Saturday, May 4

Tag: violence

It’s Time for Effective Oversight of Police Violence
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LIFESTYLE

It’s Time for Effective Oversight of Police Violence

Would the possibility of mandatory sentencing make a police officer think twice before pulling the trigger? What about them having to forego their pensions, or pay victims’ families from their 401Ks? Atatiana Jefferson is dead. The 28-year-old was shot and killed in her Texas home by a Fort Worth police officer on October 12. According to reports, the officer was responding to a nonemergency call for a wellness, or welfare, check. Jefferson’s neighbor made the call when he saw “both her front doors opened and all the lights on in her house” at 2 a.m. Police body cam footage of the shooting shows the officer walking around Jefferson’s house for a little over a minute before yelling, “Put your hands up. Show me your hands [unintelligible],” and immediately fires his we...
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Gun Violence Research Matters. Here’s Why
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Gun Violence Research Matters. Here’s Why

Private and individual donors—and recently a few states—have been stepping into a federal funding void to finance gun violence research. The California Department of Justice took a call about a 21-year-old man threatening to shoot his co-workers after being fired from his job. A search of his home uncovered 400 rounds of ammunition. And a 24-year-old California man with a history of alcohol and drug abuse told his mother he was going to kill employees and relatives in the family business, and then himself by shooting or bombing. His uncle closed the business the next day and three days later called police, who confiscated 26 firearms, including 18 semiautomatic pistols. In both instances, which occurred between 2016 and 2018, court-issued extreme risk protection order...
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Making the Gun Violence Epidemic Visible Through Art and Activism
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IN OTHER NEWS

Making the Gun Violence Epidemic Visible Through Art and Activism

Two art projects explore the impact of gun violence, with a focus on mass shootings and police brutality. Leslie Lee calls herself an “artivist.” It’s a word combining art and activism, rooted in community and Latinx art from the late 1990s, but Lee says she was doing this work before it had a name. “I have always been interested in metaphor and content that addressed various social issues,” she says. A 71-year-old grandmother, Lee has made art professionally as a sculptor and painter for more than 50 years, and she says she’s developed the “tenacity required for large-scale projects.” In response to the October 2017 shooting deaths of concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Lee established The Soul Box Project in Portland, Oregon, where she lives....
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In Chicago, Police Violence Survivors Heal Through Song
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IN OTHER NEWS

In Chicago, Police Violence Survivors Heal Through Song

The Freedom Songbook workshop was designed to provide a creative safe space for survivors, and prevent isolation and other PTSD-related issues permeating Black communities. Over a slice of caramel cake on a Tuesday evening last month, Mark Clements shared his story with me. At the young age of 16, Clements was tortured into confessing to crimes he did not commit. He subsequently spent nearly 30 years in prison. “You know,” he began, settling back into his chair, “when I went to prison, sister, I couldn’t read that word right there.” He pointed to a bulletin board behind me. The word displayed was “love.” “As a kid, you go into the prison system naive,” Clements continued. “The [court] gave me natural life. So, you’re thinking that it’s not as serious as it is, but you...
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How Do I Begin to Understand Random Violence?
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

How Do I Begin to Understand Random Violence?

To cure the violence, we must identify and heal the causes of hatred and violence. If we don't deal with the causes we will never be safe. ~Peter Yarrow~ The term random violence suggests that there is no explanation for such acts which have become all too commonplace recently. Acceptance that there is no explanation implies that that there is nothing we can do about it. The approach of placing more guns in the hands of civilians has been promoted as one possible solution although it sounds scary to me. Commentators and others have scratched their heads trying to clarify the reasons for this violence. Among the possibilities are parenting styles, the effects of mental illness, the proliferation of guns, violent video games, media sensationalism and violent lyrics in music. We would...
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The Outline of Whites’ Violence Vs Blacks’ Nonviolence in American History
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Journalism

The Outline of Whites’ Violence Vs Blacks’ Nonviolence in American History

Introduction Various dissatisfactions may result in protests in a community or a society. Religious, economical, societal and political concerns are amongst the most important factors which provoke different groups and classes to counter act against the status quo. In most of the time such displeasures end in some political gained grants, trivial or general reformations in current law and mechanism and compromise and returning to pre-challenge era. But in some occasions the depth and level of discontent is in its extreme thus the protestors are looking for a fundamental reformation or in other words revolution and subversion. Overthrow can be done by civilians or servicemen, in societal level such a protest is known as a movement. In deed, social movements are acts and processes in whi...
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The Outline of Whites’ Violence Vs Blacks’ Nonviolence in American History
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Journalism

The Outline of Whites’ Violence Vs Blacks’ Nonviolence in American History

Various dissatisfactions may result in protests in a community or a society. Religious, economical, societal and political concerns are amongst the most important factors which provoke different groups and classes to counter act against the status quo. In most of the time such displeasures end in some political gained grants, trivial or general reformations in current law and mechanism and compromise and returning to pre-challenge era. But in some occasions the depth and level of discontent is in its extreme thus the protestors are looking for a fundamental reformation or in other words revolution and subversion. Overthrow can be done by civilians or servicemen, in societal level such a protest is known as a movement. In deed, social movements are acts and processes in which some (most o...
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Martin Luther King had complicated legacy on gun violence
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SOCIAL JUSTICE

Martin Luther King had complicated legacy on gun violence

FILE - In this April 3, 1968 file photo, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stands with other civil rights leaders on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tenn., a day before he was assassinated at approximately the same place. From left are Hosea Williams, Jesse Jackson, King, and Ralph Abernathy. King is one of America's most famous victims of gun violence. Just as guns were a complicated issue for King in his lifetime, they loom large over the 30th anniversary of the holiday honoring his birthday. AP Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article55187105.html#storylink=cpy On April 4, 1968, King became one of America’s most famous victims of gun violence Martin Luther King Jr. was surrounded by guns, even though he didn't like them. At times, armed ...
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