The Claudia Kishi Club | Official Trailer
Asian American creatives pay passionate tribute to the iconic, stereotype-busting “Baby-Sitters Club” character in this heartfelt documentary short.
Rickey Smiley’s daughter, 19, recovering after alleged road rage shooting in Houston
The 19-year-old daughter of comedian and syndicated radio host Rickey Smiley is currently recovering after being shot during an alleged road rage incident.
Smiley posted an emotional video Monday in which he said his daughter, Aaryn, was one of a group of people wounded in Houston over the July 4th weekend.
“I’m so mad right now, I don’t know what to do,” said Smiley, who hosts the “Rickey Smiley Show Morning Show” and is one of the stars of “DISH Nation.” “The reason I’m on Facebook Live is cause I just want you to see that it’s raw and it’s real. I want you to see what parents have to deal with when their children become victims of gun violence.”
Investigators told CNN affiliate KTRK that following an altercation at a separate location, a suspect pulled up to a car at a red light on Houston’s south side and opened fire.
Smiley’s daughter was in a different vehicle at the light, according to investigators, and was caught in crossfire.
Three other victims transported themselves to a hospital and all are expected to survive their injuries.
The radio host tweeted that his daughter had successfully made it out of surgery.
“My daughter made it out of her operation, ” he tweeted. “She’s doing great!!Thank you for your prayers!!!”
Aaryn Smiley, who turned 19 days before the shooting, posted a photo of a blood drenched seat in a vehicle on Instagram.
“This is the most terrifying thing that has ever happened to me,” the caption read. “I won’t be out of the hospital for a while nor will I be able to walk for a while due to nerve damage.”
She also shared an image that appeared to have been taken from a hospital bed.
“[T]he fact that the bullets that went thru my legs were armored riffled [sic] bullets made to go through anything (how they got through the car) but the one [that] would have hit me in the head was not that kind and ended up lodged in the car. God,” a note accompanying the picture read. “Words can’t describe how grateful i am to be alive right now.”
The teen also posted about being unable to see her parents while hospitalized because of the Covid-19 pandemic, writing that she was “terrified.”
The elder Smiley posted a photo of himself wearing a mask, writing, “I respect the rules.”
“Can’t see my daughter @ryn.smiley because of #covid19… it’s getting dark and I’m not leaving this park until I lay eyes on her,” he wrote. “#Houston (Thanks to the @HoustonPolice for being so awesome and kind to us.)”
Photo Credit: twitter
Man steals safe containing $20K, citizenship papers from home being fumigated in Ventura
A man was caught on home video last month stealing $20,000 and personal items from a home in Ventura that was being fumigated, police said Tuesday.
The incident occurred about 1 a.m. June 25 at a home along the 9500 block of Las Cruses Street.
The man allegedly broke into the home and stole a safe containing the cash, citizenship papers, jewelry and antiques, police said in a tweet.
Authorities also shared two images of the man, apparently from home surveillance video.
The man is seen wearing a heavy-duty mask to protect himself from the fumes inside the house.
Anyone with information about the incident can call the Ventura Police Department at 805-339-4416.
Photo Credit: ktla.com
Blackout Tuesday highlights black-owned businesses, spending power of African Americans
Tuesday is #BlackOutDay2020, when many Black Americans plan to showcase their combined economic might by refusing to spend any money on anything at all. Those who have to buy something are being encouraged to spend their money at a Black-owned business.
Social media personality and activist Calvin Martyr has spent the last two months promoting the campaign after raising the idea in a video that has been shared thousands of time on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Major companies like Procter & Gamble and Cisco Systems, organizations like the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta and celebrities like rapper T.I. have expressed support for the initiative on social media.
What is BlackoutDay2020?
The objective of #BlackoutDay2020 is to force politicians and the business world to end institutionally racist policies and practices that have led to the deaths and marginalization of Black Americans.
Black Americans spent more than $1 trillion on consumer goods in 2018 alone, according to Nielsen.
Martyr has likened the initiative to the year-long Montgomery bus boycott of 1955, when Black Alabamans who were legally required to sit at the back of city buses refused to pay to ride them until they were allowed to sit wherever they wanted.
“The only way we’re going to get change is when they fear hurting us like we fear hurting them,” Martyr said in a May video introducing the idea.
Is it still relevant?
The #BlackOutDay2020 campaign started in early May following the February 23 vigilante killing of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia, and the March 13 police shooting death of Breonna Taylor in Louisville. It was introduced about a month before the George Floyd tragedy that sparked a wave of civic, political, and economic action addressing anti-Black institutional racism.
Since then, city government officials in Minneapolis, New York and Los Angeles, among others, have introduced proposals to defund or restructure the police departments. President Trump has signed a controversial executive order on police reform measures. And major corporations have set aside billions of dollars for social justice causes in addition to changing some of their own systemically racist practices.
Still, on Friday, Martyr suggested many of the actions politicians and companies have taken in the wake of Floyd’s death don’t go far enough.
“I don’t care about BLM painted across streets, I don’t care about syrup, rice or bandaids,” Martyr wrote on his Facebook page Friday. “What I DO CARE ABOUT: #JUSTICE for BREONNA TAYLOR; #JUSTICE for VANESSA GUILLEN; #JUSTICE for Elijah McClain; Tearing down systemic strongholds built to maintain privilege for some and keep others in bondage (mass incarceration, poverty, redlining wage gaps, education, healthy food options etc) … Y’all can have all that other stuff.”
Photo Credit: The Blackout Coalition
Video of Schenectady officer kneeling on man’s neck sparks outrage
SCHENECTADY — City police have launched a probe into an incident that resulted in an officer kneeling on a man’s neck while being taken into custody on Monday morning.
Yugeshwar Gaindarpersaud said he was confronted by city police investigating a report that his neighbor’s tires had been slashed.
Gaindarpersaud, 31, said he told the officer to provide evidence, turned around and walked away.
That’s when he said the unidentified officer allegedly threw him to the ground before kneeling on his neck.
“His whole body weight was smashing my head into the concrete,” Gaindarpersaud said. “I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move.”
After being placed into the patrol car, Gaindarpersaud said he blacked out.
“When I woke up, I was in Ellis Hospital,” said Gaindarpersaud, who displayed abrasions on his face, leg and arm to The Daily Gazette ahead of a protest held outside of police headquarters on Monday.
A 22-second video clip shot by his father, Jaindra Gaindarpersaud, and posted to social media reveals the officer kneeling on his neck while Jaindra pleaded with him to stop.
“You got the foot on his head,” Jaindra said. “You’ve got the foot on his head.”
The officer responded, “Go back inside now” and told Jaindra to “back up.”
“He stopped breathing and he was not moving,” Jaindra Gaindarpersaud said. “And when he pinned him to the ground, he was not moving anymore, so I said, ‘He’s going to die just like George Floyd.’”
Jaindra Gaindarpersaud said the brief clip is part of a longer segment he estimated was two or three minutes of an encounter that lasted at least 10 minutes.
City police confirmed officers responded to an ongoing neighbor dispute.
According to city police, Gaindarpersaud “pulled away from the officer and fled on foot into the backyard of his residence.”
“A brief foot chase and struggle ensued during which the officer lost his radio and asked a nearby witness to call police,” police said in a statement. “Additional responding officers arrived on scene and were able to assist the original officer and ultimately place the male into handcuffs.”
The incident is under investigation by the department’s Office of Professional Standards.
The department is committed to “fair, impartial, and transparent investigations,” said city police, who declined further comment.
“As soon as the investigation has concluded or more information can be released in regards to the incident, it will be made available.”
Schenectady NAACP said the incident is one of “grave concern” and is calling for a thorough investigation as well as a review of body camera footage.
“The Schenectady NAACP stands against the use of excessive force and tactics that cause extreme physical harm or death by the Schenectady Police Department and all law enforcement,” said Schenectady NAACP President Dr. Odo Butler. “We demand that all citizens be treated equally regardless of their race or ethnicity. We are in a critical time, and any inexcusable behavior by law enforcement must be addressed immediately.”
The video rocketed through social media on Monday, drawing instant comparison by activists to the death of Floyd, who was pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer for nearly nine minutes before dying on May 25, an action that prompted international protests and a national reckoning on race and police accountability.
The Gaindarpersauds spoke outside of a protest at the city police station on Monday, marking the second time in three days activists have congregated downtown to advocate for police accountability and to denounce systemic racism.
Brandon “Bambino” Brown usually monitors demonstrations as part of the Outsiders, the protesters’ security force quietly watching for agitators and disruptive forces, and seldom speaks publicly.
But on Monday, Brown felt compelled to speak out, noting he lives just blocks from the Gaindarpersauds and was roused out of bed by police sirens.
“All of us as a community need to stand up and do something about this,” Brown said.
Schenectady has seen frequent protests since Floyd’s death last month, all of them led by All of Us, a local grassroots organization.
Barely a week ago, the owner of an embattled ice cream stand, David Elmendorf, was arrested after allegedly pointing a pellet gun at activists demonstrating against racist text messages and comments they say he made toward Black people.
All of Us co-founder Jamaica Miles pointed at the ongoing issues in the community. “We shouldn’t have to tell these stories again,” Miles said. “We shouldn’t have to listen to another story again from our community members about how police use brutality against the members of this community.”
Following a peaceful protest that turned violent in Albany on May 30, a demonstration in Schenectady the following day was peaceful after city Police Chief Eric Clifford took a knee and marched with protesters, an act that each side acknowledged averted tensions and paved the way for a dialogue.
Organizer Legacy Casanova doesn’t think Monday’s incident is a setback, but shows more needs to be done to bring about meaningful change.
“It’s a blatant slap in the face,” Casanova said. “They know they’re supposed to be out there protecting and to keep doing these antics is outrageous.”
REFORMS DEMANDED
Advocates for police reform won statewide victories last week with a series of measures, including the rollback of a state law used by localities to block release of police disciplinary records. There was also an executive order signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordering police departments in the state to reform operations with community input.
But for the past several weeks, local dialogue has been at a stalemate:
All of Us has presented city police with 13 demands, including diverting seized drug assets back into the community, automatic firing of police officers and corrections officers for racist texts, emails and social media posts, as well as the abolishment of ticket-writing incentive programs that they contend disproportionately ensnare minorities in the criminal justice system.
But Clifford on Friday said the department will not implement any changes until community conversations are held with a new leadership working group, which has yet to be identified.
The state and city banned chokeholds last month. The city’s executive order also included “knee-to-neck” holds, a technique the officer appeared to use on Monday.
All of Us additionally wants city police to ban “strangleholds” and hogties.
Schenectady NAACP called for the following reforms:
- “A ban on the use of knee holds as an acceptable practice for police officers.
- “The Use of Force Continuum ensuring that there are at least six levels of steps, with clear rules on escalation.
- “Recertification credentials may be denied for police officers if determined that their use of deadly force was unwarranted by federal guidelines.
- “A Citizen’s Review Board with independent investigative and subpoena powers to build public confidence.”
Following Floyd’s death on May 25, Clifford condemned the technique used by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
“I haven’t seen one person watch that video and reach a different conclusion than I’ve reached,” Clifford said at the time.
City Councilwoman Marion Porterfield said she wanted to review the full clip before making a judgment on how or if the officer should be disciplined.
But she said placing a knee on a suspect’s neck should be banned.
“That’s just not an acceptable practice to restrain someone,” Porterfield said.
Jaindra Gaindarpersaud said, “These officers have to stop, or they have to get fired. We don’t need officers like them. We need officers to protect us — not to kill us, and they kill many people already and they’re still trying. This has to stop.”
Protesters on Monday marched to the back entrance of police headquarters and chanted, “Get your knees off our necks.”
Several demanded an audience with police brass.
During the protest a half-dozen officers stood and passively watched and did not engage the crowd, which numbered roughly 100.
Protesters will again gather at City Hall Monday, July 13.
Photo Credit: dailygazette.com/
Florida shooting that left 3 dead, including a 13-year-old girl, started over a dog dispute
(WPBF/CNN/Meredith) — Florida police say a shooting that left three people dead, including a 13-year-old girl, started with a court dispute over a dog.
Port St. Lucie police say the suspect and the victims were neighbors who were having a dispute about a dog that was deemed dangerous in court earlier Monday.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Ken Mascera said after everyone came home from court, the suspect armed himself and went into the victims’ house.
“If you heard this call come over the radio, it would make the hair on your neck stand up — a little girl calls in saying ‘there’s someone shooting in our house, I think my parents are dead, I think my family is dead,’” Mascera said.
When police responded, they found an adult male dead and a 13-year-old girl critically injured. She later died at the hospital. Two others were able to escape the house but were taken to the hospital. The extent of their injuries is unclear.
Officers encountered the suspect inside the victims’ home. They exchanged gunfire with the suspect. One officer was injured, and the suspect was killed. It is unclear if the suspect killed himself or was killed by police.
The officer who was shot is expected to survive.
A neighbor said he heard the gunshots but thought they were fireworks because he never expected something like this to happen in their neighborhood.
“Nothing like this has ever happened in the last 20 years. It’s a great neighborhood. Something as crazy as this happening over somebody getting emotional over a dog, is unheard of,” Charles D’Agata said.
Assistant Port St. Lucie Police Chief Richard Del Toro agreed that the shooting was uncharacteristic for the neighborhood.
“It’s just shocking and it’s just tragic. It’s not characteristic for this neighborhood or the city but we are going to do everything we can to find out all the reasons why,” Del Toro said.
Port St. Lucie police are now leading the homicide investigation.
Port St. Lucie is located on Florida’s Atlantic coast, about 125 southeast of Orlando.
Photo Credit: kmov.com
Home Depot ‘Karen’ refuses to wear mask because of ‘white power’
An Illinois woman said she believes in “white power” while explaining why she wasn’t wearing a face mask at a Home Depot, video shows.
The woman, identified by cops as 54-year-old Teri A. Hill, allegedly got enraged when another shopper reminded her to keep her own mask on while complaining to an employee Friday that too many customers weren’t wearing face coverings at a store location in McHenry.
“You know what she did?” shocked fellow shopper Sydney Waters, 34, wrote on Facebook. “She posted up. Told me I wasn’t going to tell her what to f–king do. Then she took her mask all the way off, put it in her pocket and let me now she was going to spit & cough on me.”
Hill then said she didn’t need to comply with the store’s rules due to the color of her skin, video of the encounter posted onto Facebook by Waters shows.
“You’re disrespectful to everyone else in this store,” Waters told Hill. “The entitlement is disgusting.”
“Yes I am entitled,” Hill replied, video shows. “I’m white, I’m a woman.”
Waters, who is also white, then playfully welcomed Hill to “privilege” before asking her why she felt so special, video shows.
“What does you being white have to do with you being able to get your way?” Waters asked.
“Because I’m a white woman,” Hill replied, video shows. “That’s what happens, I believe in white power.”
A fight between the pair ensued and police later arrested Hill at the store on charges of battery and disorderly conduct, the Northwest Herald reports.
Both women had minor injuries in the dust-up, but neither sought medical care, police said.
Hill, of McHenry, was taken into custody after investigators spoke to witnesses at the store and took a look at Waters’ video, the newspaper reports.
Hill, who has been released from custody, could not be reached for comment Monday, according to the Northwest Herald.
Waters, of Johnsburg, was not charged in the fight. She also reportedly accused Hill of ripping off her mask as they wrestled on the ground.
“I’m not a spring chicken anymore – I have bruises everywhere,” Waters told the newspaper. “My shoulder is hurt. Nothing’s broken.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/07/home-depot-karen-refuses-to-wear-mask-because-of-white-power/
Photo Credit: nypost.com
Florida teen went to large church party two weeks before dying of coronavirus
A Florida teenager who died of the coronavirus attended a party at a church with 100 others just two weeks before her death, a report said Monday.
Carsyn Leigh Davis, 17, of Fort Myers, was at the church function last month where “She did not wear a mask [and] social distancing was not followed,” according to the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office report on her death.
The teen, who had several preexisting conditions, died on June 23 after testing positive for COVID-19.
The medical examiner’s report, obtained by the Fort Myers News-Press, details how the girl’s family treated her at home, with unproven drugs, for nearly a week before taking her to the hospital.
She had struggled with a number of health issues over the years, including a rare nervous-system disorder that resolved when she was five, obesity and an auto-immune disorder, the report states.
Her mother, Carole Brunton Davis, also stated in a Facebook post that her daughter was a cancer survivor, the News-Press previously reported.
The medical examiner found that the girl’s nurse mom and her father, a physician assistant, gave her azithromycin — an antibiotic being studied as a potential COVID-19 treatment — as a protective measure against the virus, the News-Press reported.
On June 13, a couple of days after the church event, the girl developed a headache, sinus pressure, and mild cough, which the family assumed was the result of a sinus infection, the report states.
Then on June 19, the teen’s mom noticed that she “looked gray” while sleeping — and gave her an unspecified dose of hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug hailed by some, including President Trump, as a possible treatment for COVID-19.
The FDA has warned people not to use the medication outside of supervised hospital settings because of possible side effects.
Earlier this month, the agency yanked its emergency use authorization for the drug as a treatment for the virus in hospitals, citing a lack of evidence it worked and that the risks outweighed any potential benefits.
The parents then tried putting the teen on an oxygen tank used by her grandfather, who has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
They then finally took her to Gulf Coast Medical Center in south Fort Myers. The teen was transferred to The Golisano Children’s Hospital, which confirmed that she had COVID-19.
At the hospital, her parents opted for her to receive a plasma treatment, refusing to allow her to be intubated. That didn’t work, and the girl was later intubated anyway, according to the report.
She was later transferred to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, where she died.
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/06/florida-teen-attended-church-party-two-weeks-before-covid-19-death/
Photo Credit: NIAID-RML via AP
Philly bar owner pulls gun on black man after social distance dispute
A Philadelphia bar owner seated outside a nearby restaurant on Sunday was caught on camera pulling a gun on a black man who denounced the patrons for their lack of social distancing.
The tense encounter unfolded after the unidentified passerby stopped his bike near Nick’s Roast Beef and began calling out the customers who were dining outdoors, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“Social distancing! No one is wearing a mask!” the unidentified man yelled out, witness Liz Krieger, 34, who was seated at the eatery, told the newspaper.
Customers shouted at the man to leave and Jamie Atlig, who owns the nearby Infusion Lounge, got up to confront him, the report said.
The black man yelled “MAGA privilege” at Atlig, who shot back, “Trump 2020!,” according to Krieger.
Atlig then pulled out his gun, prompting some customers, including Krieger, to rush to the black man’s defense.
“Put it the f–k away,” a woman could be heard on video telling Atlig.
“He’s doing nothing. He’s doing f—ing nothing. He had a f—ing bike lock,” she continues, according to the video, which was posted to Twitter by an intern of Philadelphia City Councilman Isaiah Thomas.
As quickly as the confrontation escalated, Krieger said, within seconds, Atlig put his gun away.
Krieger told the Philadelphia Inquirer that other customers screamed that the black man had a gun, when in actuality, she said, it was the man’s bike lock.
Robert Gamburg, a lawyer for Atlig, told the newspaper his client is licensed to carry a gun and took it out after the man “reached behind his back for an object.”
“He’s a business owner and he was being threatened,” Gamburg said. “Mr. Atlig unholstered his licensed firearm, defused the situation, and sat back down.”
Krieger disputes that account, telling the paper the man only took out his bike lock after Atlig pulled out his gun.
“A man had a gun pulled on him for speaking the truth. We weren’t social distancing,” Krieger said.
“He was completely in the right to be yelling at us — and if I hadn’t been there, this is how black people are shot and it’s claimed later that he had a bike lock on him and people thought it was a gun.”
Philadelphia police are probing the incident.
Thomas, who also shared the video to Twitter, wrote, “After a weekend of too much gun violence, more guns is not the answer.
“We need more solutions before we have more problems! #EnoughIsEnough.”
via: https://nypost.com/2020/07/06/philly-bar-owner-pulls-gun-on-man-after-social-distance-dispute/
Photo Credit: Twitter
Bus driver beaten by passengers refusing to wear face masks left brain-dead
A French bus driver was savagely beaten by a group of passengers who refused to wear face masks — an attack that left him brain-dead, according to reports.
Philippe Monguillot, 58, confronted the passengers who were not complying with a rule that requires face masks on public transportation when they boarded without tickets around 7 p.m. Sunday in Bayonne, French outlet Le Parisien reported.
“They just assumed they could all get on and do what they want, but the driver had to do his job,” a law enforcement source told the Daily Mail reported.
He was dragged off the bus onto the platform, where he was kicked and beaten by the group before they escaped, according to the reports.
“When he stood up to them, a very unpleasant argument developed, and voices were raised, and then the driver was attacked when everybody spilled out onto the bus platform,” the source told the outlet.
Monguillot was left unconscious and brought to the hospital, where he was determined to be brain-dead, Le Parisien reported.
His wife, Veronique, said the couple’s lives have been “destroyed” by the violent attack.
“He can’t leave us like this, he was going to be 59 years old soon,” she told Le Parisien. “No, you don’t do this over a bus ticket. You don’t kill for free like this.”
Five people face charges in connection with the grisly assault, but their identities haven’t been released, the outlet reported.
Bayonne Mayor Claude Olive condemned the attack as “barbaric” and said the city was working to improve safety for bus drivers.
“Philippe was a wonderful person who should have been protected,” Olive said.
Photo Credit: Facebook