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Calm after the Racist Storm, Buffalo Shootings Cease Following Massacre
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Statistics show that shootings in the city climbed exponentially in 2020 and the first half of 2021. While it has slowed since approximately 90 people were shot in Buffalo in 2022, thirty of those victims, including ten at Tops Supermarket, died. Officials said the number is more than the 10-year average of about 62 people.
The post Calm after the Racist Storm, Buffalo Shootings Cease Following Massacre first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
Mayor Byron Brown to Appear with Black Press
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Eight days before the self-avowed white supremacist Payton Gendron’s mass shooting in Buffalo, detectives laid out a hoard of weaponry that they seized in less than a week.
The weapons included ghost guns, automatic pistols, assault rifles, and revolvers confiscated in various parts of the Queen City.
The Buffalo News reported that detectives had so many guns that “they ran out of room on the table and went to get a second table.”
Law enforcement officers filled that table while also displaying a plastic bag filled with a quarter kilo of fentanyl and another bag containing 4 ounces of crack cocaine.
The racially motivated murders at Tops Supermarket on May 14 punctuated a year in which officials said at least one shooting had occurred each weekend.
Perhaps, the Tops tragedy even proved too much for those most responsible for sowing the seeds of violence in Buffalo, New York’s second-largest city.
“Quiet is as kept; we haven’t had one shooting since the tragedy,” Sharon Linstedt, Communications and community relations coordinator, said in a telephone conversation.
While Linstedt quietly – and almost reluctantly – agreed that the inactivity represented a sort of a silver lining, she said she hoped people would come together and stand for peace.
“Yes, hopefully, it is not just in the moment,” Linstedt remarked.
Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia said his officers are focusing on guns. “What drives the violence is guns,” Gramaglia stated during a news conference before the Tops shooting.
“We’re getting a lot of weaponry off the streets.
He noted that the city’s police Intelligent Unit now works closely with the Erie County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics and Intelligence Unit, State Police outfits, including the Community Stabilization Unit and Violent Gang and Narcotic Enforcement Team, the District Attorney’s Narcotics and Intelligence Unit, and the FBI Safe Streets Task Force and other federal agencies.
“We’re going after the trigger pullers and the gun traffickers,” Gramaglia declared.
Statistics show that shootings in the city climbed exponentially in 2020 and the first half of 2021.
While it has slowed since approximately 90 people were shot in Buffalo in 2022, thirty of those victims, including ten at Tops Supermarket, died.
Officials said the number is more than the 10-year average of about 62 people.
Brown, who has served as mayor since 2006, called Buffalo a resilient community.
“This community has been through a lot. But, before the pandemic, Buffalo has been going through a renaissance,” Brown stated during a recent national television appearance.
“We’re a mid-sized American city of over 278,000 people. And this part of the city, 80% African American but diverse with people of many different backgrounds living in this community, we are certainly saddened that someone drove from hundreds of miles away, someone not from this community that did not know this community that came here to take as many Black lives as possible, who did this in a willful, premeditated fashion, planning this.
He continued:
“But we are a strong community, and we will keep moving forward. This is a community that is experiencing development. People have been hoping and waiting for investment and growth, and opportunity. “We are beginning to see that in this community, in all parts of the city, and we won’t let that progress stop. We won’t let hateful ideology stop the progress that we are seeing and experiencing in the city of Buffalo.”
The post Calm after the Racist Storm, Buffalo Shootings Cease Following Massacre first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Born on September 4, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, activist Ramona Edelin’s early years were marked by a commitment to education and social justice. According to her HistoryMakers biography, after graduating from Fisk University with a Bachelor’s degree in 1967, she pursued further studies at the University of East Anglia in England. She earned her master’s degree before completing her Ph.D. at Boston University in 1981.
The post IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Once upon a time, Black Americans were simply known as colored people, or Negroes. That is until Ramona Edelin came along. The activist, renowned for her pivotal roles in advancing civil rights, education reform, and community empowerment, died at her D.C. residence last month at the age of 78. Her death, finally confirmed this week by Barnaby Towns, a communications strategist who collaborated with Dr. Edelin, was attributed to cancer.
Born on September 4, 1945, in Los Angeles, California, Edelin’s early years were marked by a commitment to education and social justice. According to her HistoryMakers biography, after graduating from Fisk University with a Bachelor’s degree in 1967, she pursued further studies at the University of East Anglia in England. She earned her master’s degree before completing her Ph.D. at Boston University in 1981.
Edelin’s contributions to academia and activism were manifold. She was pivotal in popularizing the term “African American” alongside Rev. Jesse L. Jackson in the late 1980s.
Jackson had announced the preference for “African American,” speaking for summit organizers that included Dr. Edelin. “Just as we were called Colored, but were not that, and then Negro, but not that, to be called Black is just as baseless,” he said, adding that “African American” “has cultural integrity” and “puts us in our proper historical context.”
Later, Edelin told Ebony magazine, “Calling ourselves African Americans is the first step in the cultural offensive,” while linking the name change to a “cultural renaissance” in which Black Americans reconnected with their history and heritage.
“Who are we if we don’t acknowledge our motherland?” she asked later. “When a child in a ghetto calls himself African American, immediately he’s international. You’ve taken him from the ghetto and put him on the globe.”
The HistoryMakers bio noted that Edelin’s academic pursuits led her to found and chair the Department of African American Studies at Northeastern University, where she established herself as a leading voice.
Transitioning from academia to advocacy, Edelin joined the National Urban Coalition in 1977, eventually ascending to president and CEO. During her tenure, she spearheaded initiatives such as the “Say Yes to a Youngster’s Future” program, which provided crucial support in math, science, and technology to youth and teachers of color in urban areas. Her biography noted that Edelin’s efforts extended nationwide through partnerships with organizations like the National Science Foundation and the United States Department of Education.
President Bill Clinton recognized Edelin’s expertise by appointing her to the Presidential Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities in 1998. She also co-founded and served as treasurer of the Black Leadership Forum, solidifying her standing as a respected leader in African American communities.
Beyond her professional achievements, Edelin dedicated herself to numerous boards and committees, including chairing the District of Columbia Educational Goals 2000 Panel and contributing to the Federal Advisory Committee for the Black Community Crusade for Children.
Throughout her life, Edelin received widespread recognition for her contributions. Ebony magazine honored her as one of the 100 Most Influential Black Americans, and she received prestigious awards such as the Southern Christian Leadership Award for Progressive Leadership and the IBM Community Executive Program Award.
The post IN MEMORIAM: Ramona Edelin, Influential Activist and Education Advocate, Dies at 78 first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues
NNPA NEWSWIRE — Recent legislative actions in Tennessee, such as repealing police reform measures enacted after the killing of Tyre Nichols, underscore a troubling trend of undermining local control and perpetuating racist agendas. The new law preventing local governments from restricting police officers’ authority disregards community efforts to address systemic issues of police violence and racial profiling.
The post Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia
Tennessee State University (TSU), the state’s only public historically Black college and university (HBCU), faces a tumultuous future as Gov. Bill Lee dissolved its board, a move supported by racist conservatives and MAGA Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly, who follow the lead of the twice-impeached, four-times indicted, alleged sexual predator former President Donald Trump. Educators and others have denounced the move as an attack on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) and a grave setback for higher education.
Critics argue that TSU’s purported financial mismanagement is a manufactured crisis rooted in decades of underinvestment by the state government. They’ve noted that it continues a trend by conservatives and the racist MAGA movement to eliminate opportunities for Blacks in education, corporate America, and the public sector.
Gevin Reynolds, a former speechwriter for Vice President Kamala Harris, emphasizes in an op-ed that TSU’s financial difficulties are not the result of university leadership because a recent audit found no evidence of fraud or malfeasance.
Reynolds noted that the disbanding of TSU’s board is not an isolated incident but part of a broader assault on DE&I initiatives nationwide. Ten states, including Tennessee, have enacted laws banning DE&I policies on college campuses, while governors appointing MAGA loyalists to university trustee positions further undermine efforts to promote inclusivity and equality.
Moreover, recent legislative actions in Tennessee, such as repealing police reform measures enacted after the killing of Tyre Nichols, underscore a troubling trend of undermining local control and perpetuating racist agendas. The new law preventing local governments from restricting police officers’ authority disregards community efforts to address systemic issues of police violence and racial profiling.
The actions echo historical efforts to suppress Black progress, reminiscent of the violent backlash against gains made during the Reconstruction era. President Joe Biden warned during an appearance in New York last month that Trump desires to bring the nation back to the 18th and 19th centuries – in other words, to see, among other things, African Americans back in the chains of slavery, women subservient to men without any say over their bodies, and all voting rights restricted to white men.
The parallels are stark, with white supremacist ideologies used to justify attacks on Black institutions and disenfranchise marginalized communities, Reynolds argued.
In response to these challenges, advocates stress the urgency of collective action to defend democracy and combat systemic racism. Understanding that attacks on institutions like TSU are symptomatic of broader threats to democratic norms, they call for increased civic engagement and voting at all levels of government.
The actions of people dedicated to upholding the principles of inclusivity, equity, and justice for all will determine the outcome of the ongoing fight for democracy, Reynolds noted. “We are in a war for our democracy, one whose outcome will be determined by every line on every ballot at every precinct,” he stated.
The post Tennessee State University Board Disbanded by MAGA Loyalists as Assault on DE&I Continues first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy
May 24, 2023 – Walker West Music Academy gets an early start on expansion. Join us for a Wednesday episode of The …
The post Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
May 24, 2023 – Walker West Music Academy gets an early start on expansion. Join us for a Wednesday episode of The …
The post Braxton Haulcy and the Expansion of Walker|West Music Academy first appeared on BlackPressUSA.
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