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Social media users are wrongly claiming that an official Black Lives Matter organization was charged with committing wire fraud, laundering money and misusing donation money.

The reality is different: a lone Ohio activist was indicted on similar charges after he allegedly created a Facebook page that he passed off as a Black Lives Matter charity.

The facts havent stopped the spread of misleading claims about what happened.

"Black Lives Matter of Atlanta Charged with Wire Fraud, Money Laundering and Allegedly Using almost 500k in Donations For Personal Use," said conservative commentator Chuck Callesto, a former Republican congressional candidate, in one such tweet posted March 16.

Screenshots of Callestos tweet were shared on Facebook, along with other posts that repeated versions of the same claim. They were flagged as part of the platforms efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

The posts give the misleading impression that the wire fraud and money laundering charges were filed against an official chapter of the Black Lives Matter movement formed in 2013 after the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin, a Black teenager, in Florida.

But Black Lives Matter was not charged.

The charges are actually against a 32-year-old activist named Sir Maejor Page, or Tyree Conyers-Page, according to the Justice Department. Page is accused of using a Facebook page called "Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta," an illegitimate nonprofit, to defraud donors on the platform who thought they were supporting a legitimate social justice organization.

Page created the Facebook account and registered "Black Lives Matter of Greater Atlanta" as a nonprofit organization in 2016, and he continued soliciting donations through Facebook after the groups tax-exempt status was revoked for failure to submit required IRS forms for three years, according to the indictment against him.

Prosecutors say Page misled Facebook users into believing their donations would be used to back protests in support of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. He received donations from more than 100 people through the Facebook page. He put thousands of dollars toward personal items, entertainment, hotel rooms and a house, the indictment says.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, a charity created as an outgrowth of the Black Lives Matter movement, said in September that it was not affiliated with Page and that it rejected "the extreme misleading behaviors of people who utilize our name for their own personal wealth and gain."

"Our stance remains that Mr. Page is not affiliated with Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, nor is he an activist for the movement," the foundation told PolitiFact.

Fox 5 Atlanta, a local TV station, reported in 2016 that Page had "parted ways" with the Black Lives Matter movement in Atlanta before starting his Facebook page.

A Twitter account for "Black Lives Matter Atlanta" posted two tweets that same year saying Pages group was "not a real chapter" and "not aligned w/ principles of BLM." The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation confirmed that the Twitter account is legitimate.

Using Facebook, PolitiFact messaged Callesto, who created the tweet that appeared on Facebook as a screenshot. After we reached out, he acknowledged that his tweet "could mislead" and posted a follow-up tweet in a thread under the original.

"This tweet is missing CONTEXT," Callesto wrote in the March 18 update. "It should read.. Black Lives Matter of GREATER Atlanta Charged with Wire Fraud, Money Laundering... Black Lives Matter of GREATER Atlanta refers to a(n) illegitimate nonprofit organization."

Callesto cited a Toledo Blade article about Pages indictment. He said he had copied the original claim from a headline on a news site. But PolitiFact searched Google and the Nexis news database and did not find a headline that matched the language in his tweet.

Conservative activist Jack Posobiec tweeted a similar claim while sharing a Daily Caller story about Pages indictment. Posobiec wrote, misleadingly, "Black Lives Matter of Atlanta Charged with Money Laundering, Wire Fraud, Allegedly Used $450,000 in Donations for Personal use."

Our ruling

A tweet reposted to Facebook said, "Black Lives Matter of Atlanta Charged with Wire Fraud, Money Laundering and Allegedly Using almost 500k in Donations For Personal Use."

Thats misleading. Black Lives Matter was not charged. The charges are against one person accused of misusing donations to what the Justice Department says was an illegitimate nonprofit posing as a Black Lives Matter charity.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation said in a September statement that it was not affiliated with that person. A local news report from 2016 said he had "parted ways" with the Black Lives Matter of Atlanta movement.

We rate this tweet False.

Read more from the original source:
No, Black Lives Matter wasn't charged with fraudulently spending donation money - PolitiFact

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Nine months after racial justice protests swept across New York City and videos showed police punching, kicking and trapping demonstrators, the city agency responsible for investigating abuses has revealed the number of officers who have so far faced serious disciplinary charges.

Two.

The Civilian Complaint Review Board released the figures on Tuesday after ProPublica reported that the CCRB was declining to disclose how much progress it had made on protest cases. The new numbers show about 60% of the agencys 297 protest-related cases are still open.

CCRB investigations can take a long time, about eight months on average. Its investigations into the summer protests have been slowed in particular by a lack of NYPD cooperation, as ProPublica detailed last week, and agency staffers have been discouraged from confronting the NYPD. After our reporting prompted pointed criticism from a City Council member and others, CCRB officials promised at a public board meeting last week to release figures as soon as possible.

So far, the agency has only been able to fully investigate 37 cases. About 75 cases were closed before a full investigation could be completed. Sometimes civilians did not follow up or decided to withdraw their complaints to pursue lawsuits.

The relatively few completed investigations have resulted in 14 complaints being substantiated so far. In 12 cases, the CCRB has recommended relatively minor punishment, which is to be decided by the officers commanders. In the other two, the CCRB has moved for departmental disciplinary trials.

The CCRB said in an emailed statement on Wednesday that one of the two cases involved an officer who appeared to flash a white power sign, and the other concerned an officer who allegedly hit a protester with a baton.

The chair of the CCRB, Rev. Frederick Davie, also acknowledged at a City Council hearing on Tuesday that investigators have faced a challenge around access to information from the Police Department.

As ProPublicas story last week noted, CCRB staffers emailed superiors that the NYPD repeatedly said it had no body-worn camera footage of an incident, only to have investigators later discover that there was, in fact, footage. In response to questions, the NYPD said in a statement last week, We have spoken with senior executives at the CCRB who state they do not have any complaints about footage.

The CCRBs statement Wednesday also said investigators have had difficulty identifying officers due to the Police Department not keeping track of where officers were deployed and due to officers wearing protective gear with incorrect shield numbers.

As New York City Moves to Address Racialized Policing of Sex Work, Advocates and Lawyers Say Its Not Enough

The release of information about the protest cases comes as the city and the NYPD face increasing pressure to change the discipline process for officers. On Tuesday, state legislators introduced a bill to strip the NYPD commissioner of final authority over discipline. The move follows a New York City Council resolution in January calling for the legislature to act.

As ProPublica has detailed, commissioners have often used their discretion to overturn not only the CCRBs recommendations for punishments but also rulings by NYPD hearing officers and even guilty pleas agreed to by police officers.

Allegations of misconduct by officers can also be investigated by the NYPDs Internal Affairs Bureau, and the department has said that investigations of some protest encounters have been referred for disciplinary action. The department did not respond to a request this week for comment about the status of any discipline stemming from protest cases.

Mollie Simon contributed reporting.

Excerpt from:
Only Two NYPD Officers Face Serious Discipline From a Watchdogs Investigations Into Abuse of Black Lives Matter Protesters - ProPublica

Yasmin Rashid acted largely as a peacekeeper between the two sides.

ITHACA, NY -- Tensions were high on March 14 as Back the Blue supporters were met with a large group of counter-protesters at Bernie Milton Pavilion. Back the Blue supporters had announced earlier in the week that they had planned to protest the Reimagining Public Safety proposal that recommends replacing Ithaca Police Department with the Community Solutions and Public Safety Department. However, the Ithaca Police Benevolent Association put out a statement on March 11 thanking people for their support, but urging against the rally.

Black Lives Matters protesters raise their fists in solidarity.

We also feel like this rally may detract from our message of collaboration with the police reform and the steps weve made with Common Council and the Mayor, the statement said. We are not trying to suppress your first amendment rights but we ask that you take the time to voice your opinion to Common Council and the County Legislature by email or public meetings.

A Back the Blue protester burns a Black Lives Matter flag.

Regardless, a group of about 20 supporters, led by Rocco Lucente and Zack Winn, showed up anyway. After speeches about how dangerous they think the city of Ithaca has become, the group moved to the center of the Commons, where they faced off against counter-protesters. For the most part, the groups exchanged chants and all remained peaceful.

After being largely drowned out by the counter-protesters, the Back the Blue supporters headed back to the pavilion, where Winn took the stage and gave long-winded and increasingly angry rants aimed at the counter-protesters, including transphobic insults aimed at one counter-protester in particular. He also said that the counter-protesters were fat, smelled bad and accused them of being communists.

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Back the Blue supporters doused an antifa flag and Chinese flag in lighter fluid and then set them ablaze.

There were two incidents where things turned physical. The first was when Winn and other Back the Blue organizers grabbed a Black Lives Matter flag, doused it in lighter fluid and set it on fire. Counter-protesters tried to grab the flag away from Winn before it was set on fire, but Winn caught up and a brief physical altercation ensued.

Later on, counter-protester Massia White-Saunders rushed the stage in anger, but Ithaca police officers were able to calm the situation quickly. After that incident, Winn took the microphone again to share that out of respect for the police officers wishes, they would be wrapping their event up shortly. However, he continued to rant angrily and attempt to antagonize counter-protesters, who often drowned him out with their chants. Winn also played a recording of IPD Sgt. Loretta Tomberellis comments to Common Council from a recent meeting in which she talked about how devalued she felt by the police reform proposal.

The Back the Blue supporters numbers slowly dwindled throughout the afternoon, before finally vacating the Commons after about three hours.

A Back the Blue protester with bear spray is confronted by an Ithaca police officer.

Visit link:
Back the Blue, Black Lives Matter protesters go toe-to-toe on the Commons - ithaca.com

By Susan McCabe

For Vashon Island School District

Since 1970, Americans have been celebrating Black History Month in February. Why February?

It is the birth month of two Americans whose lives were pivotal to ending slavery in the US President Abraham Lincoln, author of the Emancipation Proclamation, born February 12, and Black abolitionist, author and orator Frederick Douglass, born February 14.

Historian Carter G. Woodson inaugurated Black History Week in 1924. The notion grew and, in 1976 the association Woodson founded facilitated the widespread institutionalization of February as Black History Month, and U.S. President Gerald Ford urged Americans to participate in its observance. Today, Black History Month is an undisputed part of the American calendar, but how much has it changed the lives of Black Americans?

In 2020 our children watched as the world learned about and protested police brutality against Black people. Those events amplified our collective exploration of the systemic racism of which police violence is one symptom, and our kids participated.

In February 2021, the Vashon Island School District (VISD) continues to evolve its study of Black American history as a way of helping youth children know more about the contributions of Black people throughout history. When white children know and respect people of color, they can become aware of their own participation in systemic racism and stop it.

Black History Month started Feb. 1 in all three schools, Chautauqua Elementary (CES), McMurray Middle School (McM) and Vashon High School (VHS). Activities have focused on racial equity and awareness culminate in the districts Black Lives Matter Week of Action through Feb. 27. Probably the biggest challenge for teachers on Vashon is to illuminate different life experiences. Literature authored by people of color opens that door, but the work of creating empathy takes more.

This year, racial equity awareness started in kindergarten at CES. Local five-year-olds read Taye Diggs book Chocolate Me! then spent four days talking about racism and self-esteem, creating posters, comparing and contrasting characters in the book.

First- and second-graders read books about slavery, the civil rights movement and current events written by Black authors, then worked together to digest the information with discussions about equality, segregation, racism, and activism.

Margie Butchers third-graders focused on the BLM movement, its origins, the problems it addresses and whether protests have changed anything.

We explored the concept of prejudice and made self-portraits of what we look like on the outside and how others might pre-judge us based on our gender, race, body, said Butcher. Then we mapped our hearts to show if people took the time to get to know us who they would find out we really are.

Fourth and fifth-grade students at CES followed similar curricula readings from Black authors and other people of color followed by discussions and artistic expression to deepen the experience.

Students at McMurray Middle School (McM) launched their five-week Black History Month celebration on Feb. 8 with stories from multiple voices.

What stories people choose to tell and how they tell them is an essential expression of their humanity and an authentic record of their lived experiences, said Greg Allison, McM principal.

McM teachers are using homeroom periods throughout the month to bring to students the lived experiences of Black American artists in a rich mosaic of artistic forms: visual arts, dance, music, and writing that spotlight not only racial injustice, but also dignity, joy, and hope.

The five-week focus on Black artists voices and stories is essential to advancing awareness of and commitment to Black lives, past, present, and future. McM educators have researched particularly pointed literature and videos for the month, some of which offer rich perspectives for people of any age. For instance, a TED talk by Titus Kaphar, Can Beauty Open Our Heart to Difficult Conversations? points out how Black people have been ignored in Western art. McM students watch and read material curated by their teachers, then move into small group discussions.

At Vashon High School, students from the Racial Equity Pack (RAP) have been teaching their teachers all month with presentations and workshops focused on what it means to be an anti-racist educator.

Students are asking their teachers to be consistent in their curriculum choices, looking habitually for curricula that incorporate diverse perspectives.

We learned that we are more willing to listen to our students of color and their experiences and to learn from it, said Danny Rock, VHS principal. Well get more from that than we will from listening to our peers. While we listen to and respect our peers, having our students tell us what they need is powerful.

VHS faculty members have also committed to seeking diversity in curriculum content, including visuals that depict diverse populations and perspectives.

We dont want BLM Week of Action to be just one week, said Assistant Principal Andrew Guss. We will use Smart periods throughout the year to answer the call to create more opportunities for dialogue among students.

Students from the Racial Equity Team are also working with faculty advisors to develop discussion guides for conversations in monthly Monday morning Smart periods.

Through those difficult conversations and all the exercises VISD students are working on this month, educators hope conversations spread to families and the island community to internalize the lived experiences of all people of color.

Black History tells us the uncomfortable truth of racism in America so we can begin to heal its wounds. In the words of Alicia Garza, co-founder of the international Black Lives Matter movement, We want to see a world where Black lives matter in order for us to get to a world where all of our humanity is respected.

See more here:
Black Lives Matter Action Week Comes To Vashon Schools | Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber - Vashon-Maury Island Beachcomber

Numbers have taken on a whole different meaning during this pandemic, and we've all been pinned to their rise and fall with a voyeuristic sense of horror.

Daily case counts. A global death toll.

But the faceless and nameless spectre of numbers masks the mourning...and stories of love, loss, and injustice.

As the Black Lives Matter protests spilled onto the streets after the death of George Floyd in the USA, Black lives are being taken by COVID-19 in disproportionate numbers.

"Something about the datafication of lives dehumanizes them", argues A.I ethics scholar and robotics engineer Inioluwa Deborah Raji.

"If we were to approach our death counting with the intentionality of individual mourning, how would we react differently and who would we finally notice?"

Meet three leading thinkers interrogating numbers to help us all make meaning from mayhem.

Guests

Evelynn HammondsChair, Department of the History of ScienceBarbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz Professor of the History of ScienceProfessor of African and African American StudiesHarvard University

Inioluwa Deborah Raji@rajiinioData scientist and robotics engineerFellow, Mozilla Foundation

Noreen GoldmanHughes-Rogers Professor of Demography and Public AffairsPrinceton University

Further Information

The Discomfort of Death Counts: Mourning through the Distorted Lens of Reported COVID-19 Death Data(Inioluwa Deborah Raji, Patterns, 2020)

Reductions in 2020 US life expectancy due to COVID-19 and the disproportionate impact on the Black and Latino populations (Theresa Andrasfay and Noreen Goldman, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, 2021)

Prelude to COVID-19A series of conversations hosted by Professor Evelynn Hammonds

Center for Race & Gender in Science & Medicine

Profile of Inioluwa Deborah Raji named one of MIT Technology Review's Top Innovators under 35 in 2020

How our data encodes systemic racism (article by Inioluwa Deb Raji, MIT Technology Review, 2020)

The rest is here:
Meaning in mayhem: COVID death counts and a Black Lives Matter reckoning - ABC News