Connect with us

News

Black Lives Matter Leader Jasmine Richards Convicted On “Felony Lynching” Charges

Published

on

Black Lives Matter Leader Jasmine Richards Convicted On “Felony Lynching” Charges

Pasadena, CA — Black Lives Matter leader Jasmine Abdullah, better known as Jasmine Richards, was convicted of felony lynching on Wednesday after a jury deliberated for just two hours. Anti-Media was in the courtroom covering the trial, in which Richards became the first black person in the U.S. to be convicted of lynching.

Jasmine Richards’ Message to the Youth:

When we think of lynching, images of the KKK hanging a black person from a tree come to mind. Somehow this image was twisted around, and the charge of lynching was used against a black woman suspected of trying to ‘unarrest’ another black woman she felt was being unlawfully taken by police.

In September 2015, a black woman, Benita Gina Escoe, went to a Mexican restaurant and ordered an horchata. She was twenty cents short so she asked to pay by debit. The owner of the restaurant claimed Escoe punched her in the face. The owner called her daughter, who was nearby. The daughter also claimed Escoe assaulted, punched, and kicked her several times. The injuries shown in photos of both women showed scrapes, not bruises, which would be consistent with injuries caused by punching and kicking. There was also a photo showing an injury on Escoe’s head. A police officer who testified failed to mention Escoe had accused the restaurant owner of stealing her phone. This was revealed only under cross-examination by Richards’ defense attorney, Nana Gyamfi.

Black Lives Matter is not just an anti-police brutality movement. Black Lives Matter is concerned with protecting all black lives, and they also work to prevent gang violence. Jasmine Richards has actively worked with children in her community, mentoring them and encouraging unity. On the day of the incident, Jasmine was leading a peace walk when her group of 15 to 20 people, including five to eight children, passed by the restaurant where Escoe had her altercation. Escoe left with the group and they all went to a nearby park. Police claim they had Escoe in their custody at the restaurant, though she was not in handcuffs when Richards took Escoe to the park. Richards was under the impression that Escoe was a crime victim and that the restaurant owner had stolen Escoe’s phone. Jasmine Richards was ultimately convicted of felony lynching because she stood between the police and Escoe. Another person, whom a testifying officer alluded to — but who was not arrested or otherwise identified in court — pulled on Escoe in an attempt to prevent her from being arrested. Escoe eventually plead no contest to her charges.

Merriam-Webster defines lynching as “kill[ing] illegally as punishment for a crime.”  However, the legal definition for lynching in California doesn’t concern killing, but, “the taking by means of a riot of any person from the lawful custody of any peace officer.” According to California law, a riot occurs when two or more people use force or violence, disturb the peace, or threaten to use force or violence with immediate power to execute that threat.

Democracy Now explains further:

Historically, the crime of lynching refers to when a white lynch mob takes a black person out of the custody of the police for the purpose of extrajudicially hanging them. In fact, the law’s name was so controversial that less than two months before Jasmine was arrested, California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law legislation removing the word ‘lynching’ from the penal code.

Earlier in 2015, Pasadena police arrested Richards on charges of terrorism when she tried to expose the truth about the Pasadena police murder of Kendrec McDade, further highlighting the ways laws are manipulated to execute political objectives.

In an interview with KPFK radio in June of last year, Richards said:

When I was out here causing trouble [before joining Black Lives Matter], getting into everything, I never got in trouble by the law. Once I picked up a bullhorn, I became a target and that just showed me how powerful the woman and black woman’s voice is. Because they’re trying to stifle me. They’re trying to keep me down. It’s just bullying. They’re [the police] bullies.

On the second day of police testimony this week, Black Lives Matter defense attorney, Nana Gyamfi, posted the following on her Facebook page, further criticizing police:

Today was filled with Pasadena cops contradicting themselves and each other, and a video of BLM Pasadena standing up for Black lives. Jasmine’s words and energy during that action were truly Black resilience! We gon’ be alright!”

In spite of her optimism, Gyamfi says she has been receiving threats by telephone. As she posted on her Facebook page last week:

I received another one of those calls designed to scare, intimidate, and shame. Message left last week, but just got today because my messages have been re-routed without my knowledge or consent since the end of April. Seems that coward with the disguised voice is still upset with me for representing BLM, and Jasmine Abdullah in particular.”

After the guilty verdict was announced Wednesday, Gyamfi said:

This was a political prosecution, not a criminal prosecution. This was a jury that could not tell the difference between a loud Black person and a violent Black person. This jury has nothing to be proud of.

Gyamfi explained to Democracy Now why she believes Richards was found guilty, noting that out of 55 potential jurors, only two were black — a far smaller ratio than in the general population of either Pasadena or Los Angeles:

[I]t was very clear that it was not a jury anywhere near of Jasmine’s peers, let alone the peers of the people who had come to support. And again, going back to those images [of lynching] once again, it is the jury without black people that then decides that the lynching of Jasmine Abdullah is appropriate. And it can’t be said enough times that this is a perfect example of what the criminal sanction system does to black people who dare to speak up, who dare to win, who dare to challenge the system and state-sanctioned violence.

Gyamfi also posted the following on Facebook after the conviction:

Very sad to report that Jasmine Abdullah was convicted this morning of attempted felony lynching. Jurors cried as their verdict was read. The Court should have let her leave with us, but instead, she remanded her into custody…The fight continues!

In another Facebook post, she also said:

It’s important to uplift that as Jasmine Richards was being lead to lock-up, after the judge remanded her to custody, she turned to us and said in a strong voice in open court, ‘We have a duty to fight for freedom!’ 30 voices, including my own, responded, ‘We have a duty to fight for freedom.’ She continued, ‘We have a duty to win’. We replied, ‘We have a duty to win.’ ‘ We must love and protect one another.’ ‘We must love and protect one another.’ And as she disappeared behind the wall, ‘We have nothing to lose but our CHAIIIIINS!’ ‘We have nothing to lose but our CHAINS!!!’ ‘I love you!’ ‘We LOVE you, Jasmine!,’ we responded. And the silenced shamed courtroom staff and ‘officers of the court’, including the formerly smug prosecutor DDA Christine Kee, were forced to be witness AGAIN to what Black Resilience is. Only you, Jasmine Abdullah. You and your fierce-ass Ancestors. We’re still fighting! We’re still winning!

There is a petition asking the city of Pasadena to stop the political persecution of Jasmine Abdullah. People are being asked to contribute to Jasmine’s legal fundraiser.

Sentencing for Jasmine will be held on Tuesday, June 7 at 8:30 AM at the Pasadena courthouse.

This is a movement, not a moment” – Jasmine Richards of Black Lives Matter

Entrepreneur, contributor, writer, and editor of Sostre News. With a powerful new bi-lingual speaking generation by his side, Sostre News is becoming the preferred site for the latest in Politics, Entertainment, Sports, Culture, Tech, Breaking and World News.

News

Three Disney World Employees Among 17 Arrested in Florida Child Sex Sting

Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.

Published

on

Three Disney World Employees Among 17 Arrested in Florida Child Sex Sting

Three Disney World employees were among the 17 people arrested in a child sex sting operation in Florida, law enforcement officials announced on Wednesday.

In the operation, dubbed “Operation Child Protector,” undercover officers posed as 13- and 14-year-old children on social media and online dating apps between July 27 and Aug. 1.

The undercovers made contact with each of the suspects before proposing they meet at a location in Polk County, where they were busted.

In total, the arrests led to 49 felony and two misdemeanor charges. Those arrested were aged 26 to 47. All were from Central Florida except for one 33-year-old man from California.

“What you see on this board … are deviants. Incredible deviants,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said at a press conference on Tuesday, motioning to photos of the alleged pervs. “They travel from as far away as Clewiston, Florida. One even came from Los Angeles.”

“Much to their chagrin, instead of meeting with young children, they were met by law enforcement officers who were online undercover posing as children.”

Kenneth Javier Aquino, 26, a lifeguard at Animal Kingdom Lodge at Disney World, was arrested while still wearing his Disney polo shirt and swimsuit, according to the sheriff’s office.

Aquino engaged in an online conversation on social media with an officer, posing as a 13-year-old girl, authorities said. He then asked the “girl” to send photos, and sent her an explicit video of himself, police said.

Aquino told officers he is a Navy veteran and has a pregnant girlfriend.

Jonathan McGrew, a 34-year-old custodian at Disney World, was nabbed by an undercover officer posing as a 13-year-old girl.

disney-world

McGrew allegedly told the “girl” that he wanted her to come over and have sex with him and his girlfriend, 29-year-old Savannah Lawrence, who also works as a custodian at tourist mecca.

McGrew sent her explicit videos of him and Lawrence performing sexual acts on each other, authorities said.

A rep for Disney World didn’t immediately return a message.

Continue Reading

News

China Reports First Human Death from Monkey B Virus

China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.

Published

on

China Reports First Human Death from Monkey B Virus

China has reported the first human infection and death in the country caused by a rare infectious disease found in primates known as the Monkey B virus.

The Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention said a 53-year-old veterinary surgeon who worked in a research institute specializing in nonhuman primate breeding in Beijing dissected two monkeys in March and became ill about a month later.

He began experiencing nausea, vomiting, fever and neurological issues, and died in May.

Blood and saliva samples were tested and researchers in April found evidence of the Monkey B virus, also known as the herpes B virus.

Researchers said a male doctor and female nurse who were in close contact with the victim tested negative for the virus.

The Monkey B virus is prevalent among macaque monkeys but infection among humans is extremely rare. Since the virus was identified in 1932, just 50 cases have been reported, with the majority of those in North America. Untreated B virus infections in humans are serious, however, with a fatality rate of about 80 percent.

Symptoms include fever, shortness of breath, and progress to more serious complications such as swelling of the brain and spinal cord.

Laboratory workers and veterinarians in close contact with the animals are most at risk as people typically get infected with the virus if they are bitten or scratched by an infected macaque, or have contact with the monkey’s eyes, nose or mouth.

But the virus is unlikely to mutate in a way that poses a problem to the general population. Just one case of human-to-human transmission of the virus has ever been documented.

Continue Reading

News

U.S. Remembers 9/11 Terrorist Attacks as The Pandemic Changes Tribute Traditions

Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.

Published

on

U.S. Remembers 9/11 Terrorist Attacks as The Pandemic Changes Tribute Traditions

Americans are commemorating 9/11 with tributes that have been altered by coronavirus precautions and woven into the presidential campaign, drawing both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden to pay respects at the same memorial without crossing paths.

In New York, a dispute over coronavirus-safety precautions is leading to split-screen remembrances Friday, one at the Sept. 11 memorial plaza at the World Trade Center and another on a nearby corner. The Pentagon’s observance will be so restricted that not even victims’ families can attend, though small groups can visit the memorial there later in the day.

Trump and Biden are both headed — at different times — to the Flight 93 National Memorial near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Trump is speaking at the morning ceremony, the White House said. Biden plans to pay respects there in the afternoon after attending the observance at the 9/11 memorial in New York.

Meanwhile, Vice President Mike Pence is also due at ground zero — and then at the alternate ceremony a few blocks away.

In short, the anniversary of 9/11 is a complicated occasion in a maelstrom of a year, as the U.S. grapples with a health crisis, searches its soul over racial injustice and prepares to choose a leader to chart a path forward.

Still, 9/11 families say it’s important for the nation to pause and remember the hijacked-plane attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people at the trade center, at the Pentagon and near Shanksville on Sept. 11, 2001, shaping American policy, perceptions of safety and daily life in places from airports to office buildings.

“I know that the heart of America beats on 9/11 and, of course, thinks about that tragic day. I don’t think that people forget,” says Anthoula Katsimatides, who lost her brother John and is now on the board of the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum.

Friday will mark Trump’s second time observing the 9/11 anniversary at the Flight 93 memorial, where he made remarks in 2018. Biden spoke at the memorial’s dedication in 2011, when he was vice president.

The ground zero ceremony in New York has a longstanding custom of not allowing politicians to speak, though they can attend. Biden did so as vice president in 2010, and Trump as a candidate in 2016.

Though the candidates will be focused on the commemorations, the political significance of their focus on Shanksville is hard to ignore: Pennsylvania is a must-win state for both. Trump won it by less than a percentage point in 2016.

Around the country, some communities have canceled 9/11 commemorations because of the pandemic, while others are going ahead, sometimes with modifications.

The New York memorial is changing one of its ceremony’s central traditions: having relatives read the names of the dead, often adding poignant tributes.

Thousands of family members are still invited. But they’ll hear a recording of the names from speakers spread around the vast plaza, a plan that memorial leaders felt would avoid close contact at a stage but still allow families to remember their loved ones at the place where they died.

But some victims’ relatives felt the change robbed the observance of its emotional impact. A different 9/11-related group, the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation, set up its own, simultaneous ceremony a few blocks away, saying there’s no reason that people can’t recite names while keeping a safe distance.

The two organizations also tussled over the Tribute in Light, a pair of powerful beams that shine into the night sky near the trade center and evoke its fallen twin towers. The 9/11 memorial initially canceled the display, citing virus-safety concerns for the installation crew. After the Tunnel to Towers Foundation vowed to put up the lights instead, the memorial changed course with help from its chairman, former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Tunnel to Towers, meanwhile, arranged to display single beams for the first time at the Shanksville memorial and the Pentagon.

Over the years, the anniversary also has become a day for volunteering. Because of the pandemic, the 9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance organization is encouraging people this year to make donations or take other actions that can be accomplished at home.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending