Friday

Amnesty International Declares Michael Brown’s Death A Human Rights Abuse







For the first time in the history of the United States, Amnesty International has documented human rights abuses on American soil.  The report entitled, “On The Streets of America: Human Rights Abuses In Ferguson,” declares Michael Brown’s death a human rights abuse and also highlights abuses that include police reactions to protesters and racist policing tactics across the country.
Specifically regarding Officer Wilson killing unarmed teenager Michael Brown, the report states that Wilson’s use of lethal force was a violation of the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.  While acknowledging the danger face by law enforcement officers, the report states that, “Officers may use firearms as a last resort – when strictly necessary to protect themselves or others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury.”  Christof Heyns, who is the Special Raaporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions states that, “The ‘protect life’ principle demands that lethal force may not be used intentionally merely to protect law and order to serve other similar interests…The primary aim must be to save life.”
The report goes on to declare that the Missouri law that justifies an officer using deadly force to effect an arrest is a violation of international standards and possible the Constitution based on the US Supreme Court ruling in Tennessee v. Garner where the Court declared, “A police officer may not seize an unarmed, non-dangerous suspect by shooting him dead.”  It should be noted that Amnesty International’s request to the Ferguson Police Department Chief for a copy of policies and guidelines involving the use of force and use of lethal force has gone unanswered for more than two months.  One of the recommendations of the report is that the Missouri Revised Statute 563.046 that authorizes the use of deadly force be amended to comply with international human rights standards.
Another human rights abuse addressed by the report is the systemic racial discrimination that is part of policing across the country.  Amnesty International specifically stated, “The shooting of Michael Brown has highlighted on a national level the persistent and widespread pattern of racially discriminatory treatment by law enforcement officers across the United States, including unjustified stops and searches, ill treatment and excessive, and sometimes lethal, use of force.”  Passing the End Racial Profiling Act was one of the proposed solutions.
In addition, the report specifically called out Ferguson police for violating protestor’s and media’s human right to peacefully assemble and their freedom of speech.  The report specifically cited events from August 18th when officers who were not wearing name badges or any form of visible identification kept their guns trained on media, protestors and Amnesty International delegates.  At least 19 journalists were arrested and two were shot in their backs with rubber bullets.  Other journalists had AR-15 semi-automatic rifles pointed at them while an officer threatened to kill them.  In response to the intimidation of protestors and media and use of force against them, Amnesty International is recommending that the Stop Militarizing Law Enforcement Act be passed which would prohibit local police departments from acquiring military equipment and require that transferred equipment be tracked.  The bill currently has 33 cosponsors.
In the reports final set of recommendations, they demand that governments and law enforcement authorities be required to protect citizens human rights to peacefully assemble, freely express themselves and have freedom of movement.  Amnesty International also specifically requests that the Ferguson Police Department, Missouri State Highway Patrol and the Governor of Missouri review and revise all policies and trainings regarding the policing of protests.  Taking it one further step, they also recommend that the Department of Justice review the human rights abuses perpetrated against protestors and media.
In summary, Amnesty International has called the United States , its law enforcement officers and government officials out on a global stage for abusing American’s human rights.  They have specifically called Michael Brown’s death a violation of his human right to life and have presented specific pieces of legislation meant to reduce racial profiling, racist policing and the human rights abuses that disproportionately impact Black people in America.  The full report can be read here.

Isaiah 9:
16 For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.

John 10:
12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

Alabama man gets $1,000 in police settlement, his lawyers get $459,000

Anthony Warren 






 
An Alabama man who sued over being hit and kicked by police after leading them on a high-speed chase will get $1,000 in a settlement with the city of Birmingham, while his attorneys will take in $459,000, officials said Wednesday.
The incident gained public attention with the release of a 2008 video of police officers punching and kicking Anthony Warren as he lay on the ground after leading them on a roughly 20-minute high-speed chase.
Warren is serving a 20-year sentence for attempted murder stemming from his running over a police officer during the chase, in which he also hit a school bus and a patrol car before crashing and being ejected from his vehicle.
Under the terms of the settlement of Warren's 2009 federal suit, in which he accused five Birmingham police officers of excessive force, his attorneys will receive $100,000 for expenses and $359,000 in fees, said Michael Choy, an attorney representing the officers on behalf of the city.
The agreement was reached last month and approved on Tuesday by the Birmingham City Council.
The city settled to avoid further litigation and the risk of a higher payout, Choy said.
Warren's attorneys, Wendy Brooks Crew, Alyson Hood Rains and Cameron Hogan, did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.
 
Micah 2:
10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

 
Ezekiel 33:
11 Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?

Black Woman Told to “Get Off the Bus!” After Being Accused of Having Ebola




One of the most insidious aspects of the Ebola outbreak is how it has normalized discrimination against West Africans. A British student from Sierra Leone told a reporter that he can’t find anyone to rent to him due to the outbreak. In the U.S., a Texas college refused to admit Nigerian applicants due to the outbreak and a New Jersey elementary school made two Rwandan students (East Africa) wait 21 days before enrolling. Now, a report from Rome claims that a black woman was attacked and told to “get off the bus” while riding on mass transit.

A black woman told TheLocal.It that a teenager accused her of having Ebola, then the 26 year-old Guinean woman was attacked by the teen’s relatives.
“They told me that I had Ebola and that I had to get off the bus,” Fataomata Sompare said.

People standing at a bus stop saved the woman from her attackers.
“[She is] a victim of racism which is now rampant in this city,” said her partner, Grotte Corbelli, who described the attack as “shameful”.
West Africans are facing continued bias over the Ebola crisis.
Amara Bangura, originally from Sierra Leone, is currently studying in Norwich, England but can’t find anywhere to stay because landlords won’t rent to him because they’re afraid of Ebola.
Bangura received a letter that read, “Under normal circumstance. Your profile would be a great profile to be one of our lodgers.”
It continued: “However, given that the world is about to probably experience an Ebola epidemic, we have decided not to accept anyone that has been anywhere near the ebola outbreak within the last two months, or is likely to visit those areas in the near future.”
Also Kamorudeen Abidogun, a mechanical engineer who lives in Richmond, says he received rejection letters for family members who used his address for applying to college. The Texas college rejected the applications of his family members because they are not admitting students who originate from countries with confirmed cases of Ebola.
And RT.com reported that over 1,000 Russian students from West Africa are undergoing special medical observation out of an abundance of caution.

Exodus 15:
26 And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.

Exodus 12:
13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

Police investigating assault and theft following argument between Brown family relatives

Lesley McSpadden

  




ST. LOUIS, MO  – In a recent statement, Michael Brown’s mother asked that her son not be part of self-serving business or political actions as she pleaded that he be remembered for the good.  A reported assault and theft this past weekend may dramatically underscore that sentiment.
It happened Saturday night, October 18th, at about 8:15 pm in the parking lot of Red’s BBQ.  It`s the corner of Canfield and West Florissant, just blocks from where Michael Brown was shot and killed.
Police sources tell us Brown`s Grandmother, Pearlie Gordon, along with Brown`s Cousin Tony Petty, were selling t-shirts and other Michael Brown merchandise.
A police report describes a car pulling up and several people getting out.  One of those people, was reported to be Michael Brown`s Mom, Lesley McSpadden.  A witness described McSpadden yelling ‘You can`t sell this s%$&”  One of the relatives, who was selling, reportedly demanded McSpadden show a document proving she had a patent.
The police report says that`s when an unidentified person with McSpadden assaulted Petty so violently that it resulted in a 911 call.  A witness tells Fox 2 that the weapon was a metal pipe or pole.  The suspect reportedly struck Petty in the face.  Medics then took him to Christian Northeast Hospital.  The witness said the assault suspect grabbed merchandise and a box of cash believed to contain about $1,400.
It appears surveillance cameras could have captured the fight and be part of police evidence.  Police report no arrests at this time.
We reached out to the local Brown family attorney, Anthony D. Gray and he declined to comment.

1 John 2:
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 Timothy 6:
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.


Bishop Eddie Long’s church is now in foreclosure

Bishop Eddie Long
 




New Birth Charlotte, one of Bishop Eddie Long’s churches, is entering foreclosure.
The Huntersville, North Carolina chapter of New Birth ministries failed to make payments toward a $10 million loan borrowed from Evangelical Christian Credit Union, according to The Herald Weekly.  The church, founded in 2003, has been in the process of foreclosure since November of 2013, but there have been seven Postponements of Sale, and the most recent was postponed from October 9th through December 9th.
The church’s number of attendees had been shrinking ever since the location’s original pastor resigned.  Bishop Terrell Murphy left New Birth Charlotte in June of 2013 to start his own ministry, Life Center International.  A couple months afterward, the church reduced their two services to one, and in August 2013, Bishop Eddie Long visited and preached to the remaining congregation of just 150 people.
Beginning November 2nd, members of the church will attend ‘New Facility Celebration’ services at Therapeutic Services Group, according to The Herald Weekly.
This is not the first series of financial issues that Bishop Long has had.  Last year, New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia announced that its Christian Academy would be closing.   The Christian school had been open since 1993 and had even been closed and reopened in the past, but this time, due to the poor economy and low enrollment, it could not be saved.  In the same year, 12 church members filed suit against Long for holding financial classes in which Ephren W. Taylor defrauded churchgoers out of millions of dollars.  Taylor was eventually arrested on a federal indictment.
Long was sued for two unrelated reasons in 2010.  He was involved in an infamous scandal in which four young men accused Long of sexual m*lestation and filed four separate lawsuits against him.  He was also sued for failing to pay back a $2 million property loan.  Long settled all cases out of court.
 
Micah 3:
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
 
Ezekiel 34:
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.