Kick the Cops Out of Schools Parents and citizens outraged at the manhandling of a 16 year-old female high school student by a white policeman in Richland County, South Carolina, are pressing for dismissal of all charges against the victim and dismissal of the teachers and administrators “who allowed that cop to maintain a reign of terror in that school for years,” said Efia Nwangaza , director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, in Greenville. The policeman has already been fired. “We will be organizing people’s movement assemblies throughout the state to build the Dignity in Schools Movement, to get cops out of schools,” said Nwangaza. “The call is for culturally competent counselors in, cops out.”
Black Pre-Schoolers Pushed Into School-to-Prison Pipeline African American kids make up 42 percent of students suspended and expelled from U.S. pre-schools, and a majority of those suspended more than once, according to a study by the Center for American Progress and the National Black Child Development Institute. “If we’re pushing children out as early as 3, 4 and 5, then of course we will see some of the things we see in K-12,” when the harms inflicted on Black kids “throughout their educational careers” propel them into the criminal justice system, said researcher Maryam Adamu .
Newark Police Review Board Faces Moment of Truth The Civilian Complaint Review Board crafted by Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka must have broad subpoena power, said Larry Adams , vice-chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress, one of the community organizations that is to be represented on the board. “If it can’t look into the records of individuals, if it can’t look into the records of the organization, then it is very difficult to provide oversight. And, that’s essentially what these bodies have floundered over in other cities,” said Adams. Community organizations would prefer to have “the authority to impose discipline upon the police,” but that power will reside with the mayor-appointed police director.
Massive Voter Suppression In Haiti Haiti held presidential elections on October 25, following disastrous legislative elections this summer that were wracked by violence perpetrated by allies of the U.S. backed government. The failure to punish those responsible for the repression on August 9 produced a “catastrophically low” turnout of 20 to 30 percent in October, said Brian Concannon , of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. His interpretation is disputed by Pierre Labossiere , of Haiti Action, who was part of a human rights and fact-finding mission to the island nation. Labossiere believes supporters of the Family Lavalas party of former president Jean Bertrand-Aristide, who was deposed in a 2004 U.S.-backed coup, turned out in huge numbers in October, but that many were denied access to the polls. He predicts that vote tallies to be released this week will show Lavalas was able “to overcome a lot of these fraudulent practices that were carried out.”
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The Sudanese Communist Party has welcomed the ceasefire between the army and the Rapid Support Forces but has warned against monopolization of the peace process by US and Saudi Arabia. It has called…
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Dahoud Andre is a member of KOMOKODA, the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti.
Erin George is National Director of Policy for the Bail Project.
Margaret Kimberley was a guest on the Sputnik program, The Critical Hour, with co-hosts Dr. Wilmer Leon and Garland Nixon. She discussed New York City mayor Eric Adams’ response to the killing of…
