National

Eighth Grade La. Student Arrested for Throwing Skittles on Bus

Published

9 years ago

May 21, 2015

Oakland Post

(Courtesy of Shuttershock)

by Courtney Jacobs
Special to the NNPA from the Afro-American Newspaper

An African-American eighth-grader was recently arrested for throwing Skittles on a bus in Louisiana.

According to online news site Vocativ, a bus driver transporting students in Louisiana’s Jefferson Parish School District told a group of youths to stop throwing Skittles on the bus, but they continued anyway. The next day, an eighth grader present during the earlier him with “interference with an educational facility” and battery.

As the officer removed the boy in handcuffs, students and faculty heard the officer say he would “beat the f— out of” him, or to have his son, who is the same age as the student, do it, Vocativ.

After reportedly spending six days in juvenile detention facility, the youth saw a judge, who remarked, “Am I to get this right? Are we really here about Skittles?”

The boy’s mother has removed the youth from the school over the incident.

The arrest was the latest in a series of confrontations between police and youths in the Jefferson Parish School District, the state’s second-largest school district, which have drawn charges of racial discrimination.

According to a report by the Southern Poverty Law Center, police officers are making unlawful arrests of students for walking in the hallway without a pass, talking back to administrators, having cell phones on campus—but not using them—and failing to follow the school’s dress code. Eighty percent of the students arrested were African-American, although they only make up 40 percent of the school’s population.

“We are aware of and are very concerned by these allegations,” the school district said in a statement. “We pledge to work closely with those agencies involved to quickly resolve any issues that we identify. We are committed to ensuring that our students have a safe, healthy environment and are treated equably at all schools.”

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Barbara Lee

Congresswoman Barbara Lee Issues Statement on Deaths of Humanitarian Aid Volunteers in Gaza 

On April 2, a day after an Israeli airstrike erroneously killed seven employees of World Central Kitchen (WCK), a humanitarian organization delivering aid in the Gaza Strip, a statement was release by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA-12). “This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Congresswoman Barbara Lee

By California Black Media

“This is a devastating and avoidable tragedy. My prayers go to the families and loved ones of the selfless members of the World Central Kitchen team whose lives were lost,” said Lee.

The same day, it was confirmed by the organization that the humanitarian aid volunteers were killed in a strike carried out by Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Prior to the incident, members of the team had been travelling in two armored vehicles marked with the WCF logo and they had been coordinating their movements with the IDF. The group had successfully delivered 10 tons of humanitarian food in a deconflicted zone when its convoy was struck.

“This is not only an attack against WCK. This is an attack on humanitarian organizations showing up in the direst situations where food is being used as a weapon of war. This is unforgivable,” said Erin Gore, chief executive officer of World Central Kitchen.

The seven victims included a U.S. citizen as well as others from Australia, Poland, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Palestine.

Lee has been a vocal advocate for a ceasefire in Gaza and has supported actions by President Joe Biden to airdrop humanitarian aid in the area.

“Far too many civilians have lost their lives as a result of Benjamin Netanyahu’s reprehensible military offensive. The U.S. must join with our allies and demand an immediate, permanent ceasefire – it’s long overdue,” Lee said.