But imagine if you lived in a country where the color of your skin got you killed for driving, jogging, sleeping, yelling, parking, babysitting, sitting in a van, selling CDs, selling cigarettes, opening the door, walking at night, wearing a hoodie at night, holding a toy gun, lying on the ground, being homeless, being in a dark stairwell, holding a cell phone, having a broken taillight, exercising horses, having a bottle of pills, shopping at Walmart, holding a BB gun at Walmart, holding a phone in your own backyard, eating ice cream in your own house, and shopping, you would say, “That is a lawless country.”
This country couldn’t be any more ridiculous. You literally can’t do ANYTHING in America as a Black person without risking arrests. Freedom is nothing more than a punchline.
Ontario Superior Court Judge Joseph Di Luca delivered a verdict today in the case of an off-duty Toronto police officer and his brother, Const. Michael Theriault and Christian Theriault, who were accused of beating Dafonte Miller on December 28, 2016.
During the trial, Miller, 19 at the time of the incident, told the court that more than three years ago, in the early hours of the morning, he was walking with his friends in Whitby, Ontario when two men standing in a garage began questioning him. Miller said the two men started to chase him between homes before they eventually began beating him. He said Michael used a metal pipe, while Christian used his hands and feet.
According to Miller’s lawyers, his left eye was entirely dislodged and split into four, leading him to lose his ability to see out of this eye entirely and he also had trouble seeing out of his right eye. He also suffered injuries including a broken orbital bone, bruised ribs, broken nose and a fractured wrist.
.In a virtual court proceeding Friday morning, the judge found Michael Theriault guilty of assault, but not aggravated assault.
He was also found not guilty of attempting to obstruct justice in connection to the case. Christian Theriault, meanwhile, was found not guilty on both counts.
"A few weeks ahead of the slated return of most U.S. sports, pro women’s softball held its first game in Melbourne, Florida this week. Shortly after the game ended, every member of the Texas-based Scrap Yard Fast Pitch quit the team. Every single one.
At some point during the game, the team’s general manager Connie May tweeted a picture of the players standing during the national anthem. The tweet tagged Donald Trump, declaring, “Everyone respecting the FLAG!”
According to the New York Times, the team returned to their locker room after the game to find a bunch of texts and notifications about the picture, which was posted without their knowledge or consent to promote a political message they say was not their intention.
May’s implication is that by standing for the anthem, the team is showing opposition (or at the very least, indifference) to the Black Lives Matter movement, making it a sort of anti-protest protest in itself. And the team made it clear they were not okay with that message.
Only two of the team’s 18 players are black. Kelsey Stewart (featured in the header image) didn’t play in Monday’s game and was the one to send a screenshot of the tweet to her teammates, along with the message: “I am not going to ever be a part of this organization whatsoever.” Kiki Stokes led the walkout after May doubled down on the tweet after the game.
The Undefeated’s Sean Hurd writes:
"When May was brought into the locker room following the game, players expected an explanation. According to Stokes, May instead tried to justify what she had posted and described how uncomfortable she had felt. When May then mentioned the phrase “All Lives Matter,” Stokes had heard enough and walked out of the locker room."
Stewart and Stokes were backed up by the entirety of their team.
“Moments later, her teammates took off their jerseys and followed her,” writes Hurd. “According to Stokes, every player in the locker room was done after that moment. They would no longer play for May or the Scrap Yard organization.”
“The more we talked about it, the angrier I got, and I finally just said, ‘I’m done, I’m not going to wear this jersey,’” Cat Osterman told the Times. “We were used as pawns in a political post, and that’s not OK.”
Additionally, the USSSA Pride, who the Scrap Yard Dawgs played in Monday’s game, has suspended the rest of their planned games in solidarity. (The two were the teams on each other’s schedules, so presumably, this means the USSSA is refusing to win by default.)
These players are sacrificing a lot to take this stand. Natasha Watley, the first Black player to play with USA Softball at the Olympics, told The Undefeated, “It’s powerful that not one of them stood back and said this doesn’t really affect me, I’d rather play,” adding, “We’re already getting paid pennies and now we’re going to get paid nothing to stand up for this. That’s how much it matters.”
The now-former Scrap Yard players have said that May’s statements don’t represent them and they’ve crafted a statement to explain what they do stand for.
“This is us,” it reads, via a series of images the teammates have posted to their personal accounts. “Awareness. Empowerment. Unity.”"
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https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/05/gordon-parks-part-one-review-alison-jacques-london
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