March 18   1:22 pm

March 12   10:15 am

[Gifs of an interview with Nivea Earl. Gifs are of her speaking and of her working. Text: Nivea Earl IJ client & hair braider My name is Nivea Earl. I am a natural hair braider in the state of Arkansas. I have been baiding since I was a teenager. I have always had a passion for braiding.The cosmetology board is saying that it is illegal for me to braid hair. The cosmetology board wants me to go to cosmetology school for 1,500 hours, for thousands of dollars - and they do not teach hair braiding. It does not involve cutting people’s hair or chemicals. It is perfectly safe. I would like to see the laws in Arkansas change so I could earn an honest living.] If hair braiding isn’t taught in many beauty schools, why does the government force black women to go (and pay thousands) to get a cosmetology license? What’s worse is not doing so could result in a $10,000 fine and a year in prison. Since the 1990s, the Institute for Justice has been fighting for hair braiders — and a new legal showdown in Iowa could be their biggest yet. Follow @stylemic·

“Of Iowa’s 27 cosmetology schools, not one school offers specific coursework on natural hair care for black women or braiding in particular.”

there’s an arabic proverb: “health is a crown that only the sick can see”

 How Many People Remember Megan Williams????

  20-year old Megan Williams Survives

By Ashahed M. Muhammad

Updated Oct 14, 2007 - 11:16:00 AM

LOGAN, West Virginia (FinalCall.com) - The physical scars, though healing, are still visible, but the psychological and emotional scars also remain for the victim of a race torture in the mountains of West Virginia.

When the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan read of the reported torture of this young Black woman, he sent a delegation to West Virginia to get a first hand account of Megan Williams’ ordeal. Minister Farrakhan sent Student in the Ministry Class Abdul Khadir Muhammad of the Mid-Atlantic Region, along with Attorney Abdul Arif Muhammad, Editor-In-Chief of The Final Call Newspaper, to minister unto the family on behalf of himself and the Nation of Islam.

Police say 20-year-old Megan Williams of Charleston, West Virginia was held captive in a chamber of horrors while six Caucasian perpetrators physically assaulted, raped and tortured her for five days.

 “We received a tip that a subject was being held against their will at Big Creek,” said Logan County Deputy Jeffrey Robinette. “Typically this involves a welfare check to see if someone is in need or injured.”

Deputy Robinette testified during a preliminary hearing on Thursday, Oct. 4, against defendant Karen Burton, that when he arrived at the residence to investigate the “tip,” he saw Frankie Brewster another defendant and the owner of the house on the porch. When he questioned her, she stated that she was the only person in the house. It was at that time, Deputy Robinette stated during testimony that victim Megan Williams burst out of the doors with “her arms outstretched sayings ‘help me.’”

A bruised and battered Megan Williams appeared with swollen and blood-bruised eyes, lacerations around her neck and ankles, splotches in her head where her hair had been ripped out and multiple stab wounds on her left leg.

“Bobby kicked me in my stomach a few times, kicked me in my back and my face and all I remember is that they hit me with several objects, a cedar stick, a fly swatter handle, a belt, a shoe; and you know the gloves with the lead in them? They were smacking me in the face with those. Both my eyes were black and every night, they made me sleep outside,” Megan told The Final Call. “They made me take a bath in a trash can outside. They poured scalding hot water all over me and they poured candle wax on me and they told me if I screamed, they would kill me,” she added. (Click here for the exclusive One-on-One with The Final Call interview with Megan Williams.)

Deputy Robinette’s testimony under oath was consistent with Megan’s statement that had been given to police investigators about her five days of horror. At the preliminary hearing Deputy Robinette read the chilling account of the confessions of two of the male defendants detailing the heinous, barbaric and brutal hate crime carried out against victim Megan Williams.

Deputy Robinette said that in a search of the residence, a wooden handle stick with “brownish and reddish stains on the stick” was found, which corroborates anal sodomy. He also said they found a knife with “red stains and spots on it.” In addition investigators found fly swatters, rolls of duct tape, phone cords, all instruments of brutality used against Megan Williams during her captivity. Deputy Robinette testified that the house was in a state of “disarray” with garbage strewn about the premises. This was some of the physical evidence obtained at the scene supporting the claim of the many heinous acts of torture and violence Megan Williams had to endure, and was all consistent with Megan’s recollection of events and the signed written confessions of two other defendants.

The six defendants charged in the hate crimes.

According to the signed confession by one of the defendants, Bobby Brewster, Megan was forced to “eat human sh-t out of the toilet and rat turds,” and to “lick mom’s a— crack.” According to the confession read in court, Megan vomited and then was forced to lick her own vomit off of the floor. The entire time, she was beaten and called names such as “slut, whore, b—-h and n——r.” Brewster’s statement also corroborated the stories of Megan being forced to perform oral sex on Frankie Brewster, as well as Megan being “choked until purple in the face.”

Megan’s adopted mother, Carmen Williams, sobbed as the graphically detailed account of Megan’s torture were read for the court. At a certain point, she could no longer endure the testimony and left the courtroom in tears. Others were visibly shaken and uncomfortable hearing the lurid details of the events emerging from the case.

Logan County Magistrate Jeffrey Lane found sufficient probable cause to send the case against the sixth defendant, Karen Burton, to a Grand Jury for indictment in the alleged rape, torture and assault of Megan Williams. The charges against Burton and the remaining five defendants are to be presented to the Grand Jury in January 2008, according to Logan County Prosecutor Brian Abraham.

The defendants charged with involvement in these inhuman hate crimes are:

Frankie Brewster, the 49-year-old woman who owns the home where the charged assaults occurred. She is charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, malicious wounding and giving false statements to an officer. Bobby R. Brewster, Frankie Brewster’s 24-year-old son, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, malicious wounding and assault during the commission of a felony. Alisha Burton, 23, is charged with kidnapping, assault during the commission of a felony and battery. Karen Burton, 46, is charged with kidnapping, malicious wounding, battery and assault during the commission of a felony. Danny J. Combs, 20, is charged with kidnapping, sexual assault and malicious wounding. George A. Messer, 27, is charged with kidnapping, assault during the commission of a felony and battery.

During Deputy Robinette’s cross examination by defendant Karen Burton’s defense attorney Betty Gregory, Atty. Gregory seemed very uncomfortable and uncertain of exactly what to ask Deputy Robinette. It appeared that the shocking details of the torture had her as bewildered as the others listening to the testimony in the courtroom. She constantly rambled, asking unrelated questions, and repeatedly shuffled through papers even saying at one time, “I’m getting confused myself.” In a remarkable courtroom moment, the lawyer leaned over to her client ordering her to “shut-up.”

At a news conference held on the steps of the Logan County courthouse immediately following the final pretrial hearing, Megan Williams’ family members and supporters gathered to show support for the family and reiterated their desire for this case to be brought before the U.S. Department of Justice as a federal hate crime.

Members of the Nation of Islam delegation sent by The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan with the Williams Family. (L - R) Carmen Williams, Megan?s mother, Abdul Arif Muhammad, Attorney and Editor-in-Chief of The Final Call, Megan Williams, Brother Abdul Khadir Muhammad of the Mid-Atlantic Region and Matthew Williams, Megan?s father. Photo: Ashahed M. Muhammad

“It is obvious that this is one of the most sick, horrendous, sadistic and evil hate crimes that has ever occurred in American history,” said Attorney Malik Zulu Shabazz, representing Black Lawyers for Justice (BLJ) as legal advisor to the Williams family. Atty. Shabazz is also Chairman of the New Black Panther Party. “It’s one thing to read about these charges, and when you read it, you almost say in your mind that this can’t be true. It’s just too horrific, too outrageous to be true. After this preliminary hearing with just one of the defendants, Karen Burton, and hearing the evidence, hearing the statements and confessions and the graphic details of the stabbings, the beatings and forced sexual activity and the word nigger being used repeatedly throughout these crimes leaves one with the inescapable conclusion that this is a hate crime of the worst magnitude.”

Atty. Shabazz, announced that his group, Black Lawyers for Justice, will be working with other civil rights groups and religious leaders for a march against hate crimes on November 3, 2007 in Charleston, West Virginia. “We also will be traveling to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress. There are hate crimes occurring against Blacks across the country. This case must be brought before the U.S. Justice Department.” Atty. Shabazz also mentioned the family will be traveling with him to Washington, D.C. to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Bishop James Carter of the Rehoboth Cathedral of Christ, in Charleston, West Virginia, is the spiritual advisor for the Williams family. He described the perpetrators of the alleged crimes in this case as “dangerous,” and said that he, along with many others, are thankful that Megan is still alive.

“I’d like to just thank God that Megan was found in time,” said Bishop Carter. “Though her fleshly wounds are healing, it is going to take some time for her emotional wounds to heal. I don’t think that closure will come until justice is done.”

Abdul Arif Muhammad contributed to this report.

http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_3996.shtml

This Isn’t Justice | Ultra Violent 

Yesterday, a judge ruled that Marissa Alexander—the mom who was facing 60 years in prison for firing a warning shot to fend off her abusive partner—will be released from prison and reunited with her children. 

But the truth is, the fight isn’t over. Each year, thousands of domestic abuse survivors—mostly women of color—end up incarcerated while their abusers go free or face lesser sentences. Marissa Alexander’s case made headlines and brought the issue to the forefront, but now it’s up to us to keep speaking up until no domestic violence survivor is treated like a criminal.

This is the truth about how the justice system treats survivors of domestic violence. Please share.

@WhiteBoyLaFlare and @Clinton_Kream on Twitter have been raging, denying indictments, denying their actions in the very tweets I saw with my own eyes… NOW OUTED AS THE LIARS THEY ARE. 

This is really excellent news!! These men are vile

I created this Street Harassment and Street Harassment + Misogynoir BINGO card (latter particular to intraracial misogynoir and street harassment as experienced by Black women), cataloguing the most common excuses provided to justify this violence towards women. It’s been on my mind for a while as excuses said to me, some of which I wrote months ago in 10 Common Ignorant Replies Made To Women Who Discuss Experiencing Street Harassment, but also surfaced in response to some of the excuses being used to derail an upcoming anti-street harassment chat #YouOkSis (hosted by @Russian_Starr and @FeministaJones) scheduled for Thursday, July 10th at 12pm.

As you know and I’ve shared here, I’ve experienced this violence for almost 23 years now, and have written about street harassment for two years in detail in my Street Harassment Is Violence (Essay Compilation) with perspectives from a variety of angles including: what I experience most which is intraracial street harassment, street harassment from White male cops/White men who associate Black womanhood itself with sex work and violently so, experiencing PTSD because of street harassment, some Black people’s demands for silence and derailment on this topic because of fear of the White Gaze coupled with lack of compassion for and recognition of Black women’s humanity and call Black women speaking truth to power “divide and conquer,” how it is in fact violence about reclamation/affirmation of power and not “flirting,” the racist and anti-intersectional mainstream media framing and centering of White women as the only victims of street harassment with Black men as only perpetrators, and how that removes other men’s culpability and silences Black women experiences, and many more perspectives. 

Please join for the #YouOkSis chat if you can/able though be aware that racist, sexist, misogynoiristic men of a variety of backgrounds have planned to derail it and harm, however, as there are organized and disorganized campaigns to silence Black women online, in general. And while the focus is Black women— because margin needs to be centered versus silenced—understanding how women oppressed at multiple intersections and dehumanized via anti-Blackness and misogynoir actually facilitates the illumination of the understanding of those usually centered, and this facilitation doesn’t have to occur through erasure or co-opt via generalization. Margin to center is womanism. It is anti-Blackness and misogynoir (and often [trans]misogynoir as Black trans women face brutal street harassment and worse) to suggest Black women don’t deserve the space or time to analyze our experiences and value our own lives, to be clear. Specificity is not “oppression olympics” but is a matter of survival for Black women. 

The chat isn’t only for Black women either; Black men who KNOW that they are more than a violent portrayal of a White supremacist and anti-Black construction of masculinity (and reject performing masculinity as such) and want safer and healthier experiences for Black women and our communities are welcome to be there. In fact, one of the moderators is a Black man. And since non-cishet or non-cis or non-het or non-binary gender Black people also experience street harassment, of course all of these voices matter.

This violence and the excuses have to stop. The demand for Black women to be silent has to stop.

The Death Of Tanesha Anderson: State Violence, Anti-Blackness and Ableism

Cleveland.com and newsnet5 reported that a 37 year old Black woman, Tanesha Anderson (photo below is from their story) was murdered by the police (head slammed to the ground and other physical violence). Tanesha apparently had diagnoses of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia, and needed care, not extrajudicial execution. State violence is not something that Black women are spared from (which I explained in The Erasure Of Black Women’s Experiences As Victims Of State Violence Is Unacceptable). Further, she is not the first Black person with physical or mental health issues that has been executed in the last few months. Eric Garner (asthma, could not breathe in illegal chokehold) and Ezell Ford/KajiemePowell (mental health issues) are among those killed by the police.

When Black bodies are viewed as both disposable (Epistemic Violence, Erasure and The Value Of Black Life) and superhuman (On Blackness and Perceptions of Able-Bodied Privilege, Racist Myths About Black People As Inherently Able-Bodied and Neurotypical), simultaneously, there’s denial of our full humanity, denial of pain we feel, denial of help we made need, and people’s unwillingness to try to figure out solutions to help and preserve our lives, versus ending them. Myths of Black “superhuman” strength and physical ability are ableist. Myths of Black “subhuman” intelligence and “inherent” violent disposition are also ableist (in addition to necessary for White supremacist lies about “superior” White intelligence to be juxtaposed to). Ableism, in this context, is significant in terms of examining anti-Blackness. This idea that we both “deserve” harm and also “cannot really” be harmed is ableism and anti-Blackness, especially so for Black people with physical and/or mental health issues. 

This complicates for Black women because while viewing women as “delicate” involves sexist framing, that framing still implies humanity. This framing operates on the notion that White womanhood is true womanhood. This is denied Black women; both womanhood and humanity themselves. She was murdered in a way that Black men are; not considered someone worth protecting in a way that White women are. Thus, understanding how misogynoir impacts State violence on Black women really matters. Acknowledging the reality of State violence on Black women’s lives—and not just as a derailing tactic for the times when we speak on intraracial gender violence—really matters. 

Her brother stated that she was "more of a danger to herself than others." This is the case with many mental health issues. However, because of the false notion that people with mental health issues are inherently violent, because of the lack of empathy (and it is socialized because of White supremacy) for Black bodies/lives (and it does not matter if token non-White officers are on police forces; again, structural violence can operate against Blackness even with individual non-White complicity; the origin/purpose of policing is enforcing anti-Blackness/protecting the State’s interests) and because of the specific way that Black women are dehumanized into objects who can’t feel pain/can’t be harmed/aren’t really women or human…her life is gone. A Black woman who needed help and was not under arrest is dead. Though individual circumstances differ when each killing like these occurs, the reality is they are not occurring in a bubble. There are no “isolated incidents” when it comes to Black bodies and the State. There never were. 

{Strolling Series by Cecile Emeke}

Sexism,Patriarchy,Racism and Colonialsm.Full Discourse

You can be a cop who raped and sexually abused 8 Black women and still have supporters. They will galvanize to raise money for this rapist cop without a lick of shame in the world.

I would have to read more articles on this case to be certain but I’ve read a few so far and haven’t yet heard the word “targeted”. But that’s what he did, right? He targeted black women for rape and sexual assault. OKC is only 15% Black but all of his victims were Black. That’s not an accident, he picked them out on purpose. So far articles have just made it seem like it was a coincidence or not important that these women were all Black but this is important. 

Of course. Targeted is the right word. You don’t rape and sexually assault 8 Black women in a row randomly. Predators know who to target. Society collectively places Black women lowest on the totem pole. It was no coincidence that all his victims were Black women. Black women were his victims because he thought he would be able to commit these crimes and get away with them.

Even after he’s been arrested on these charges and is currently being held on $5 million bond, he still has community support and people raising money for him. Let me tell you, if you get held on $5 million bond, then the evidence they have against you must be stacked, damning and overwhelming. Despite all this, he still has support. That should tell you how much people care about Black women.

Violent Relationships with Dr. Leelia Franck

TW: Police brutality - NYPD goes into wrong apartment, drags naked grandmother out of her home, pepper spray 4-year-old & arrest 12-year-old August 2, 2014

A Brooklyn grandmother who had just taken a shower was dragged from her apartment by about 12 cops who then stood by for more than two minutes while she was naked in the hallway, according to video that emerged Friday.

Denise Stewart was in her Brownsville apartment on July 13 when police — responding to a domestic disturbance call at the building — pounded on her door at 11:45 p.m. and demanded entry.

Stewart, 48, cracked the door wearing only a towel wrapped around her body and underpants — and was yanked into the hallway by cops over the screams of her family and neighbors.

The video shows a chaotic scene as a dozen or so male officers burst into Stewart’s apartment, while several others struggle to subdue and cuff the nearly naked woman in the hallway outside.

Stewart’s towel got lost in the scuffle, leaving the grandmother dressed only in underpants.

“Oxygen, get my oxygen,” the mother of four can be heard saying to the cops, as they propped her bare body against the wall.

A cop shouts, “OK, OK,” and darts out of the screen.

Neighbors videotaping from the stairwell started shouting as Stewart, who has severe asthma, fainted and fell to the floor.

“Yo, her mother got asthma …y’all wicked, y’all f——— wicked,” shouted one woman.

“Her asthma! Her asthma! Her asthma,” screamed another woman. For approximately two minutes and 20 seconds, Stewart was bare-breasted in the hallway as additional police officers tramped up the stairs and through the hallway, glancing at her as they passed by.

When cops hauled Stewart’s two sons and two daughters out of the apartment and cuffed them, a female cop finally draped a white towel over Stewart’s exposed torso.

Reached at her home Friday, Stewart told the Daily News she was traumatized. “It’s disgusting and embarrassing. I’ve been married 16 years. It took my husband 10 years to see my nakedness,” she said. “I didn’t do nothing wrong,” she said, crying as she recounted the ordeal.

The NYPD said they’d gotten a 911 call to the Kings Highway address but didn’t have an apartment number. They heard shouts coming from Stewart’s apartment. When they knocked, she told them they had the wrong place and tried to shut the door, police said.

Stewart’s 12-year-old daughter had “visible injuries” to her face, cops said. She told officers her mother and older sister beat her with a belt, police said.

Family members tried to prevent them from arresting Stewart, who bit an officer’s finger during the struggle, police said.

Stewart’s lawyer, Amy Rameau, said she was told by a Legal Aid attorney also assigned to the case that the 911 call came from a different apartment on an upper floor — and cops went to Stewart’s door by mistake.

Cops removed the 12-year-old from the apartment and say she refused to get into the police car and kicked the door.

A police spokesman said the child kicked out one of the police van’s windows, with the broken glass cutting the chin of one of the cops. The cops were treated at local hospitals and released.

Denise Stewart was charged with assaulting a police officer, and — along with her oldest daughter, Diamond Stewart, 20, — resisting arrest, acting in a manner injurious to a child and criminal possession of a weapon.

Stewart’s son Kirkland Stewart, 24, was charged with resisting arrest. The 12-year-old was charged with assaulting a police officer, criminal mischief and criminal possession of a weapon.

Diamond Stewart’s 4-year-old son was also pepper sprayed, the family said.

“They manhandled (Stewart) and behaved in a deplorable manner,” Rameau said. “She feels completely mortified. This is about human dignity.”

The city’s Administration for Children’s Services was called to investigate but didn’t find any evidence of neglect, said Rameau.

“There were no injuries to the child as alleged in the complaint,” the lawyer said.

A police spokesman said the incident is under investigation by Internal Affairs.

Source

I had to look up this story on multiple sources because I literally couldn’t believe this actually happened. And for her to be there naked in front of these RANDOM white men who broke into her home, saying that it took her 10 years for her to even let her HUSBAND see her naked body….. I’m devastated.

they maced a four year old a four year old