Category Archives: Police Reform

Chelsea Manning is running for Senate in Maryland

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Chelsea’s running. A transgender former Army intelligence who rose to national prominence for leaking sensitive information to Wikileaks has taken steps to run for U.S. Senate in Maryland. The Federal Election Commission website indicates Chelsea Manning on Thursday filed for candidacy to run as a Democrat in the mid-term election. It would be difficult for Manning to wrest the Democratic nomination from incumbent Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who’s seen the overwhelmingly favorite as he runs for a third term. The primary is set for June 28. Technically, Cardin hasn’t confirmed he’ll be defending his seat. Ben Cardin, 74, has not … Continue reading →

The Nina Turner Show: The Role of the Protestor with Erica Garner

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Erica Garner talks to Nina Turner about how the loss of her father, Eric Garner, galvanized her activism for police accountability, and how she came to support Bernie Sanders

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What is a fair wage for a prisoner’s labor?

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​   Samuel Sinyangwe visited Louisiana a few weeks ago, and wrote about how conscript labor is used there in the state legislature and across government facilities. Some background: Louisiana has the highest incarceration rate in the *world.* Within that, black people are locked up at much higher rates. pic.twitter.com/Wcc85JCOwM — Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) May 19, 2017 I thought I understood racism and mass incarceration. But nothing prepared me for what I saw in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. (1/x) — Samuel Sinyangwe (@samswey) May 19, 2017 The thread is worth reading, and Sinyangwe was particularly affected by the sight of prisoners … Continue reading →

Ohio is an Open-Carry State Except If You’re an African-American Male

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The Republican National Convention is underway just a few miles from the park where 12-year-old Tamir Rice was shot dead by police in November of 2014 while he was playing with a toy pellet gun. We speak with Rev. Dr. Jawanza Karriem Colvin, the pastor of the Olivet Institutional Baptist Church, which is one of the largest African-American congregations in Cleveland, about how city officials and activists responded to the killing. He was recently profiled in a Politico report titled “The Preacher Who Took on the Police.”

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Nina Turner: Killing of 12-Year-Old Tamir Rice Highlights Value Gap Between Black & White Lives

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While covering the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Democracy Now! visited Cudell Park, where Tamir Rice was gunned down by two officers in November of 2014 while he was playing with a toy pellet gun. A 911 caller reported seeing Rice with a weapon, but noted it was “probably fake.” That information was not relayed to the responding officers, who shot him within two seconds of arriving at the scene. A grand jury failed to bring charges against either of the officers. In April, Cleveland officials agreed to pay $6 million to settle a lawsuit by the family of Tamir Rice. We speak with Nina Turner, who is a former state senator and former city councilmember whose son is a police officer and husband is a retired police officer.

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: http://democracynow.org

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Nina Turner, from Family of Police Officers, Responds to Baton Rouge Attack

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From DemocracyNow! Following Sunday’s killing of three police officers in Baton Rouge on Sunday, after a week of protests sparked by the fatal shooting by police of resident Alton Sterling, we speak with former Ohio State Senator Nina Turner, who is in Cleveland, where Democracy Now! is covering the Republican National Convention. Her son is a police officer, and her husband is a retired police officer. “Good police officers prop up bad police officers, and they won’t tell, they won’t talk about what is wrong within this system,” Turner says. “We have to have good police officers call out their … Continue reading →

The Second Amendment itself is racist – the dark, dirty secret of American history

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So why the big silence from the NRA when two men who were legal gun owners with conceal carry permits are shot? Could it be because they are black? Thom Hartmann explains that “the dark, dirty secret of American history is that the Second Amendment itself is racist.” Thom Hartmann explains that the Second Amendment was written both to ensure no standing national army, in order to prevent the possibility of a military coup overturning democracy, AND to preserve slavery in the South — in particular, by continuing the Virginia state slave patrols, which were, in essence, a state militia. … Continue reading →

Ex-Seattle Police Chief Condemns Systemic Police Racism Dating Back to Slave Patrols

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On Wednesday, President Obama met at the White House with law enforcement officials and civil rights leaders. President Obama hosted the meeting one week after the fatal police shootings of Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and the killing of five police officers by a sniper in Dallas. While the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile made national headlines, they were not isolated incidents. According to a count by The Guardian, at least 37 people have been killed by police in the United States so far this month. That’s more than the total number of people killed by police in Britain since the year 2000. Overall, police in the United States have killed a total of 585 people so far this year. We speak to former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper, author of the new book “To Protect and to Serve: How to Fix America’s Police.”

Democracy Now! is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on nearly 1,400 TV and radio stations Monday through Friday. Watch our livestream 8-9AM ET: http://democracynow.org

Please consider supporting independent media by making a donation to Democracy Now! today: http://democracynow.org/donate