Journalism – Page 38

2Oct

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Journalism

Ex-Dallas officer Amber Guyger’s murder conviction ‘a huge victory for black people in America’

A former Dallas police officer convicted of murder in the fatal shooting of a black neighbor in his own home could be sentenced to as little as two years in prison, a judge ruled at a sentencing hearing Wednesday. Amber Guyger, who fatally shot Botham Jean a year ago as he ate a bowl of ice cream, normally would face a sentence ranging from five years to 99 years. But Judge Tammy Kemp ruled the jury can consider a "sudden passion" defense that could reduce a sentence. Kemp made the ruling at the behest of the defense – with the support of prosecutors. Guyger, who is white, had testified at trial that she returned from an extended police shift and incorrectly believed she had entered her own apartment. She said she panicked when she saw Jean, an accountant from St. Lucia who she had never m...

Friends and Associates Speak to Los Angeles’ Ashley Butts Character

19Sep

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Journalism

Friends and Associates Speak to Los Angeles’ Ashley Butts Character

Despite recent false press, Los Angeles’ Ashley Butts is maintaining a positive attitude thanks to solace from family and friends and others who can attest to her good character. An honors student, Ashley is a law school graduate, having received her law degree from the University of West Los Angeles School of Law in 2019. Prior to enrolling in law school, Ashley graduated with honors from the University of Santa Clara in 2009, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and a Minor in African American Literature and Sociology. Ashley attends Sunnyside Baptist Church in Westmont, CA and directs the church’s fitness ministry, where she provides fitness training and health education to underserved minority women at her church. She also mentors youth in the Fast Camp program, a free summ...

11Sep

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Journalism

What to Build Instead of Prisons

In Oakland, social justice groups are fighting the prison industrial complex through renovated space dedicated to restorative justice and community building. It’s a midweek summer afternoon, and staff and supporters of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights are standing in a room newly furnished with cubicles, desks, and chairs. They are enjoying snacks, chatting easily, and posing in a space designated as a photo booth for the day. The open house is a precursor to the late-summer grand opening of Ella Baker’s permanent new home and a celebration of this new chapter for the restorative justice organization. The space is Restore Oakland, a 15,000 square foot, two-story building Ella Baker shares with a half-dozen local organizations involved in social justice-oriented work...

How Much Longer Will It Take, For You To Say, ENOUGH?

9Sep

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Journalism

How Much Longer Will It Take, For You To Say, ENOUGH?

Although, it seems, Americans may have an incredible degree of patience, and tolerance, at some point, one would think, they would, eventually, have, ENOUGH, of what we've been witnessing, for the last few years! Since, it is the voters, who created the present situation, by electing the present occupant of the White House, as well as some, seemingly, self - serving, other public officials, only they, will be able to change this situation! The apparent, combination of apathy, laziness, and, far, less - than, stellar attention, as well as some amount of focusing on individual, self - interest, rather than the common good, appears to have created, this monster, which, if we don't handle, soon, will create, many undesirable ramifications, into the future! With that in mind, this article will ...

4Apr

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Journalism

WeWork considers slashing IPO valuation for stock market debut

Outlook for the shared workspace company is cooling, after disappointing offerings this year from Lyft and Uber. WeWork's initial public offering won't be quite the celebration the office-rental unicorn once foresaw. The New York-based startup is considering seeking a valuation of about $20 billion to $30 billion in the IPO, people with knowledge of the matter said. The range could end up closer to $20 billion, said one of the people, which would be less than half the valuation it secured from its biggest backer just a few months ago. The outlook for the public debut of WeWork, which has racked up billions of dollars in losses in recent years as the company funds grand ambitions, is cooling after the disappointments of other major IPOs this year such as Lyft In...

30Aug

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Journalism

With Reparations, We Must Demand Repair—and Heal Ourselves

Part two of this six-part series explores the plurality of reparations that includes Black people’s spiritual and psychological healing. The first panel at the National Grassroots Reparations Convening in Ferguson, Missouri, earlier this month was titled “Spirituality, Healing and Reparations.” Facilitator Rev. Emma Jordan-Simpson, executive director at Fellowship of Reconciliation, the organization cohosting the four-day convening, opened the discussion by sharing a story about the Lyft driver who brought her there that day. The driver was an older African American woman who described to Jordan-Simpson having multiple jobs, caring for grandchildren, and needing another source of income. The driver told her simply, “My soul is tired.” “What do we say to our people whose so...

US rich-poor divide results in shorter lifespans for destitute

2Apr

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Journalism, VIDEO REELS

US rich-poor divide results in shorter lifespans for destitute

The lifespan gap between rich and poor people in the US can be as high as 30 years. The lifespan gap between rich and poor people in the United States can be as great as 30 years. But it is not just limited access to healthcare that causes poorer people to die earlier - stress, gun violence and bullying are also major factors. Al Jazeera's John Hendren report from Chicago.

Toni Morrison on the Necessity of Literature

26Aug

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Journalism

Toni Morrison on the Necessity of Literature

Reading the celebrated author is a fitting way to mark the 400th anniversary of the first slave ship arriving on U.S. shores. It was a tough week to lose Toni Morrison, one of America’s most esteemed writers and public figures. She died August 5, after a weekend of mass shootings, one clearly motivated by White nationalism. A few days later, ICE arrested 680 people in mass raids on Mississippi factories, an escalation of policies that intentionally inflict trauma on immigrant and refugee families. Those events were enabled by American racism. That racism is a foundational reality of our nation, both in our history and present society, was a theme that Morrison, a Black woman, tackled in her writing for five decades. Her novels focus on the African American experience, depi...

23Aug

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Journalism

Ghana: Homecoming for African Americans

African Americans find new home in Ghana - gateway of the brutal African slave trade to the US that began 400 years ago. The Cape Coast castle, built with local labour in the 17th century, is frequented by tourists [Edem Robby Abbeyquaye/Al Jazeera] Accra, Ghana - Afia Khalia Tweneboa Kodua, then a resident of Los Angeles, still remembers the day she left Ghana in 2011 on her first trip there. "I am not a public emotional person so I got to the airport and asked [myself]: 'what is this? Are those tears?" "It was clear something had awoken in me and ignited in me and I have to come back. My ancestors are telling me; I have to come back," she told Al Jazeera. And so in 2017, she left Los Angeles, California and moved permanently to Accra, Ghana's capital w...

Black Funerals Are a Radical Testament to Blackness

21Aug

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Journalism

Black Funerals Are a Radical Testament to Blackness

For African Americans, homegoings are the ultimate form of liberation. The funerals—or homegoing celebrations, as they’re called in many Black communities—of Aretha Franklin and hip-hop artist Nipsey Hussle garnered millions of views from people across the globe on live television and viral online videos. They gave the world a glimpse of a tradition and ritual that until recently has mostly been witnessed from within African American communities. Whether held at a small storefront church or one that seats thousands, as in Franklin’s, or at a stadium, as in Hussle’s, some things are constant: On display are flower-filled altars as the backdrop of the neatly casketed loved one, tear-jerking slideshows, the belting of Negro spirituals, odes to ancestors, sometimes West Africa...