Adventures In Police Framing

Ken AshfordCourts/Law, Crime, Racial HomicidesLeave a Comment

Then: A police officer in Alabama proposed murdering a black resident and creating bogus evidence to suggest the killing was in self-defence, the Guardian has learned. Officer Troy Middlebrooks kept his job and continues to patrol Alexander City after authorities there paid the man $35,000 to avoid being publicly sued over the incident. Middlebrooks, a veteran of the US marines, … Read More

U.C. Officer shoots and kills Sam DuBose

Ken AshfordRacial HomicidesLeave a Comment

Ray Tensing is the first officer in Cincinnati to face murder charges for killing someone in the line of duty. The video proved to be crucial evidence to the grand jurors who indicted Tensing, and it stunned city officials, prosecutors and the relatives of shooting victim Samuel DuBose. It also was a reminder that video, whether captured by witnesses on … Read More

New Sandra Bland Revelations

Ken AshfordRacial HomicidesLeave a Comment

This just came out: Sandra Bland, the black woman found hanging dead in a Texas jail days after a traffic stop, smoked or possibly swallowed a large amount of marijuana while in custody, her family’s attorney reported the district attorney as saying. Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis made the disclosure in a text message to attorney Cannon Lambert, who … Read More

Another Jailed Black Person “Hangs Herself”

Ken AshfordRacial HomicidesLeave a Comment

Are you buying this? According to authorities, an 18-year-old girl hanged her self in an Alabama jail. The inmate has been identified as Kindra Darnell Chapman by the Jefferson County Coroner’s Office. Chapman was arrested on a first-degree-robbery charge for allegedly taking a cellphone and booked at Homewood City Jail Tuesday around 6:22 p.m., AL.com reports. She was last seen alive at … Read More

The Suspicious Death Of Sandy Bland

Ken AshfordRacial HomicidesLeave a Comment

28-year-old Sandra Bland (also called Sandy).  She was visiting Texas from Naperville, Illinois (a Chicago suburb) to interview for a college job at her alma mater of Prairie View A&M.  She got the job. On July 10, she tweeted this: Hours before she was assaulted & arrested by police, #SandraBland posted about eating here & joked w/ friends online. pic.twitter.com/0zGKcZzAsb … Read More

The REAL Guilty Party Is Located In Charleston Church Massacre

Ken AshfordGun Control, Racial Homicides, Rightwing Extremism/Violence1 Comment

Charles Cotton is a member of the NRA’s board, and he knows who killed those people. No, not Dylann Storm Roof, the alleged gunman who has since confessed, silly!  It was Rev. Clementa Pinckney, state senator and pastor at Emanuel AME Church, according to Cotton. How did Pinckney manage that? By voting against a bill that would have allowed people to … Read More

Don’t Call ‘Em Crazy

Ken AshfordMental Health, Racial HomicidesLeave a Comment

I really have a problem with the second-day opinion that the Charleston shooter was “mentally ill” or “disturbed”. 99% of the time, the person offering that assessment isn’t at all a qualified doctor, and 100% of the time, he hasn’t examined the shooter. There’s a ridiculous circular logic that the shooter’s actions explain his mental state, and his mental state … Read More

The Conservative Denial That This Is About Race Is Getting Bizarre

Ken AshfordRacial Homicides, Right Wing Punditry/IdiocyLeave a Comment

This conservative columnist for the Miami Herald (and Fox News contributor) may be the most desperate person on the internets:   UPDATE:  Still in denial, she later tweeted, “None of this story adds up. Even if a ‘white supremacist,’ their targets/hatred isn’t usually church-going African-Americansty” Huh?!? She got a lot of blowback and has sense set her Twitter account to private.

Mass Murder Hate Crime Leaves 9 Dead In Charleston Church

Ken AshfordCrime, Godstuff, Gun Control, Racial Homicides, Rightwing Extremism/Violence1 Comment

I may have been one of the first 1000 people to know what happened in Charleston last night.  I was at rehearsal for a play I am in (barely), and backstage, I checked my phone.  Nothing on the Breaking News app, nothing big on Twitter.  I opened Periscope, and there was a guy working in some Charlotte newsroom who was … Read More

Some Good News In The Tamir Race Murder

Ken AshfordRacial HomicidesLeave a Comment

A judge in Cleveland has ruled that there’s probable cause to charge two officers involved in the November 2014 shooting death of Tamir Rice. In response to a petition from citizens, under an obscure and little-used provision of Ohio law, Municipal Court Judge Ronald Adrine agreed that Officer Timothy Loehmann should be charged with several crimes, the most serious of … Read More

The GJ Charges Against The Baltimore 6

Ken AshfordCrime, Racial HomicidesLeave a Comment

A Baltimore grand jury has charged all six police officers accused in the death of Freddie Gray.  State Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby announced the revised charges yesterday, but the most serious charges – including second-degree murder – remained. In case you forgot already, Gray suffered a severe spinal cord injury in police custody in April and died a week later.  His … Read More

Lead Paint And Inner City Violence

Ken AshfordHealth Care, Racial HomicidesLeave a Comment

I’m just going to point to this comprehensive and insightful Washington Post article which talks about Freddie Gray (whose death while in Baltimore police hands sparked the recent riots there) and lead paint.  Like many inner city kids, Gray lived in sub-standard housing with peeling lead paint, and in his case, it specifically was blamed for ADHD and other problems. It … Read More