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In a strongly worded letter written to the countys lead prosecutor, the Worcester Patrolmens Union said it will never endorse District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. again after his office dropped charges against more than a dozen people arrested during Black Lives Matter protests in the city last summer.

The Worcester District Attorneys Office dropped charges this month against 17 people who were arrested, including four Clark University students. First Assistant District Attorney Jeff Travers noted after a careful review of the case, authorities found insufficient evidence to prosecute the charged crimes.

Daniel Gilbert, president of the New England Police Benevolent Association Local 911, said Early will never receive another endorsement from the police union or another vote from him and his family. The police union head was ashamed and disappointed by the decision to drop the charges against the protesters, he added.

I write to you to express my disdain and disgust at your decision to drop criminal charges against those who were involved in a riot in June. More than disgust, I want you to know that I am ashamed and disappointed that you have knowingly chosen to turn your back on those of us that have always had your back, Gilbert wrote in his letter to Early.

In a statement about the protest over the summer, Early said he opted to recuse himself from the case due to a conflict he has with Clark University.

The prosecutor noted his office decided to drop the cases against the 17 defendants after a careful review of the evidence by its senior first assistant and first assistant in charge of appeals. Early stated he fully supports his offices decision to drop the charges.

Each and every case was individually reviewed at length with every piece of video, written and testimonial evidence considered before any prosecutorial decisions were made in these matters. It was determined that these misdemeanor charges lacked sufficient evidence for trial, Earlys statement said.

Protesters took to the streets of Worcester the night of June 1, 2020, a week after the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a law enforcement in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Following a largely peaceful rally, demonstrators marched downtown, where they clashed with police in the citys Main South neighborhood.

Police claimed the group assaulted officers with flares, fireworks, rocks, concrete, bottles and other debris. Gilbert noted the demonstration also led to the vandalization of buildings, including Worcester City Hall and a number of businesses.

One officer who was in his police cruiser on Hammond Street had to stop traffic from entering Main Street - so that those walking could avoid being hit by cars, Gilbert said. The officers cruiser was eventually surrounded by those involved in the riot that then started shaking the marked police cruiser with the officer still in the vehicle.

Law enforcement, meanwhile, used smoke grenades and pepper ball rounds to disperse the crowd and arrest participants in the demonstration.

When confronted with large protests that contain individuals who employ indiscriminate violence, police officers have the extraordinarily difficult task of restoring order, distinguishing perpetrators from protesters, and charging those responsible with crimes, Travers said in his statement about the charges being dropped. The events of June 1, 2020 were such an occasion when police were presented with violent and dangerous conditions and placed themselves in harms way. The majority of these cases involved the application of an 18th Century law that courts have struggled to apply in a modern context.

According to Early, none of the defendants were arrested for throwing bricks, rocks, concrete, bottles or anything else at officers.

No one was charged with destruction of property whatsoever, he stated. No one was charged with shooting flares, fireworks or surrounding a police cruiser. There was no case involving an assault on a Worcester police officer that was dismissed.

The district attorney added he was elected to the position to ensure justice is carried out in our criminal justice system.

That is the mission our office carries out every day, Early said. Sometimes this requires making decisions that are unpopular to some, but we have to be independent in our determinations and I always will be.

There are several cases that are still pending based on other sets of facts, including one that resulted in a plea, one that is pending and a third that was federally indicted, according to Early.

In the wake of the disorder that followed the largely peaceful protest and after the arrests of 19 demonstrators, including the four college students, Clark announced it would sever ties with the Worcester Police Department.

The university later hired a Worcester law firm to conduct an independent review of the events. After examining videos, photographs and interviews, the firm found none of the four students who were arrested acted violently and police acted improperly when arresting the individuals.

The report accused a Worcester police officer of pinning his knee on the back of student Sarah Drapeau, who told the officer she had lung issues and was in pain. According to the firm, the officer acknowledged Dreapeus pleas but didnt move. Drapeau also claimed police called her a fat [expletive] and said welcome to the real world.

The Worcester Police Department announced in July it would conduct its own investigation into the actions of its officers during the arrests of the Clark students on June 1.

In his letter, Gilbert said the decision on the part of Earlys office to drop the charges against the protesters showed a lack of will to stand up for public safety has endangered police officers. The police union head claimed it wasnt the first time.

He pointed to the case of Jorge Zambrano, who in 2016 shot and killed Auburn police Officer Ronald Tarentino Jr. The man had a long criminal history, though, having served seven years in prison for cocaine trafficking. He was arrested again five years ago for assaulting a police officer.

Months before the fatal shooting of Tarentino, Zambrano was arrested on domestic assault and resisting arrest charges but later released on $500 bail. A Massachusetts Trial Courts review later found no fault on the part of the judges who were involved in the mans cases.

However, Gilbert faults Earlys office for offering Zambrano probation instead of keeping him in prison. Auburn Police Chief Andrew Sluckis Jr. said in 2018 the suspect could have been held for violating pre-trial probation in another case before the officers death, but he wasnt.

While free, he murdered Auburn Police Officer and hero Ron Tarentino. Rons funeral was well attended by political folks pledging support for police officers where are they now? Even after that we gave you our support - but again, you are turning your back on us, the Local 911 president said. How many police officers need to be murdered for you to support us?

Gilbert recalled how when Early was initially running for district attorney, he went to the NEPBA 911, looking for an endorsement, which he received along with support from the national chapter of the union.

I noticed that you still have these accolades listed on your website, Gilbert wrote. I can tell you that you will never receive another endorsement from the NEPBA and further will never receive a vote from me or my family.

Editors Note: This story has been updated to note the charges were dropped against 17 people who were arrested.

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Worcester police union says it will never endorse DA Joseph Early again after charges dropped against 2020 Bl - MassLive.com

Tufts Global Education hosted a virtual panel on Wednesday titled Black Lives Matter Around the World, moderated by Dr. H Adlai Murdoch, professor of Francophone studies and director of Africana studies at Tufts, featuring speakers from academic and activist backgrounds in the United States, Spain, Jamaica and Germany. The panel was co-sponsored by the Africana studies program, the Africana Center and the international relations program.

Charlene Carruthers, a PhD student in the department of African American studies at Northwestern University, has a background in the research of Black feminist political economies and the role of cultural work within the Black radical tradition and has spent more than 15 years community organizing.

Carruthers opened by saying that the importance of amplifying Black voices is not new.

I believe that the overall topic for our discussion today is always relevant. Its been relevant, frankly, for hundreds of years, and its absolutely relevant today, Carruthers said.

She said that this particular moment in the fight for Black lives, especially in the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many others, is part of something larger.

This is situated within ongoing local, national and transnational movements for Black liberation, Carruthers said. This is not new.

In particular, she noted that Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn., with large African immigrant populations, demonstrate the interconnectedness of global demands for Black justice, and how this issue has been prominent in Black peoples lives long before the Black Lives Matter movement gained traction last summer.

People havent forgotten their people on the continent of Africa, their people in other parts of the world, Carruthers said. They are involved with struggles globally as well and making those connections and not waiting for conversations like this to help them figure out theyre talking to their cousins, theyre talking to their family members.

Dr. Esther Mayoko Ortega Arjonilla, an associate professor of critical race studies at Tufts-in-Madrid, applied Carruthers points to her experiences in Spain.

She particularly saw the George Floyd protests as an opportunity to amplify the voices of Afro-Spaniards and to examine long-standing issues in the country, saying it marked a real turning point for local Black and African activism in Spain.

In the last five, six, sevenyears in Spain, we have the creation of multiple associations and activist groups led by collectives of young people, young Black women, and queer and questioning people, and this is new leadership in a movement traditionally led by heterosexual Black men, Mayoko Ortega Arjonilla said.

She reflected specifically on the treatment of African migrants in Spain.

These African workers in agriculture live in inhuman conditions: no electricity, no clean drinking water, working 1012 hours a day, Mayoko Ortega Arjonilla said.

Beyond poor treatment, Mayoko Ortega Arjonilla noted that Spains unique position at Europes southern border has led to poor treatment of entering immigrants. She pointed to an incident from 2014 when Spanish police shot with rubber bullets and small grenades at a group of Black migrants who were swimming toward Spain. The shooting killed 14 of the migrants.

Yasmin Nasrudin, one of the panelists and the director of the Education USA Advising Center and deputy director of intercultural affairs at the German-American Institute Tbingen, noted that Germany has a lot of similarities with Spain in this realm.

Nasrudin noted that the movement for Black lives in Germany is fairly new, having been especially spurred on in 1980s with the help of Audre Lorde, who was an American writer, feminist and civil rights activist. Lorde lived in Germany in the mid-1980s as a visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin.

She gave the Black women the empowerment and emancipation of creating their own language and giving a new perspective on life in Germany as Black people, Nasrudin said.

She also delved into the question of language, and explained the recent shift from the term Afro-German to Black German.

Dr. Danielle Roper, assistant professor in Latin American literature at the University of Chicago, spoke to the way the momentum from George Floyds killing reinforced, rather than created, the need for the work of Black activists.

I think that when we talk about Black radicalism and Black activism today, we have to think about this moment as continuing the spirit of solidarity and transnationalism that characterized Black radical practices and movements of yesteryear, Roper said.

Roper also emphasized the need to recognize that Black Lives Matter is not a movement limited to the United States nor other Black-minority countries.

I think its important to note this because conversations of anti-Blackness sometimes leave out the fact that anti-Black racism is indeed a phenomenon that organizes predominantly Black countries in the Global South as well, and such is the case in countries like Jamaica, Barbados and elsewhere, Roper said.

Murdoch then turned it over to the audience for questions.

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Tufts Global Education hosts speakers from Spain, Jamaica, Germany, US in 'Black Lives Matter Around the World' panel - Tufts Daily

See the ceremonies as students across Burlington proclaim "Black Lives Matter."

Every school in the district raised the Black Lives Matter flag in 2020 in response to the districtdeclaring racism as a public health emergency. The Media Factory assisted the district putting together a six minute mini-documentary video of the celebrations and reflections.

Each school in the Burlington School District had its own way of amplifying Black lives and honoring a commitment to inclusion, equity and diversity. Voices of elementary students throughhigh school share personal words about what equity means to them. There is song, dance, chanting, signs and art in the student-led events.

More: Here's how Vermont educators are advocating for a diversity of perspectivesin the classroom

Its so inspiring to see our students really leaning into the issue of equity as they raise the Black Lives Matter flag as a symbol of hope for full equity at each of Burlingtons schools, said Superintendent Tom Flanagan.

More: Champlain Elementary mural 'Kelis the Afronaut' promotes equity, anti-racism

It will not be simple to dismantle hundreds of years of systemic racism in our District, city, or country, but Burlington School District is committed to doing our part, said the district's director of equity, Sparks. This documentary acts as a record of our students commitment to diversity and equity and can be used as a tool to teach these practices further."

The district said these ceremonies were just a start. They will continue equity conversations in school and provide opportunities for expression and celebration ofdiversity.

More: Students take a stand: Vermont middle school raises Black Lives Matter flag

Burlington High School became among the first schools in the nation to fly the Black Lives Matter flagin 2018 and was the second, after Montpelier, in Vermont.

Contact April Barton at abarton@freepressmedia.com or 802-660-1854. Follow her on Twitter @aprildbarton.

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Watch the creative ways students in Burlington honored Black lives - Burlington Free Press

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A day after a gunman opened fire inside a supermarket in Boulder, Colorado, killing 10 people, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to debate a series of proposals aimed at reducing gun violence. Though the hearing was scheduled weeks ago, it took on a new urgency in light of Mondays shooting and another that occurred less than a week ago where a gunman went on a shooting spree at massage parlors in the Atlanta area, killing eight people.

Despite the recent massacres, Senate Republicans still delivered some of the familiar, debunked rebuttals against the common sense gun proposals, like that the best way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun, or that criminals dont follow the gun laws already in place. But at Tuesdays hearing, Republican lawmakers introduced new, misleading talking points in their arguments against passing gun control legislation: That the Black Lives Matter and Defund the Police movements that arose last year led to a spate of violent crime and shootings in cities across the country, and that people need guns more than ever to defend themselves.

In his opening statement, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), the ranking member on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said that Black Lives Matter protests and the defund the police movement may have lead to an 1,268 additional deaths last year. Grassley did not cite where that number came from, but it matches one found in a recent report from the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice that found that the homicide rate rose nearly 30 percent in 2020 than the previous year and that translates to an additional 1,268 homicides across the 34-city sample. Nowhere in the report did it mention that Black Lives Matter protests were a cause for the rise in homicides.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) used the hearing as an opportunity to angrily rant against the political theater that he says Democrats engage in every time theres a mass shooting. Every time theres a mass shooting, we play this ridiculous theater where this committee gets together and proposes a bunch of bunch of laws that would do nothing to stop these murders, Cruz said. Cruz also blasted Democrats who, in the past, have called out Republican lawmakers who in the past refused to support gun control measures in the wake of mass shootings, instead just offering the victims and their families warm wishes. I dont apologize for thoughts and prayers, Cruz declared. And I believe in the power of prayer and the contempt of Democrats for prayers is an odd sociological thing.

Tuesdays Senate hearing follows a pair of gun control bills that the House of Representatives recently passed that would strengthen the nations gun laws by, among other things, expanding the background checks for all gun sales and transfers. The legislation would also expand the review period for background checks from three days to 20 daysa measure that gun control advocates say would have prevented Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who murdered nine people at a Historically Black church in Charleston, SC in 2015, from purchasing the gun he used in the shooting.

But every Republican senator on the committee insisted, without any evidence, that the House bills would not reduce gun violence in any meaningful way. Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) downplayed the gun violence problem by comparing it to drunk driving. We have a lot of drunk drivers in America that kill a lot of people. We ought to try to combat that too, he said. But the answer is not to get rid of all sober drivers. Kennedy failed to mention that alcohol-impaired driving laws, including sobriety checkpoints, have been proven to be effective in curbing drunk driving incidents. Gun control groups like Moms Demand Action have even modeled their advocacy efforts on the success of groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving, whose advocacy has led to policy changes that have reduced the rate of drunk driving-related deaths.

Both Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) claimed that the rise of violent crime over the past year was a direct result of the protests over racist policing that occurred over the past year. When you condemn the policeyou shouldnt be surprised that criminals take advantage, Cotton said. And that crime rises. Cotton also blamed the rise in violent crime, which includes a massive spike in gun violence, on progressive George Soros-funded prosecutors who have won elections in recent years by campaigning on a platform of reforming the criminal justice system.

In his closing remarks, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, delivered a swift condemnation of Cruzs ridiculous theater comment, saying that he didnt believe any part of it was ridiculous. It was dead serious.

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Senate Republicans argue Black Lives Matter and defund the police are to blame for gun violence - Mother Jones

BOISE Boise Police Department officers on Tuesday arrested Terry Wilson, 37, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Boise and former Boise State University adjunct professor, after police said they believed him to be involved in the vandalism of an Abraham Lincoln statue in Julia Davis Park.

The statue, called Seated Lincoln, was defaced with red chalk paint on Feb. 1, the first day of Black History Month. The chalk paint meant to signify blood was not permanent, and the statue sustained no permanent damage. Feces and signs were also left around the statue, but activists who organized the protests previously told the Idaho Press they had no involvement with the feces left at the scene.

Wilson was injured in an altercation with police after an officer approached him on Tuesday with an arrest warrant for a misdemeanor vandalism charge. Police said Wilson fled inside a residence and resisted arrest.

Wilson said his arrest at the home of his childrens grandmother in Boise was unnecessarily violent. He said police entered the property, forced him outside, and held him on the ground. Wilson, who is a Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma survivor and has a port in his chest, said he was thrown to the ground in front of his wife and children, who began to videotape the incident.

The Black Lives Matter activist and criminologist was worried the impact would rip the port open. His family indicated to the officers during the arrest that Wilson had cancer and is still sick. Medical records show he was given a CT scan on his head and spine, and had X-rays taken on his shoulder and hip. Wilson said he has bruises on his chest and is sore, has a hip contusion, and shared a photograph of a gash across his shoulder.

A medical report completed after Wilsons arrest on March 23

At the Ada County Jail, Wilson said he was denied blood clot medication, which he was prescribed less than 10 days ago following a blood clot diagnosis, as well as his pain medication. Ada County Sheriffs Office said Wilson was booked at the jail after he was taken to the hospital and medically cleared.

A laceration on Wilsons shoulder resulting from his March 23 arrest

He was not in jail overnight and spent just over three hours in custody before being released, sheriffs office spokesman Patrick Orr said.

He added that the classification process for inmates who are going to be assigned to the jail or the standard medical evaluation was not done because he was bonding out, and that medication has to be checked by health services staff and confirmed by a medical provider before inmates get access.

Wilson was released just before midnight on March 23 after posting $900 bond, according court records and Ada County. Wilson said he was not able to take his medication until 12 hours after his scheduled dosage time.

According to Wilson, the arresting officer did not identify himself and did not indicate he had a warrant before the making the arrest. Boise Police contested this account, stating that an officer arrived to serve the warrant, causing Wilson to reenter the home, which qualifies as resisting arrest, which then caused the officer to ask for backup, stating he was in pursuit.

Wilson said he counted six uniformed police officers and several others in plain clothes, and Boise PD confirmed that multiple officers responded after the first officer on scene called for backup. There was no foot pursuit I was dragged out of the house, Wilson said.

In his report of the encounter, Boise Police Officer Connor Burch wrote, I shouted again that he had a warrant, and he quickly entered the residence. I entered the home, as I was in fresh pursuit, and became engaged in a struggle with Wilson, who actively resisted my efforts to take him into custody. After our altercation spilled out of the residence, I notified him several times that he was under arrest; but he continued to resist by tensing his muscles, pulling away from me, and trying to escape. Eventually, Ofc. Anderson and I were able to gain control of him and place him into handcuffs.

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Wilson was charged with misdemeanor vandalism as well as with possession of marijuana and paraphernalia and resisting arrest, according to court records.

Wilson said he was carrying a cannabis vape pen on him which he uses for treatment with cancer in remission and alleges he is personally acquainted with Burch the arresting officer, who he attended a criminal justice program at Boise State University with. The university confirmed Thursday the officer was a student in its criminal justice program.

I was with my kids and my family, and they are now seeking mental health support because of what happened, said Wilson, adding that his son expressed thinking his dad was going to die. I am innocent and I plan to contest these charges, he said in reference to vandalism and resisting arrest.

Wilson acknowledged being a medical marijuana user however Idaho law makes no exceptions for such use and said he will accept whatever consequences come after the charges are reviewed by a jury of his peers. He is being represented by an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild.

Possession of marijuana under 3 ounces is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison. Misdemeanor paraphernalia charges also carry up to a one-year sentence, while resisting arrest is punishable by a fine of up to $1,000. Misdemeanor vandalism is punishable by up to one year in prison.

During the arrest, according to the police report, an officer located a firearm in Wilsons fanny pack. Wilson said he is licensed to carry the pistol and keeps it for safety. He referenced a federal court case out of North Carolina in which members of an alleged weapons production ring with connections to neo-Nazi groups had moved to Boise to stockpile weapons and train in the mountains. According to federal court records, two group members had surveilled a Black Lives Matter rally on Boise States campus last summer and discussed shooting those protestors. That case, filed in the Eastern District of North Carolina, is ongoing.

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Black Lives Matter activist charged with vandalism injured during arrest - Idaho Press-Tribune