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On Third-Year Anniversary, Ramarley Graham’s Family Vows to Pursue Justice

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Ramarley Graham (Courtesy Photo)

Ramarley Graham (Courtesy Photo)

by Khorri Atkinson
Special to the NNPA from the New York Amsterdam News

Three years after NYPD officer Richard Haste chased unarmed Black teen Ramarley Graham into his grandmother’s bathroom and killed him for “acting suspicious and having a gun,” relatives made it clear that the $3.9 million wrongful death lawsuit they settled with the city last week will not prevent them from seeking justice and police reform.

Relatives, friends and dozens of activists gathered at a church in the Bronx Monday night, amid freezing temperatures, to memorialize the slain teen who was shot dead at age 18, Feb. 2, 2012.

“We got a settlement, but it will never take away the pain that the city caused me,” said Graham’s mother, Constance Malcolm, at a press conference before the memorial service. “We want to see Richard Haste get fired, and the other officers who were involved. That would kind of ease my pain. It won’t take it away, but to see them held accountable would be a start.”

Franclot Graham, the teen’s father, echoed similar calls for accountability. Graham, who wore a shirt with an image of his son and words that read, “Where is justice?” said, “What’s justice for me? All the officers in that team be held accountable for their actions, for their lies, for their disregard of the law, for their disregard of human rights.”

At the press conference, the parents were flanked by their attorneys, Bronx Councilman Andy King and civil rights

activist Tamika Mallory. They all renewed their call for the U.S. Department of Justice to indict the officers involved and directly made a plea to NYPD Commissioner William Bratton to fire the officers.

“We don’t need these people working for us,” said the slain teen’s father. “They’re dangerous, and they should not be collecting taxpayers’ dollars.”

Russell Royce, one of the attorneys, drew connections with other cases of police shooting unarmed Black teens, such as Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., while adding that police abuses are “a constant” around the country. He further emphasized that the lawsuit settlement “can never take the place of Ramarley.”

“[This] is only one facet that would bring some kind of closure to this tragic incident that shouldn’t have happened,” said Royce. “And the push of this family and others is to have the Department of Justice indict the officers. Then there would be some awareness about reforming the Police Department. There is nothing that is too big in the protocol of accountability to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

In February 2012, Haste and one of his colleagues followed Graham into his bathroom, where he died in front of his grandmother and younger brother, who was 6 years old at the time.

According to the officers’ account, Graham was adjusting his pants on the street. He was acting suspicious, and they thought he had a gun. Police also claimed that the teen ran from the officers, but surveillance video showed that he walked to the front door, opened and entered it and then closed it. Seconds later, the video showed officers running to the door with guns drawn and trying to kick down the door Graham had entered. Several minutes later, footage shows Haste and a colleague in the yard after they successfully broke into the apartment without a warrant.

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of July 2- 8, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 2 – 8, 2025

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Trump Set to Sign Largest Cut to Medicaid After a Marathon Protest Speech by Leader Jeffries

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S.

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By Lauren Burke

By a vote of 218 to 214, the GOP-controlled U.S. House passed President Trump’s massive budget and spending bill that will add $3.5 trillion to the national debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The bill also represents the biggest cut in Medicare in history and is a threat to the health care coverage of over 15 million people. The spending in Trump’s signature legislation also opens the door to a second era of over-incarceration in the U.S. With $175 billion allocated in spending for immigration enforcement, the money for more police officers eclipsed the 2026 budget for the U.S. Marines, which is $57 billion. Almost all of the policy focus from the Trump Administration has focused on deporting immigrants of color from Mexico and Haiti.

The vote occurred as members were pressed to complete their work before the arbitrary deadline of the July 4 holiday set by President Trump. It also occurred after Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the House floor for over 8 hours in protest. Leader Jeffries broke the record in the U.S. House for the longest floor speech in history on the House floor. The Senate passed the bill days before and was tied at 50-50, with Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski saying that, “my hope is that the House is gonna look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.” There were no changes made to the Senate bill by the House. A series of overnight phone calls to Republicans voting against, not changes, was what won over enough Republicans to pass the legislation, even though it adds trillions to the debt. The Trump spending bill also cuts money to Pell grants.

“The Big Ugly Bill steals food out of the hands of starving children, steals medicine from the cabinets of cancer patients, and equips ICE with more funding and more weapons of war than the United States Marine Corps. Is there any question of who those agents will be going to war for, or who they will be going to war against? Beyond these sadistic provisions, Republicans just voted nearly unanimously to close urban and rural hospitals, cripple the child tax credit, and to top it all off, add $3.3 trillion to the ticking time bomb that is the federal deficit – all from a party that embarrassingly pretends to stand for fiscal responsibility and lowering costs,” wrote Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) in a statement on July 3.

“The Congressional Budget Office predicts that 17 million people will lose their health insurance, including over 322,000 Virginians. It will make college less affordable.  Three million people will lose access to food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). And up to 16 million students could lose access to free school meals. The Republican bill does all of this to fund tax breaks for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations,” wrote Education and Workforce Committee ranking member Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) in a statement. The bill’s passage has prompted Democrats to start thinking about 2026 and the next election cycle. With the margins of victory in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate being so narrow, many are convinced that the balance of power and the question of millions being able to enjoy health care come down to only several thousand votes in congressional elections. But currently, Republicans controlled by the MAGA movement control all three branches of government. That reality was never made more stark and more clear than the last seven days of activity in the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.

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WATCH: NNPA Publishers Pivot To Survive

7.2.25 via NBC 4 Washington

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7.2.25 via NBC 4 Washington

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9oZc5Sz0jQQ&feature=oembed

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