis. Withers provided the information that “no one but the perpetrator could have known” conclusive evidence that the government was behind and the “front” for the assassination. Don’t cross-over unless you are ready to bend-over! $niggers get stitches—and word is bond(age). We need a “$nigger Hall of Shame” established for traitors to freedom, self-determination, and justice and then include the informant who will run and snitch to the master downpressors even about this initiative as well. Never forget, every brother ain’t a brother—some of them are paid undercover. “Whoever thought that hip-hop would be down and in bed with the feds? Hoover Music!” ~Public Enemy. He ain’t heavy—he’s a $nigger! (See: Straw Boss, Sambo, Black Flask Brigade, FBI, FOIA, Coin-Operated, SNAGs, Infiltraitor, Hoover Music, Snitchcraft & Criss-Crossover)

SNAGs – $nitch-ass Negroes Aiding Governments. 2) COINTEL-BROs. 3) Smile Negro And Grin—while I put it in. SNAGs are coin-operated piece-activist sniggering infiltraitors from the native Black American community. SNAGs are on the stroll, exacting Black life as the toll, while klandestinely on the rogue “government” payroll. Dumb-ditty dumb where the hell do these sorry-ass sellout Negroes come from? When you see them, go and give them some—or at least a piece of your mind. It’s easy to heckle and hyde, but why do we seem to always let self-hating sucker-perpetrating Negroes electric slide? SNAGs are Negroes who run from the fabric, the very essence of their Afrikan heritage struggle, culture and consciousness, and run to support the psychopathological dominant minority elite European global racist-supremacist mindset and Agenda along with its narcissistic projections and population control objectives (genocide and eugenics). [MORE]

Halfrocentric – a brother who is Afrocentric in fashion and rhetoric but not in action and consciousness. He reads, and can even quote, Ellison’s “Invisible Man” but will show up at a Republican $1,000 plate benefit for the already well-to-do.

Bark & Clap Politricks: At Rally Biden (a grimacing corpse) Hands Out Pillows and Mattresses to Sleeping Toms who Make Believe Boilerplate Liberalism Addresses Problems Plaguing Black Communities

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The great rebel Dr. Amos Wilson stated specifically in regard to Black people, ‘People who are dominated by another people through ideas cannot possibly have any meaningful political philosophy, real leaders or any non-superficial culture. The only philosphy or theory such a dominated people could have would be one that enables the other group to dominate them.’

According to ABC, in Philadelphia Corpse Biden and Quisling Harris launched their Black sleeping tom outreach and warned of a second Trump term but otherwise offered nothing of tangible value to the votary.

Black people, once envied and imitated by people seeking freedom throughout the world are now demobilized and have no effective political organizations, no real leaders and “black politics” is literally void of any actual substance. In their relations with Democrats Black voters function like trained seals or dogs that “bark and clap” at election time and then shut-up afterwards. Norman Kelly called this phenomenon “bark and clap politics.” [MORE]

Dumbocrats in turn have no messaging or organizing aimed at black people. Norman Kelly explained Democrats essentially offer no substantial policy initiatives that benefit African-Americans and “No real agenda drives politics beyond having the Democratic candidate show up.” ‘Democrats don’t stand for anything in regard to Blacks (except for their right to vote for democrats); black people are voting against republicans but not for Democrats.’ Similarly, Robert Smith observed ‘that what is striking about any so-called ‘black agenda’ from Democrats is that its not really black. That is, relatively few items are race specific.’ Kelley further explained, ‘Democrats offer only boilerplate liberalism and no legislative initiative. And why would they need one? Democrats know they will suffer no sanctions from disgruntled and politically emasculated blacks.’

Here, Dems push so-called ‘climate change,’ on demand aborticide, genderplex confusion, free distribution of experimental “vaccines” and their Donald Trump obsession onto Black people as if this ad-hoc collection of issues will address the myriad of problems plaguing Black communities caused by the system of racism white supremacy and government authority. Elite whites and their McNegro probots are quick to remind anyone that “Black voters are not a monolith, and their attitudes differ based on upbringing, geography and other factors.” Such an overstatement purposefully misses the point. No group of people is a monolith; obviously individuals are not the group. But black people are not white people – and white liberals are not subjected to the system of racism white supremacy. And white liberals’ menu of political concerns and grievances have little to do with the realities of daily life that Black people face. [MORE]

Led by white liberals black people remain in a state of checkmate. According to the Urban League’s 2022 State of Black America, Black people haven’t progressed since 1965. Blacks are about three-fifths along the way to experiencing equal status with White Americans. The Black-White disparity persists across virtually every line or indicator of life and quality of life in the United States. Black people occupy the bottom of nearly every statistical category of life. [MORE] US Census data reveals that the unemployment gap between whites and blacks is virtually unchanged over the last 50 years. The income and wealth gaps have actually widened. So has the gap in educational attainment. The jobless rate among African-Americans has remained double to whites for over 5 decades. Among other things, according a to a NY Times analysis the race gap in higher education has also widened. The median Black household income was $43,862 versus $63,823 for Whites. Blacks still trail Whites in homeownership, the traditional path to wealth building in the country, and their homes were valued less than Whites. [MORE] Norman Kelley observed that despite Black people’s heavy involvement in the Democratic Party, schools have remained as segregated as before Brown v. Board of Education, which was decided over 70 years ago. [MORE] According to NSBA nearly one third of Black students lived in poverty (32%), compared with 10% of white students in families living in poverty. While white liberals indulge and captivate Blacks with fantasy talk about reparations, 80% of African-American fourth-graders can barely read and understand mathematics and only 19% were scored proficient in math. [MORE] According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) just 18% of Black eighth-graders reach reading “proficiency.” [MORE] And in 2015 NAEP found that only 17% of Black 12th graders were proficient at reading. [MORE] In 2017, Ballou High School in DC came under intense scrutiny for pushing failing students through to graduation in order to achieve a 100% graduation and college acceptance rate. Teachers stated that many of their 12th graders couldn’t read and write. In 2017-18, only 7% of public school teachers and 11% of public school principals were Black. [MORE] In regard to housing, although Blacks make up only 13 percent of the general population they account for 37% of all homeless people and account for more than 50% of homeless families with children. [MORE] Similarly, Black renters comprise 18.6% of America's renter population, yet they make up 51.1 % of those affected by an eviction filing and 43.4% of those evicted nationally. Is it MAGA republicans or wealthy white liberals evicting Blacks and forcing them into the streets of Chicago, LA, NYC, Philadelphia and Washington D.C? Additionally, Black people disproportionately comprise 40% of the 1.8 million incarcerated people in the US. Although dumbocrats give lip service to decarceration and criminal justice reforms, is it MAGA republicans or elite liberal authorities cramming Black people into jails in NYC, Milwaukee, Chicago, Columbus, Minnesota, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Oakland, Atlanta, Kansas City, St. Louis, Detroit, New Orleans and elsewhere? Who maintains the jails in reprehensible conditions in LA, DC, Atlanta and NYC? Similarly, dumbocrats like corpse Biden often make campaign promises about police accountability - yet the police departments in numerous cities historically controlled by white liberal politics such as NYC, LA, Cleveland, Oakland, San Francisco, St. Louis, Wash DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Seattle, Portland, Detroit are some of the worst violators and have hosted some of the most horrific episodes of police brutality. Black people’s so-called “rights” are tuned on and off like light switches in said jurisdictions where police surveil, stop, detain and search law abiding Black people’s clothing, their cars and generally interfere with their freedom of movement as they attempt to go about their daily lives. In such liberal places cops have mauled, injured and put thousands of Black people into greater confinement and also murdered hundreds of other Black and Brown people with impunity. [MORE]

14TH AND U STREET NW WASHINGTON DC 2022. PHOTO IS THE PROPERTY OF VINCENT BROWN

According to FUNKTIONARY:

Political power is the instantiation and active application of threat, duress and coercion upon a people in a given geographical (arbitrary) boundary. “All political power whether gained by conquest or consent, is coercive. Any public authority that is entrusted with the general prerogative of coercion is essentially and therefore eventually totalitarian. Contract—consent to mutual service and not unilateral domination—therefore is the only alternative to coercion.” ~ Spencer Heath. I am simply exposing the doctrines of limits that are infecting our world (and have been for aeons). Rather than playing by the enemies (of freedom) rules, we’ll play on the side of reality. Our advantage is that truth is unprovable, while reality needs no proof. Teach the nature of reality, not truth. Practice the Golden Rule over the Iron Rule and watch Society enter into a new dawn of economic prosperity and human possibility where freedom, creativity and love forever reign supreme. (See: THC, Authority, STATE, Constitution, Golden Rule, Iron Rule, Force Continuum, Truth, Law, Symbiocracy, Contract, Tyranny, Voting, Elections, Dictatorship, Coercion, Fascism, Service, Kingdom of Heaven, Freedom, Slavery, Taxtortion, Property & Labor)

POLITICS – Power Over Living Individuals Taxing Incessantly Confiscating Systematically. (See: Government)

Sleeping Tom – a person of Afrikan descent who has not consciously awakened to fully embrace his or her own asili (connective cultural tissue, heritage, imprimatur, and imperative). 2) a socially unconscious person of Afrikan descent who participates in secret balloting (voting). A sleepin’ Tom lives and reacts out of another culture’s asili or out of the mind of another; not their own. 3) a Negro who is unaware that he is all souled-out. 4) a Negro who isn’t aware that he is in fact and in deed a certified Sambo. 5) a broken, token Negro; a coin-operative. (See: Straw Boss, Asili, Doublemindedness, Sambo, Uncle Tom-Tom, Coin-Operated, Black Flask Brigade & Secret Ballots)

Could a Black Man Pose Imminent Danger to a White Cop while Running Away from Him on the Other Side of a Fence? $20M Suit Filed after San Bernadino Cop Hunted/Murdered Robert Brown After Profile Stop

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From [HERE] and [HERE] The city of San Bernardino is facing a $20 million wrongful death claim following a deadly police shooting in December.

On Dec. 27, 28-year-old Robert Brown was pulled over for an alleged expired registration. According to the San Bernardino police, Brown ran from the vehicle and hopped a fence while holding a handgun. An officer then fired several shots, fatally striking him.

Brown’s family says the shooting was an overreaction, and alleges that he was pulled over due to racial profiling.

“He didn’t deserve to die like that,” Brown’s father, Willie Brown, said. “He ran, so what? They shoot him in his back? For a traffic infraction? And to say he had a gun?”

“There was no reason for Robert to be shot,” said attorney Brad Gage, who filed a claim on behalf of Brown’s family. “When Robert was shot, he had no gun.”

Regardless of whether Brown had a weapon, Gage said, the officer opened fire as the suspect was fleeing and posing no danger to him. 

The officer violated department policy by engaging in the pursuit and not relaying his location to dispatch during the chase, the attorney said.

Gage also questioned the officer’s decision to shoot through the fence. 

“He doesn’t know what’s behind there, and that’s something that endangers everyone in the community,” he said.

In released body cam footage, Brown can be seen holding an object in his right hand as he runs away, which the police department claims is a gun. Police said a nine-millimeter handgun, which had been reported stolen from out of state, was found at the scene.

In a news release, police included video stills of the officer’s body-worn camera, circling Brown’s hands in red to indicate that he was carrying a gun.

But the family’s attorney, Brad Gage, questioned the police’s version of events. Brown’s family maintains in the claim that San Bernardino police “appear to have planted a gun in an attempt to claim the shooting was justified as self defense.” “A stolen gun could come from anywhere. That could be in the police locker,” Gage said.

Body-camera video released by Brown’s family shows the officer chasing him for a short distance. Brown runs past the gate of a home and into a backyard, then jumps over a fence, using both hands to pull himself over. 

“As such it was evident he was not holding any gun,” the claim reads. 

Tubbs yells out, “Stop, stop!” as Brown jumps over the tall chain-link fence, lined with wood panels, the video shows. 

The officer doesn’t jump over, instead shooting his gun five times through the fence, fatally wounding Brown.

The claim against San Bernardino alleges civil rights violations and seeks $20 million in damages. If it’s denied by the city, it could set the stage for a lawsuit.

New Study that Analyzed 98 Million US Traffic Stops Concluded that Police Stop Black Drivers and then Search Their Cars at 2 Times the Rate of Whites

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From [HERE] A new study by researchers from the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research has found that Black drivers are more frequently searched during traffic stops without finding contraband compared to white drivers. The findings, published in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, highlight a pervasive bias in policing across multiple states and counties.

Analyzing 98 Million Traffic Stops Across the U.S.

Maggie Meyer, a doctoral candidate in psychology, and Richard Gonzalez, director of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at ISR and professor of psychology, analyzed data from 98 million traffic stops using the Stanford Open Policing Project database. They examined traffic stops in 14 state police departments and 11 local law enforcement departments between 1999 and 2017.

The researchers found that innocent Black drivers were likely to be searched about 3.4 to 4.5 percent of the time, while innocent white drivers were likely to be searched about 1.9 to 2.7 percent of the time.

“We show that there’s this pervasive bias in multiple states and multiple counties across different stop and search reasons that we need to understand,” said Meyer. “We’re not the first people to find racial bias in policing and we won’t be the last, but hopefully, this gives a clear place to intervene.”

Developing the Overlapping Condition Test to Account for Missing Data

To account for the unknown information about whether drivers who weren’t searched held contraband, the researchers developed the Overlapping Condition Test. This test is based on a standard descriptive tool in statistics called a 2×2 table, which allows researchers to jointly evaluate a decision and an outcome using hit rates and false alarm rates.

The researchers explored the possible values of the missing information and found that even without knowing the actual values, the bias was still present.

“It’s analogous to presidential elections with the electoral college. An election can be called because one candidate already has enough electoral votes to win, even though all of us haven’t been counted,” Gonzalez said. “Even if those uncounted votes went for the other candidate, one candidate has already got it in the bag.”

MI Trooper Charged w/Murdering Samuel Sterling. White Cop Intentionally Drove Onto Sidewalk and Violently Struck Fleeing Black Man w/a Minivan, Crushing Him. Then Handcuffed Him as He Laid Dying

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From [HERE] A white Michigan State Police detective has been charged with murder after investigators say he fatally struck a fleeing Black man with an unmarked SUV last month near Grand Rapids, state prosecutors announced.

Detective Sgt. Brian Keely on April 17 tried to arrest the suspect, 25-year-old Samuel Sterling, but Sterling fled and was chased by law enforcement officers by vehicle and on foot, according to the Michigan Department of the Attorney General.

As Sterling was running through a fast food restaurant parking lot in the suburb of Kentwood, the detective – driving an unmarked SUV – turned and struck Sterling with the vehicle, prosecutors said.

After the charges against Keely were announced, Sterling family attorney Ven Johnson said, “We applaud and appreciate Attorney General Dana Nessel for doing the right thing based on the overwhelming evidence that Keely broke the law when he ran over Samuel Sterling.”

Keely’s attorney, Marc Curtis, said in a release, “It is unfortunate that in this time of political correctness, Michigan’s Attorney General has chosen to ignore the facts of this incident and rely on political pressure.”

Video Speaks for Itself

On May 10, state police announced the investigation was complete and all evidence had been turned over to the attorney general’s office. That same day, the agency released an edited compilation of body-worn and dashboard camera footage of the incident.

The footage shows at least one officer chasing Sterling on foot into a Burger King parking lot when a large grey SUV veers into the lot and hits Sterling, appearing to pin him against the restaurant wall.

After the SUV reverses away from him, several officers converge on Sterling and order him to put his hands behind his back. Sterling repeatedly screams, “My back,” and groans in pain. After his hands are cuffed in front of him, Sterling continues to complain that his back and entire body hurt.

“Don’t move man,” an officer says. Officers ask him where he feels pain and repeatedly tell him not to move until emergency medical personnel arrive. Another officer says, “We don’t want you to move your back.”

Sterling’s family was “stunned and appalled” when they watched the footage, their attorney said in a statement to CNN affiliate WWMT.

“No one person should be able to appoint themselves as judge, jury and executioner, yet deaths from police brutality and excessive force continue to occur too often. We will continue to seek justice for his family and hold accountable those responsible for his death,” Johnson said.

At the time of the encounter, law enforcement officers representing multiple departments, including the US Marshals Service, “were working a fugitive arrest operation” in an attempt to arrest Sterling, who “was wanted on multiple warrants,” Grady said in April. Authorities did not reveal the nature of the charges.

Keely will be arraigned in Kentwood district court, though the date has not been set.

Study: Black Chicagoans are 20X more likely to be homicide victims as Arrest Rate Hits Low. Cops Fail to Protect but Fill the Jails w/Blacks who Possess Guns for Self-Defense in Unsafe Liberal City

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From [HERE] Black Chicagoans are 20 times more likely to be murdered than white residents, with the expectation of an arrest for the crime hitting a record low.

Hispanic Chicagoans were nearly 5 times more likely to be a homicide victim than their white counterparts. The stats were for the 12 months through April.

The arrest rate for these felonies hit a record low. Only 1-in-4 homicides resulted in an arrest between May 2023 and April 2024, compared to the same period in previous years.

In contrast, Chicago police made an arrest in 39% of homicide cases between May 2022 and April 2023. The number of arrests fell from 278 during that time to 148 through April of this year.

Chicago’s decade-long, nation-leading homicide crisis saw some relief during the past 12 months. Total cases dropped from 713 to 603, but Black Chicagoans were the victims in 77% of those cases where the victims’ race was known.

While Black Chicagoans were homicide victims 20 times more often than white residents, Hispanic Chicagoans were 4.7 times more likely to be homicide victims. Hispanic residents were 18% of homicide victims from May 2023 through April 2024. [MORE]

How does a reasonable, law-abiding non-white citizen living in a city run by elite white liberals measure the effectiveness of police? it seems logical to conclude that if a high number of crimes took place in Black neighborhoods then it means that police failed a high number of times to do their job of preventing crimes or protecting people in Black neighborhoods. If it occurs frequently it would seem then that police in general fail to do fulfill their perceived role of protecting Black people. Nevertheless, the Dependent media, which functions as “government media” in The Spectacle, always upholding authority, parroting police rationalizations no matter how ridiculous or factually unsupported and parroting facts from police perspective while assigning less credibility to civilian witnesses and perspectives, report crime numbers as if the police are helpless to do anything about crime. Often times the dependent media portrays cops as victims. We are made to believe that police are primarily engaged in actual police work and are aggressive crime fighters acting on behalf of people to fulfill their legal duty to Black citizens pursuant to the social contract, an agreement whereby citizens voluntarily agree to obey government authority in exchange for police protection and other services from the government.

Yet, in reality, crime data demonstrates that police don’t protect Black and Latino people and are not really involved in ‘police work’ in our communities. Rather, authorities use the perception and reality of crime to stalk, surveil, manage, control and kill Black and Latino people. Any beneficial “public service” provided by cops is random, incidental or done only under the most egregious or convenient circumstances and even then, it is done primarily to maintain manufactured public relations and provided on a compulsory, involuntary basis. Professor Alex Vitale states, “It is largely a liberal fantasy that the police exist to protect us from the bad guys. As the veteran police scholar David Bayley argues,

“The police do not prevent crime. This is one of the best kept secrets of modern life. Experts know it, the police know it, but the public does not know it. Yet the police pretend that they are society’s best defense against crime and continually argue that if they are given more resources, especially personnel, they will be able to protect communities against crime. This is a myth.”

Corpse Biden's DOJ Only Requiring Arthur Grand Technologies to Pay a $38,000 Fine for its ‘Whites Only’ Job Posting. Northern VA Company Sought "Only Born US Citizens (White)”

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From [HERE] A northern Virginia tech company has agreed to pay out a settlement after claims that it discriminated by posting a job listing seeking white, U.S.-born candidates for an opening as a business analyst.

The Justice Department announced that it had reached a settlement with Arthur Grand Technologies, an information technology firm in Ashburn, Virginia. 

The company will pay  $38,500 as part of the settlement. 

The company listed the business analyst job online in March 2023, specifically seeking "Only Born US Citizens (White) who are local within 60 miles from Dallas, TX (Don’t share with candidates)."

"It is shameful that in the 21st century, we continue to see employers using ‘whites only’ and ‘only US born’ job postings to lock out otherwise eligible job candidates of color" said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s civil rights division in a statement. "I share the public’s outrage at Arthur Grand’s appalling and discriminatory ban on job candidates based on citizenship status, national origin, color and race."

In the settlement agreement, the company said the ad was "generated by a disgruntled recruiter in India and was intended to embarrass the company," and that it never intended to dissuade non-citizens from applying.

Arthur Grand did not return a call and email Tuesday seeking comment.

The settlement includes a $7,500 penalty to settle a Justice Department investigation and $31,000 as part of a settlement with the Labor Department to compensate individuals who filed complaints alleging they were discriminated against by the advertisement.

The agreement also requires Arthur Grand to train its personnel on the requirements of the federal hiring and discrimination laws and revise its employment policies.

In 2019, another northern Virginia tech firm, Cynet Systems, apologized after posting an online ad seeking "preferably Caucasian" applicants for an account manager job in Florida.

Merrill Lynch to pay $19 Million to Settle a class-action lawsuit that Claimed it Discriminated Against Black Financial Advisors

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From [HERE] Merrill Lynch has agreed to pay $19.95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming it discriminated against African American financial advisors, according to a filing on Friday in federal court in Florida. 

The lawsuit, which dates back to July 2021, was brought by four former Merrill advisors who sought “to challenge discriminatory compensation and promotion practices at Merrill.” They alleged that African American brokers were afforded fewer “business opportunities,” including less support and more difficulty joining teams relative to their white counterparts. 

As a result, African American financial advisors were terminated or “washed out” at higher rates than their white counterparts, and fewer earned corporate titles such as senior financial advisor or private wealth advisor. 

The proposed sum is earmarked to fund payments to at least 1,000 eligible class members who were previously disadvantaged because of their race in addition to covering administration costs and $6.6 million in attorney fees. The settlement must be approved by a judge before it is final. 

“We reached an agreement to resolve this matter so we could focus on initiatives to assist Black financial advisors and their clients,” a spokesperson for Merrill said in an emailed statement. The wirehouse has also “implemented numerous policies and programs over the last 10 years,” including annual leadership symposiums, workshops and increased training and coaching to improve diversity and inclusion, the spokesperson added.  

Over the past decade, the number of Black financial advisors at Merrill has increased by more than 40%, and representation on teams has more than tripled, the spokesperson said. 

As part of the proposed settlement, Merrill agreed to additional policy changes governing how it trains employees and newbie financial advisors about diversity and facilitates teaming among existing advisors. 

Merrill said it would educate employees about how to “recognize implicit or unconscious bias” and “create an inclusive work environment that will evaluate employees and candidates fairly,” according to the Friday filing.