Another black man shot dead by a white police officer – this time in St Louis

#blacklivesmatter #AntonioMartin #berkeley With another black man being shot dead by a white police officer in St Louis has once again raised the sensitive question of relations between the blacks and whites in America. This time it was 18-year-old Antonio Martin, a black teenager, who was shot dead by a white officer – surveillance footage indicate that Antonio Martin had pulled a gun first.
However, the mayor of the St Louis suburb has said that this case cannot be compared to that of Michael Brown because of the fact that here, the man had pulled the gun first. Hence, it was not the same as the case in Ferguson there the teenage Michael Brown was unarmed as was the case with Eric Garner in Brooklyn.
Protesters had clashed with police in Berkeley and, later, a smaller crowd of protesters gathered at the petrol station where Antonio Martin was shot.
Berkeley Mayor Theodore Hoskins has informed that, unlike Ferguson, here the majority of police officers were black. In Ferguson it was mostly white police force policing over a mostly black population. In order to make his point, he added that the mayor is black, the city manager is black, the finance director is black, and the police chief is black. The police officers in Berkeley are more sensitive.

Black-white divide takes an ugly turn – black man kills two non-black police officers in New York

#NYPDOfficers #Brooklyn #blacklivesmatter A black gunman 28-year-old Ismaaiyl Brinsley has shot two NYPD Officers in Brooklyn – the two officers are Liu Wenjin and Raphael Ramos. They were Asian and Hispanic respectively. The officers were killed while they were on patrol in Brooklyn and the NYPD police chief has said that they were "targeted for their uniform".
Before shooting them, the gunman had indicated on social media that he planned to kill police in retaliation for the death of Eric Garner, a black man who died when white officers tried to arrest him for selling cigarettes in New York and Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, in Ferguson, Missouri.
The grand jury did not indict any of the two police officers involved in the killings and Ismaaiyl Brinsley decided to carry out revenge killings.
After killing the officers in the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, the gunman ran into a subway station where he shot himself. US President Barack Obama, who is currently on holiday in Hawaii, has strongly condemned the killings of the two NYPD officers.
As per reports it seems Brinsley approached the passenger window of a marked police car and opened fire, striking the Officers in the head. The officers were on special patrol doing crime reduction work in the area of Brooklyn. Incidentally, Brinsley had a history of arrests in Georgia for robbery, disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon and his last-known address was in Georgia, but he had some sort of ties to Brooklyn.

Mall of America faces wrath of the blacks who rallied against brutality by white police officers

#blacklivesmatter #mallofamerica It was a group of an estimated 3000 protesters who joined a rally in Mall of America to protest against the brutality of white police officers against the blacks. They chanted ‘black lives matter’.
As a result of the protest rally, a part of the mall, the east side, had to be shut down on one of the busiest days for holiday shopping.
The group was Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and it had over 3,000 people as indicated by the Organizer Mica Grimm. This rally was a part of protests that have been going on nationwide because white police officers were not charged in the death of a number of deaths of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York.
There were no official reports on arrests, but Mica Grimm mentioned about at least five people who had been arrested. It seems half an hour after the beginning of the planned protest, a final warning to disperse was given, and then the police dressed in riot gear began clearing the rotunda.
Incidentally, Mall of America is a commercial retail and entertainment center and not a forum for protests, demonstrations or public debates – this had been announced by the management of the mall before the protest began. In the opinion of Grimm, the protest was a success and, their goal was to bring more attention to these issues - and they had been able to do that. No one can ignore the deaths of the unarmed blacks and the hands of the white police.

The Obamas have faced racial discrimination – it’s not new in America

#blacklivesmatter Looks can deceive and this has been shown again and again – even the President of the US and the First Lady have faced such situations. In an interview with a celebrity weekly magazine, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have revealed their experiences of racism in America.
Michelle Obama had been mistaken for a shop assistant in a Target department store while her husband, the President himself, was mistaken for a waiter at a black-tie gala. He had been also mistaken for a parking attendant and a waiter in the past.
As First Lady Michelle remarked – these sort of incidents happen in the black community, and is to be taken in the regular course of life.
Their observations comes against the backdrop of a national debate about racism and racial profiling in America which is a result of a number of deaths of unarmed black men at the hands of white police officers.
The President went on to add that being mistaken for a waiter at a gala is different from a young man or boy being mistaken for a robber and to be handcuffed. It becomes worse if, by chance, he is walking down the street and is dressed in the way teenagers of today dress.
He said that he and Michelle had been discussing about race with their daughters Sasha and Malia since they were young. They have explained that even though vestiges of slavery no longer exist and things have gotten enormously better, those biases remain.