By Floyd Alvin Galloway
Special to the NNPA from The Arizona Informant

Alexander Wilson, a 16-year- old, was shot and killed by a Department of Public Safety officer near 35th Avenue and Camelback, April 7. According to reports the teen was driving a stolen SUV when he tried to run an officer over who had been following him and his older brother William Brown. Family members dispute the claim Wilson tried to run the officer over and the car was stolen.

“We will prove the car wasn’t stolen,” said his sister Alexis Wilson. “I won’t say Alex was an angel – he was just a boy,” said a distraught Alexis.

“He was very sweet to anybody who came in contact with him,” she explained during a protest in front of the Arizona State Capitol April 10.

Approximately 20 friends and family members marched in front of the Capitol, yelling slogans and demanding justice for the teen that was killed instantly from the gunshot wound to the face. The protestors enter the Executive Tower, demanding a meeting with Governor Jan Brewer to get answers.

Mathew Benson, director of communication, met with the group. April Douglas, an older sister of the Wilsons, told Benson they wanted answers from the governor.

“This officer is on a paid vacation while my brother is dead,” said Douglas.

A DPS vehicle drew the group’s ire when the office pulled up to the capital, igniting strong criticism from the protestors. The officer drove away after a few minutes.

According to reports Wilson was driving a SUV when picked up Brown. He told his brother he got the car from a friend.

Brown said his brother noticed the DPS officer was following them. “He told me we were being followed he was going to pull into the gas station to see if he’s going to go by,” said Brown.

According to reports Wilson had a felony warrant for his arrest for an armed robbery, which may have made him nervous. “He was going to go,” said Brown, but he didn’t get it in gear and revved the engine,” explained Brown.

Brown said the next thing he heard was a shot and his brother’s hand then threw the car into gear. Brown said he tried to grab the steering wheel, the car crashed into a residential brick fence.

Realizing his brother was dead; a frightened Douglas initially jumped out the car and ran. He later turned himself in to Phoenix Police.

“I didn’t know what they were going to do and better to turn myself in.” At Informant press time there have been no charges filed against Brown.

The Phoenix Police Department is investigating the DPS shooting. There were no drugs or alcohol found in the car and a toxicology report is pending.

By Roz Hamlett
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper

Maryland has been the top-rated public school system in the nation for the last five years, but the state’s public school system is also one of the most segregated in the nation, according to a new study.

A recent report “Settle for Segregation or Strive for Diversity? A Defining Moment for Maryland’s Public Schools,” found that an astonishing number of Black students attend public schools in Maryland that are nearly as segregated in 2013 as they were during the peak years of desegregation in the 1980s.

The report, conducted by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA, revealed that more than half of the state’s Black students attended schools with minority enrollments between 90 and 100 percent during the 2010-2011 school year, up from 33 percent in 1989. At the same time, nearly a quarter of Maryland’s Black students attended so-called “apartheid schools” with almost no White students in attendance, up from 19.1 percent in 1989.

“It is clear that the unequal educational opportunities associated with most segregated public classrooms – less experienced teachers, higher teacher turnover, disparities in teaching materials, disparities in technology, disparities in facilities, and disparities in student teacher ratios – are deleterious,” said Lezli Baskerville, President of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.

“The [report] suggests that the lack of comparability in investments in Maryland’s HBCUs as clearly documented by the plaintiffs in the Coalition for Equity and Excellence v. Maryland Higher Education Commission apparently begins in elementary and secondary schools in the state, and continues through its dual and unequal higher education,” said Baskerville, whose organization advocates on behalf of traditionally underserved and under-resourced students.

It is difficult to precisely compare segregation at the K-12 level to that which exists in higher education because of the role that residential segregation plays in the K-12 context and the role that personal choice plays in where a student attends college.

Nevertheless, Brenda Shum, Director of the Equal Opportunities Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law believes there is a strong correlation between limited opportunities in Maryland’s K-12 and limited opportunities at HBCUs in Maryland.

“To the extent that Maryland’s students of color attend racially identifiable schools which are also predominantly poor schools, it is more likely they have fewer educational opportunities at the K-12 level and are less equipped for college,” said Shum.

“The HBCUs which serve those students must expend greater resources for remediation, financial aid, programming and faculty to address ongoing disparities perpetuated by a segregated K-12 system,” she said. “It is not hard to believe that the disadvantages which persist at the HBCUs are fed by the inequities recurring throughout the K-12 system.”

The report states that Maryland, one of 17 states that previously had segregation imposed by law as an official state policy and is a state in which there was historically intense segregation, made a modest effort to desegregate before abandoning this effort. Of those states, Maryland has made less progress than the 16 other states in eliminating dual systems of education.

By Teria Rogers
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper

(NNPA) Community activists and politicians staged an anti-violence demonstration –billed a March for Peace– on April 13 to protest violence and senseless shootings in the city by marching to the Tyler House apartment building, the scene of a drive-by shooting in March that left 13 people wounded.

“Thirteen people got shot about five blocks away and somebody decided to use violence as a tool for getting revenge,” said Joyce Robinson-Paul, ANC Commissioner 5E, as the marchers began to gather near coffee shop in the Bloomingdale neighborhood. “We’re saying stop the violence and get with the peace. It’s going to be a long, hot summer and we’re trying to start early in the spring.”

The “March for Peace” comes on the heels of two recent shooting deaths in the city: 24 year-old Mikal Hudnall on April 12 and 16 year-old Darius Cannon on April 7. Both men were killed in Southeast. Cannon was the first person under 18 to be shot and killed in the District in 2013.

This year the city has reported 19 homicides, a decrease from the 20 homicides reported at this same time in 2012, according to D.C. police statistics. Last year the city recorded 88 homicides for the entire year, the first time homicides dropped below 100 since the 1960’s, according to Homicide Watch D.C., a web site that covers every murder in the District.

While homicides have dropped, violent crime and shootings continue to be frequent occurrences. This year police have reported 557 assaults with dangerous weapons, a decrease from the 584 in 2012 at this time. 2012 overall recorded 2,356 of these violent crimes, an increase from the 2,213 recorded in 2011. (CQ)

The March for Peace organizers say they are worried about homicides, shootings and all violent crimes and want the community to be more vigilant to stem these types of incidents.

“We have to put more focus on responding to these crimes,” said Silas Grant, Jr., march co-organizer and ANC Commissioner 5E. “We felt it important to remind people as we approach the summer that we’re not afraid to be in our own communities. The more that we’re out, the more we can prevent the violence.”

A diverse group of marchers assembled in front of the Big Bear Café on First Street near Rhode Island Avenue N.W. drinking tea and coffee before walking down First Street NW. Several held signs with different messages such as “We have the power to make peace,” and “Real Men Make Peace in Our Streets.”

Among the marchers were Council members Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), David Grosso (D-At-Large) and Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5) who said the city can do more to help communities struggling with violent crime.

“We’ve got resources in the city, particularly given how flush our coffers are with money, to address some of the shortcomings that exist in these communities,” said McDuffie. “It’s about aligning the public resources with the need that exists in the community. We need to do a better job of that.”

Community activist and march co-0organizer Tony Lewis Jr. agrees with McDuffie that elected officials are not adequately addressing crime.

“Especially in light of the response when 13 people got shot in our city and the mayor doesn’t even respond,” Lewis said. “He just said nothing and I think that has further implications about the value of life in communities like Tyler House.”

As the crowd rounded the corner of North Capitol and M Street NW nearing the front of Tyler House, they stopped to observe the spot where the shooting occurred.

In the early morning hours of March 11 the Fur nightclub near the intersection of Patterson and North Capitol Street NE was letting out. Several people had crossed North Capitol and were standing outside of the Tyler House apartment building. Two cars speeding south on North Capitol Street opened fire on people standing outside the building and 13 were shot. D.C. Police charged Craig Steve Wilson, 19, of Southeast with assault with attempt to kill in the mass shooting.

As the marchers walked up the busy North Capitol Street past the Tyler House, they held signs that read “Honk For Peace In Our Streets.” Some cars driving by started to honk frantically in noisy displays of support.

A few of the marchers, including Deneira Owens, 28, brought along their children. She said she also feels it is time for the blame game on city crime to end.

“Before anything, I’m a mom. I want peaceful streets for my sons,” said Owens, a mother of twin nine-year olds. “We gotta get to a point where we’re all working together to solve the problems and stop pointing fingers at who’s to blame for the problem.”

Did police use excessive force in containing distraught family members?

By Gregory W. Wright
Special to the NNPA from The Miami Times

The police still have no answers in the recent shooting of Brandon Walker, 25. But family and community members are incensed after grief turned into chaos when police fought with the victim’s distraught relatives who had rushed onto the crime scene.

Walker, had been shot multiple times and died on the sidewalk beside his bicycle in front of an Overtown apartment [2191 NW Third Ave.] a week ago Tuesday. But a video shot from a Total Traffic Network chopper showed that as his two brothers, Anthony and Antwan Walker, charged the crime scene assumedly to uncover their brother’s body, they were met with the blows of homicide detective Fernando Bosch and other City of Miami police officers intent on keeping the crime scene intact. In the end, even the victim’s mother, Vernita Mincey, was handcuffed and arrested, along with her sons, when she tried to lift the tarp to see her son’s body.

Activist Georgia Ayers says her phone has been ringing ever since with calls from Overtown residents that say they are angry and fed up. So, Ayers, 85, invited Miami Police Chief Manuel Orosa to her home to discuss the situation and the possible community backlash. In their meeting, Orosa first cleared up earlier erroneous reports that Bosch’s actions had been cleared as justifiable by the Miami Police Department. Orosa explained that there was indeed an active Internal Affairs investigation currently underway into the incident.

“I can assure you that there will be a thorough investigation, and if the officer was wrong, he will be punished,” Orosa said. “I am not afraid to punish people — my record has shown that.”

But according to Priscilla Dames, chairperson of the Miami-Dade Black Affairs Advisory Board and a specialist in conflict resolution, the problem goes far beyond a punch thrown by one officer.

“There is disrespect for our Black males,” she said. “And I just don’t think the police handled the situation properly, especially in handcuffing and arresting the two brothers of the victim.”

Both men were subsequently charged with “battery on a police officer.”

And despite Orosa’s promise for a thorough investigation, Dames says, “We cannot continue to have investigation, after investigation, after investigation. At some point, there have to be repercussions.”

The Black Affairs Advisory Board has sent a letter to Miami Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones, requesting a meeting with the Commissioner, Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado and Orosa to discuss the incident and potential damage to community relations.

Allegations have been made that Walker was in the area conducting illegal transactions. But his family vehemently denied such claims.

“People are losing focus because they are angry at the police,” Mincey said. “I’m going to go after the police officer, there’s no joke about that. For two days both of my sons were in jail. For right now, if you want to help us, help us by going to the police with any information you have about who shot and killed my son.”

Anthony Walker, a minister at New Jerusalem Primitive Baptist Church, who received several punches to the face from Bosch, said: “Don’t think that we’re sleeping on the situation, because we are not. But right now our focus is on working with the police to find the killer. A little information is better than no information. And for the record, Brandon wasn’t in Overtown to sell drugs. He was there to see his six-month-old son. His son was his heart.”

If you have any information regarding the murder of Brandon Walker, you may call the Miami Police Department, (305) 603-6640, or Crime-Stoppers at (305) 471-TIPS (8477). Callers may remain anonymous and may be eligible for a cash reward.