Category Archives: human rights

Report: Cops Tried To Memory-Hole Hasidic Jews’ Beating Of Black Man In Williamsburg: Gothamist

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Realizing the case was going nowhere, Patterson’s mother Zahra went on a publicity blitz, placing stories about the attack in several news outlets, and only then did the investigation pick up. Police arrested five men the following April, and in their indictment prosecutors claimed that the suspects were all members of the Williamsburg Safety Patrol, a Hasidic volunteer neighborhood watch group, members of which carry walkie talkies and sometimes drive imitation police vehicles. The group is supposed to notify the police of crimes in progress and sometimes make citizens’ arrests, but has been accused of vigilantism and other attacks on black and Latino people in the neighborhood.The revelation about the apparent mishandling of the investigation comes as high-ranking officers elsewhere in the NYPD are facing federal scrutiny for, among other things, allegedly taking bribes from a leader of the Williamsburg group’s Borough Park counterpart, the Boro Park Shomrim, to grant gun permits to people who would otherwise have been denied them. Mayor Bill de Blasio halted city funding to the Borough Park group and is reassessing whether it is a “responsible vendor.”

Source: Report: Cops Tried To Memory-Hole Hasidic Jews’ Beating Of Black Man In Williamsburg: Gothamist

Afghan film star in French exile after death threats – The Local

“It’s very important that no-one recognises Marina,” said Azizi, who locks his wife in the room every time he leaves to make sure no one gets to her and carries out the death sentence passed by conservative imams a world away. To avoid detection, Golbahari remains tightly veiled in public — a cruel twist in the tale, given the way their nightmare began. “When you are an actor or actress in Afghanistan, or part of a film, you are accused of being an infidel, you are always in danger,” said Siddiq Barmak, the director of “Osama”, who also became a refugee in France a year ago. Since the withdrawal of most international forces from Kabul in mid-2014, a wave of religious conservatism has washed over the country — “and not only from the Taliban”, said Barmak. Nearly 3,700 civilians died in the ongoing conflict last year according to the UN — a record for the past decade. The increase in violence has sparked a fresh exodus from the country, particularly among Kabul’s middle-class liberals. Golbahari’s appearance at the Korean film festival coincided with two major events in the city of Kunduz — its temporary seizure by the Taliban and the bombing by US forces of a Doctors Without Borders hospital. Around the same time a local-language BBC channel also screened “Osama”. Back in her dank room, Golbahari sees little hope. “Before, I dreamed of the future,” she said. “Now I think only of the past.”

Source: Afghan film star in French exile after death threats – The Local

Glamorous M5S candidate tops Rome mayor race – The Local

A glamorous 37-year-old lawyer, Virginia Raggi of the populist Five Star Movement (M5S), is leading polls to become mayor of the capital, which has been run by a special commissioner since last November after the previous centre-left mayor resigned amid an expenses scandal.

Source: Glamorous M5S candidate tops Rome mayor race – The Local

Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino: Poster AO

The Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino strives to create a museum in our nation’s capital to educate, inspire and encourage respect and understanding of the richness and diversity of the American Latino experience within the U.S. and its territories by highlighting the contributions made by Latino leaders, pioneers and communities to the American way of life.

Source: Friends of the National Museum of the American Latino: Poster AO

About The Stereotype Busting High Median Incomes Of Trump Voters | Race Files

We need to get real about who really constitutes the current and projected base for right wing extremism. They aren’t mainly poor folk. Real poor folks are our current and immediate projected base of support and we need to start acting like it. Instead, they are those with relative privilege, living in the anxiety of losing that privilege in a society that punishes the poor. White privilege is eroding. We need to acknowledge this reality.  If we don’t, we will become the victims of nostalgia, trading rose colored pictures of a romanticized past for a sustainable, fair, and secure economic future.

Source: About The Stereotype Busting High Median Incomes Of Trump Voters | Race Files

In Kozhikode, They Mourn and Rage for Justice for Jisha – 

All over Kerala massive protests have broken out today demanding justice for Jisha, the law student who was brutally murdered in Perumbavoor, Kerala on May 2. The following photos of huge groups of women protesting the death of the young Dalit woman are from the city of Kozhikode and were shot by filmmaker Biju Ibrahim.

Source: In Kozhikode, They Mourn and Rage for Justice for Jisha – The Ladies FingerThe Ladies Finger

Why this fearless woman is the talk of Sweden – The Local

National Photo: David Lagerlöf/Expo/TT

Why this fearless woman is the talk of Sweden Published: 03 May 2016 14:12 GMT+02:00 A woman who blocked the path of a group of neo-Nazis marching through a town in central Sweden has earned huge praise on social media after a picture of the incident went viral. Sweden Democrat steps down over church-burning posts (28 Apr 16) Nazi flag sparks anger in Sweden on Hitler’s birthday (20 Apr 16) Stockholm special squad to stop far-right mobs (02 Feb 16) Tess Asplund, an anti-racism activist from Stockholm, was in Borlänge to protest against a march by hundreds of neo-Nazis through the centre of the town on May 1st.  Traditionally a left-wing stronghold, where big Labour Day rallies are the norm, Borlänge has recently seen many voters lurch to the far-right.  The uniformed neo-Nazis were however far outnumbered by counter demonstrators like Asplund, who described the moment captured on camera to local radio station P4 Dalarna.   “I don’t think I even thought about it really, I just jumped out,” she said.  “I just thought: you shouldn’t be here. Then one of them stared at me and I stared back. He didn’t say anything and neither did I. Then the police came fairly quickly and took me away.”  Asplund said she often raised her fist at anti-fascist rallies in a gesture borrowed from Nelson Mandela. The picture spread rapidly on social media on Tuesday as Swedes hailed the iconography of a lone woman bravely standing up to dark forces.

Source: Why this fearless woman is the talk of Sweden – The Local

OrganizeFor

BE PART OF THE ONLINE MOVEMENT!OrganizeFor is a petition platform and training resource that helps people like you challenge the injustices affecting Black lives in your community.OrganizeFor someone you love who is a victim of police brutality.OrganizeFor the conservation of your community and end illegal dumping.OrganizeFor equitable employment practices by a local corporation!OrganizeFor a cause that matters to YOU!

Source: OrganizeFor

Doctor, Warned to Be Silent on Abortions, Files Civil Rights Complaint – The New York Times

In ordering Dr. Horvath-Cosper to end her advocacy, the medical director of the hospital, Dr. Gregory J. Argyros, said he did “not want to put a Kmart blue-light special on the fact that we provide abortions at MedStar,” according to the complaint. Since then, hospital officials have ordered Dr. Horvath-Cosper to turn down several requests for interviews or articles or risk losing her job , she said in the complaint, which was filed with the Office for Civil Rights of the Department of Health and Human Services. If the civil rights office finds that Dr. Horvath-Cosper’s rights were violated, it can order the hospital to take corrective action or risk losing its federal funding. The hospital on Monday afternoon did not directly respond to the allegations, saying in a brief, emailed statement, “MedStar Washington Hospital Center is committed to providing family planning services for our community, and we do so in a respectful, private and safe environment.” “We look forward to cooperating fully with the Office for Civil Rights,” said the statement, which was issued by Donna L. Arbogast, the hospital’s vice president for public affairs and marketing. Dr. Horvath-Cosper’s legal case rests on a little-known aspect of the Church Amendment, which was adopted in 1973 after Roe v. Wade established abortion rights nationwide earlier that year. The bill is best known for offering protections to medical staff members who object to participating in abortions on religious or moral grounds. But the legislative history and final wording of the amendment show it was intended to be two-sided, said Gretchen Borchelt, the vice president for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center and a co-counsel in Dr. Horvath-Cosper’s complaint. The law states that no entity receiving federal money may discriminate against any doctor “because of his religious beliefs or moral convictions respecting sterilization procedures or abortions.” That means that doctors are protected from punishment for supporting abortion, just as they are protected if they oppose it and refuse to participate, according to the complaint. “If she can’t speak out about abortion the way other doctors at the hospital do about what they work on, she is being treated differently and that is discrimination,” Ms. Borchelt said.

Source: Doctor, Warned to Be Silent on Abortions, Files Civil Rights Complaint – The New York Times

Swedish police Roma register ‘not illegal’ – The Local {“Why not make them wear an ‘R’ badge or tattoo them with a bar code?” – FAIL!}

Police in December stressed that police needed more visibility of the Roma living in Sweden in order to protect them from abuse.    “If we in the police see that there is a vulnerable person that we suspect may fare badly, we need to ask questions of care,” Linda Staaf, Director of National Intelligence, told Sveriges Radio.   Hans Caldaras, a Swedish singer and Roma activist, said that the study was simply an excuse to compile statistics based on ethnicity (which is not usually done in Sweden) and to get Roma “out of the country”.

Source: Swedish police Roma register ‘not illegal’ – The Local