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Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, parents of Trayvon Martin, will be at the DuSable Museum Friday to discuss their new book about their son's death. View Full Caption

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HYDE PARK The parents of slain teen Trayvon Martin will be at the DuSable Museum of African-American History Friday to talk about a new book that gives their perspective on their sons death.

Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin will talk about Rest in Power: The Enduring Life of Trayvon Martin at 6 p.m. Friday at the museum, 740 E. 56th Place.

In 2012, 17-year-old Trayvonwas shot by George Zimmerman after an altercation in a gated community in Sanford, Fla. Trayvon'sdeath gained national attention, and Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder charges under Floridas "stand your ground" law.

The new book steps back from the media controversy to give the familysperspective on Martins life and the events that led to his death.

Tickets are $20,$15 for students, and are available on the museums website or by calling 773-947-0600.

More here:
Trayvon Martin's Parents Coming To DuSable Museum In Washington Park Friday - DNAinfo

The nightmare ends the same way every time: I drive up on my house and see police cars with lights on. Policemen with guns drawn. I see a young man in a red hoodie lying face down. Bleeding. Shot. I approach the person on the ground cops yell to stop, but I push past them. I roll him over and pull off the hood... and its RJ, my teenaged son with autism.

Parents of a child on the autism spectrum have similar dreams. And nightmares.

Since my RJ was was diagnosed with autism in 2000 at age 3, our journey on the autism express, as we call it, has been filled with high-highs, low-lows and countless small wins.

On diagnosis day, or the Never Day, a pediatrician rattled off an exhaustive, hope-starved laundry list of things he would never do: develop language, attend a mainstream school, have meaningful friendships, play team sports, drive, self-advocate, live on his own or say I love you unprompted. It was a devastating and suffocating day.

When RJ was a toddler through elementary school, I hovered over him like a relentless momma bear trying to keep him safe and understood. He had very little language until he was almost 10, so I was always on alert because he couldnt articulate what happened to him when I was not around.

Courtesy of Holly Robinson Peete

Eventually, he developed language, thank God. But he was still so misunderstood by the world around him. I was there to navigate that world. I was a snow plow mom, meaning I just plowed away all of RJs life obstacles. (Autism moms, I often like to half-joke, can be gangsta! We are our kids most loyal and ferocious advocates, so we have to be thick-skinned and often blunt.)

Our family or, Team RJ has fought diligently to help him overcome obstacles and check many of those nevers off of that list! I get weepy when I think about how far he has come. He speaks, has some friends, got a job and now he is actually driving! He got his license at 19 after being demoralized by failing the test several times. But, when I tell you this kid wanted to drive so badly, I am not even exaggerating one bit. He kept proclaiming, That doctor said I would never drive. So, I have to make her wrong, Mom. She was wrong about a lot of things, right?

RJ is amazing behind the wheel. He is relaxed and focused and determined. His fantastic brain came equipped with a built in GPS. RJ driving is a huge, huge win.

Courtesy of Holly Robinson Peete

All his life, we have been preparing RJ to live independently, to turn him over to the world. Now I am petrified to do just that.

What happens when he gets pulled over by police? Will he get nervous or scared? Will he process the officers cues properly? If not, will the officer not see my sweet, special son, but instead perceive him as a threat or a bad dude? Has the officer ever been around someone with autism? Will he mistake RJs quirkiness or difficulty making eye-contact for non-compliance? RJ loves to wear his hoodies sensorily, he loves the way the hoods feel on his head. Will that cause an officer to stereotype him? RJ stims. (That is short for self-stimulating.) It can include flapping and tics and sudden movements, which petrify me for him when I imagine him one-on-one with a cop. Will the officer know what stimming is?

Earlier this month would have been the 22nd birthday of Trayvon Martin, a young man who was minding his own business walking home from the store when his fate was sealed by the blatant racial profiling of an overzealous neighborhood watchman who we came to know as George Zimmerman.

For myself a mom of three sons and for practically every other mother of a black boy, Trayvons senseless murder and the ensuing vindication of Zimmerman haunts us in every way, literally every day. It told us our sons lives did not matter. Though Zimmerman was not a cop, there have been entirely too many incidents of unarmed black men being shot and often killed by police.

So we have that obligatory talk with all three of our boys about what to do when you encounter law enforcement.

But, RJs autism makes him unique, and, in my mind, makes him especially vulnerable to a bad outcome.

I knew for my mommy peace of mind, we had to drill him on how to comply and hopefully avoid every moms nightmare. I also knew I had to advocate for him. So, I took him to our local police station and introduced him around. I told them, You may see him walking up and down Ventura Boulevard. He likes to wear his hoodies and listen to his headphones. He loves to walk to local restaurants and eat by himself. Sometimes he talks to himself. If you see him say Hi, RJ! After that visit, I was feeling pretty positive about RJ moving freely with autism in our community.

Then, this past summer, a tragic shooting of an unarmed autism therapist shook me to my core. In North Miami, Charles Kinsey was trying to deescalate an incident where the young man with autism whom he cared for left his group home in a moment of distress and sat in the middle of the street with a toy truck in his hand. The police were called, and they surrounded both men with guns as Mr. Kinsey desperately tried to shout to officers with hands held high in full compliance that the young man had autism and was unarmed. Yet, inexplicably, Mr. Kinsey was shot anyway. It was all caught on video and my three sons played it for me. RJ said, I thought you said if we complied, we would not get shot, Mom. I was at a total and complete loss for words.

I felt helpless but motivated to try to do anything to prevent something so awful from happening again. The first thing I did was reach out to Mr. Kinsey through his lawyer, Hilton Napoleon, II. I invited them to Los Angeles to take part in a panel to try and come up with solutions and discuss implementing autism training in law enforcement. We would document this on our docuseries, For Peetes Sake.

OWN

I have tremendous respect for police officers. I remember going on a ride-along with LAPDs 77th precinct in preparation for my role as Officer Judy Hoffs on 21 Jump Street in 1986. I was 20 years old. I saw so much that night everything from domestic violence to armed robberies to a hit-and-run death of a toddler and it really made me realize firsthand how difficult, dangerous and nuanced this job was. So, I invited some former LAPD officers to be on the townhall panel with Mr. Kinsey, myself and other autism advocates and activists.

My goal was to find common-ground solutions. I wanted to explore every option to try to connect the autism community and the law enforcement community. With autism prevalence at 1 in 68 and growing, surely police will encounter people with autism on the beat. And surely there are autism families within the police force.

Our townhall was everything I wanted it to be. We listened to each other and kept our emotions in check with a common goal of developing understanding and awareness. We all agreed that the more familiarity and relationships cops had inside the areas they work, the more invested and less fearful they will be. If communities could establish a mutually earned respect for one another, everyone would benefit. We acknowledged that we need to teach our kids how to show respect for authority and law enforcement, and the importance of following basic commands. We also agreed that if law enforcement made an effort to show more consistent accountability towards the communities it serves, that would go a very long way. The cop who shot Mr. Kinsey has not been held accountable in any meaningful way, and to this day, Mr. Kinsey has never even received any sort of apology for the shooting. This creates more mistrust and, in my opinion, make communities less safe for police as well.

But most importantly, the officers on the panel admitted they had never had any autism training and could benefit from knowing what autism looks like in the community.

If the officers surrounding Mr. Kinsey and his client with autism had some training, they might have understood and recognized that the young mans apparent disconnection with all the intensity going on around him was due to autism. Maybe that would have changed the moment. Maybe no shots would have been fired and instead the officers might have helped Mr. Kinsey escort the young autistic man safely back to his group home.

After the townhall, I felt infused with a renewed energy to continue this dialogue on a national level. I want to take this forum on the road, into major American cities and attempt to implement autism training programs in police departments everywhere. I also want to explore the possibilities of the DMV implementing autism diagnosis notification on drivers licenses.

I will never stop trying to prepare RJ for the world, but the world needs preparation for young people like RJ as well.

Holly Robinson Peete is the author of Same But Different: Teen Life On the Autism Express & My Brother Charlie. She and her family appear on the OWN docuseries For Peetes Sake, returning Feb. 18.

Read more from the original source:
Autism And Police: My Plan To Protect My Driving-Age Son (And Yours) - Huffington Post

The attorney for the families of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown urges demonstrators protesting an officer-involved shooting to be patient.

"The objective evidence is paramount, Benjamin Crump said.

Officer Joshua Lippert shot and killed Jocques Clemmons in East Nashville on Friday. The shooting is still under investigation.

George Zimmerman shot and killed Martin in 2012 in Florida. A police officer shot Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, in 2014. Both were unarmed, though the shooters claimed both reached for the gun of the shooter.

Most recently, Crump represented the family of Terrence Crutcher, shot and killed by an officer in Oklahoma.

"He was walking away with his hands up because his vehicle had broken down and the police shot them, Crump said.

That case was captured on video, something Crump says makes all the difference when considering criminal charges.

Crump has seen protests devolve into riots, and even though hes not involved in the Clemmons case, he says its important to let the investigation run its course.

"If somebody used excessive force, you want them to be held accountable, Crump said. If he didn't do anything wrong, then you want him to be acquitted, but you want there to be justice.

Protesters blocked streets from East Nashville to downtown on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, a post attributed to Clemmons mother Sheila Clemmons Lee said, don't tare (sic) the city down don't riot cause I want our city to set the example to other cities. Rioting will not help just continue to pray for us.

Clemmons-Lees attorney confirmed the statement came from the grieving mother.

The Davidson county District Attorneys office says it will review the police investigation and publish the entire report online when it's complete.

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency released a statement regarding the shooting:

Go here to read the rest:
Attorney for Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown Weighs in on Nashville Shooting - WZTV

Americana stars remind us whats so folky about peace, love

Shovels & RopePhoto: Leslie Ryan McKellarThere is a song on Shovels & Ropes fifth album, Little Seeds, that theyve rarely performed live. BWYR, the track in question, is a solemn, half-spoken chant: Black lives, white lives, yellow lives, red / Lets all come together and share the bread. Its one of Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearsts most overt moments of social commentary, written in response to the horrifying racially motivated shooting at a church in their current hometown of Charleston, S.C. For a duo that titled its first record O Be Joyful, this moment is just too tender, too tough.

But on Jan. 21, the day after Donald J. Trump was sworn in as president of the United States, Trent and Hearst found themselves not only ready to march, but ready to sing.

When you look at the set list, we have an hour and 45 minutes to get work done, Hearst tells the Scene, calling from a hotel in London. And weve chosen not to include BWYR because of an overall vibe were trying to create. But the day after the election, we did play it, because we were feeling it. And the audience was with us in agreement. They wanted to hear that song.

Folk music has historically engaged in activism, but for bands like Shovels & Rope and St. Paul and the Broken Bones, who are both headlining two-night runs at the Ryman this week, its a difficult balance. Its a balance between the joyous nature of their sounds the ramshackle roots-rock of Shovels and the big-band gospel-soul of St. Paul and the underlying sociopolitical tones of their music, which are blaring ever more loudly in a world where racial inequality doesnt just exist, its part of the White House agenda. Trent, Hearst and St. Paul lead singer Paul Janeway found that staying quiet isnt an option but they also didnt want to turn their live shows into exclusive rallies, either.

I was raised to look at all sides of an issue, says Hearst. I understand where coal miners are coming from my dads a pipe fitter, and we understand some of their anxiety. When we perform, our responsibility is to entertain, and use our art to give you a little relief from the day-to-day bullshit. Thats why you buy a ticket. Were not using our big platform to preach. But were wearing holes in our marching shoes and running up phone bills calling congress people. Its our civic duty to participate. Just like everybody else, we have a right to participate in the system.

The duo exercised that right by participating in the Womens March, and theyve sparingly addressed some issues on their social media accounts including one post on Instagram of Trent and their dog, captioned FEMINISTS. As for how we go about our daily lives, says Trent, were just trying to do positive things within our own community, figuring out how we can help in a physical way.

St. Paul and the Broken BonesPhoto: David McClisterThe topic of racial injustice and police brutality also weighed heavily on the mind of Janeway as he prepared to write material for his eight-piece Alabama blue-eyed soul ensembles second album, Sea of Noise. He found himself turning to Bryan Stevensons Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption in the wake of the shooting of Trayvon Martin (and the acquittal of George Zimmerman). The book explores rampant bias in the American judicial system, and it crept into the music in unexpected ways a left turn from the bands less-topical 2014 debut, Half the City.

That definitely wasnt how I approached the first record, Janeway tells the Scene. For me, its finding whatever touches your creative impulse. At that time in my life, I didnt have much money, and now Ive started making some, and it became this self-conflicting thing. You start being more socially conscious. Where am I going to put this energy? Its what scratches this creative impulse.

Like Hearst and Trent, Janeway remains very connected to his Southern roots, and still lives in deeply conservative Alabama, as does much of his fan base. As a liberal in a red state, hes had to find a comfortable equilibrium when it comes to speaking out, reconciling that conflict by not pushing a political platform in his bands live show without stifling his personal opinions.

Personally, Im in a band, Janeway explains. We all vary what we think about [politics], so Ive always approached it from a very personal level. I had to read a lot of Dr. Martin Luther King lately, and civil rights issues need to be protested. But at the same time, this is the country we live in. We have to have conversations. But I dont ever say, This is the bands stance.

Like BWYR, St. Paul tracks such as Ill Be Your Woman (which flips the strongly gender-normative nature of Americana on its head) and All I Ever Wonder (which features lines like, Rent, it will rise / But our doctors keep us high) resonate with greater urgency in the changing climate. It is interesting that there is some kind of shape-shifting that goes on with the songs, due to the nature of them, Janeway says.

Both bands have also found themselves in the unique position of touring abroad while President Trump ominously declared America First back at home something thats particularly relevant when youre part of a genre with America in its title. Everyone is saying, Can you please explain whats going on? says Hearst. Im a product of the Nashville public school system. I worked at a produce place, and all my co-workers were Kurdish survivors of war, and are some of the finest Americans Ive ever met in my life.

In every interview, I got asked about it, echoes Janeway of his role as an inadvertent ambassador. Still, neither band went for an explosive Dixie Chicks-style takeaway, not because they fear commercial repercussions, but because they wanted to maintain the inclusive nature of the collective live experience.

Music has always been about coming from a place of love and acceptance, says Janeway. If you want to talk about more or less government, thats fine, but as long as you are coming from a place of love and acceptance, youre always welcome to our show. I dont thump my Bible. If I protest, I protest on my own. Though Janeway hasnt noticed much backlash from discussing politics in interviews, Hearst and Trent received a slew of shut up and sing comments on their social media channels. It all speaks to Americanas peculiar position of progressivity amid Southern roots, when you can both sing lyrics like, The poor go hungry and the fat get fed from BWYR, and create music that resonates with someone who spends as much time at church as a rock club.

It hurts our feelings when someone says, Shut up, youre just a singer, Hearst says. The, What do you know about that? Its a hurtful thing. Were Americans, were citizens, were business owners. Im not particularly well versed in the Bible, but Im pretty sure we are supposed to look after our brothers.

Its a good time for us to just be good, kind, compassionate people, adds Trent. Within and around our job.

Email music@nashvillescene.com

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Americana First: Shovels & Rope and St. Paul and the Broken Bones Bring Joy to the Resistance - Nashville Scene

By Rubin E. Grant

Special to The Times

Ben Sciacca never imagined he would write a book about racial relations in America. At least thats what he thought a decade ago.

When he finally took on the challenge seven years ago, he wrote about four chapters and abruptly stopped. I sat it down for a long time, Sciacca said.

The 2012 shooting death of African-American teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida and the subsequent not guilty verdict given to George Zimmerman in his trial for the shooting spurred Sciacca to resume writing his novel.

I saw the outrage and how fragmented a society we are when it comes to race, Sciacca said.

Now, five years since the Martin shooting, Sciaccas novel is complete. Meals from Mars: A Parable of Prejudice and Providence, was released Feb. 1 by NavPress, a division of Tyndale House Publishers. Its available in paperback on Amazon.com and at Barnes & Noble.

The story centers on a fateful late night encounter at a gas station in an urban neighborhood that brings together a white man from the suburbs and a young black man from the hood. Stuck with each other for the night, they deal with their core prejudices, the walls that keep them from each other, and the discovery of their God-given humanity in one another.

The unusual title comes from the delivery of groceries from the church, Mars Chapel, the white man named Jim attends. Jim is a fictional character, who is similar to some men Sciacca knows from the suburbs in Birmingham.

Sciacca discussed the novel last week before an event about its release at Mountain Brook Community Churchs UCF House on Highway 280.

I was trying to create a medium essentially to give people an opportunity to speak about a lot of the racial issues facing our nation, Sciacca said. A lot of people are taking to social media and tweeting about these issues, but no one is really listening to whats being said.

I hope this book stresses the need to listen instead of just emoting and being quick to respond to whats happening in our nation.

Sciacca is the executive director of Restoration Academy, a private urban Christian school in Fairfield with mostly African-American students. Although Malik, the young black man in the book, is a fictional character, Sciacca said he could easily be one of the students from Restoration.

Maliks anger and frustration concerning the climate he finds himself in is representative of some our students, Sciacca said. I think Malik is my favorite character in the book. I dont agree with everything Malik says, but I think its time for whites to listen more. The primary motivation of his heart is do you want a relationship with me?

I couldnt have written this 10 years ago, so in some ways its cathartic for me in a creative way.

Sciacca doesnt try to resolve the issues associated with racial tensions in the book, but wanted to start an honest conversation about racial relationships.

Its not overtly Christian, he said during a question and answer session from an audience of about 25 at the launch party. Its not a scripture-filled book or a story of two people who become friends in the end. I didnt want a panacea. I want people to wrestle with the issues the book raises.

The overall response Ive gotten from people who have read it has been productive. Some have said it was hard to put it down and others said it made them feel uncomfortable, so mission accomplished.

This is Sciaccas second book. His first book, KaiRo: The Journey of An Urban Pilgrim, was released in 2013 under the pseudonym Judah Ben. It chronicles the epic spiritual journey of a young man named KaiRo.

Sciacca said there is a distinct difference in the two books in scope and audience.

KaiRo was more didactic, a teaching book, he said. Meals From Mars is a critical look at racial tensions. KaiRos target audience was primarily high school and junior high students while Meals from Mars is more of an adult book.

Even so, at the end of the Meals From Mars are 20 questions that Sciacca hopes will fuel the discussion about racial tensions in America.

Sciacca also will be present on Feb. 18 at Barnes & Noble at The Summit in Birmingham when Restoration Academy students participate in a Black History Month event from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sciacca will discuss Meals From Mars at 6 p.m., read excerpts from the book and sign copies of it.

Sciacca also will take part in a panel discussion on March 12 at Mountain Brook Community Churchs Faith Culture Forum: The Gospel and Racial Reconciliation.

For more information about the book, visit http://www.mealsfrommars.com

For more information about the Tampa forum visit http://www.underourskinforum.com

The rest is here:
Racial tensions at the forefront of Ben Sciacca's new novel Meals From Mars - Birmingham Times