Archive for the ‘George Zimmerman’ Category

In writing about Trayvon Martin, this poet saw the history of systemic racism – PBS NewsHour

Our July 2020 pick for the PBS NewsHour-New York Times book club is Claudia Rankines Citizen. Become a member of the Now Read This book club by joining our Facebook group, or by signing up to our newsletter. Learn more about the book club here.

The first lines of Claudia Rankines essay, In Memory of Trayvon Martin, start with an invocation of the history of mass incarceration of African Americans.

My brothers are notorious. They have not been to prison. They have been imprisoned, Rankine wrote.

To Rankine, it was a nod to Michelle Alexanders book The New Jim Crow, which lays out how the war on drugs helped shape a criminal justice system that today systematically disfavors communities of color, and Black men in particular. As a criminal, you have scarcely more rights, and arguably less respect, than a black man living in Alabama at the height of Jim Crow, Alexander wrote. We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it.

In crafting her elegy for Martin, the Black teen who was gunned down in Florida in 2012 by George Zimmerman, Rankine told the PBS NewsHour she sought to draw on the larger narrative of terrorization, violence and murder that Black Americans have faced throughout history, tracking the years of passage, plantation, migration, of Jim Crow segregation, of poverty, inner cities, profiling.

Read more of Rankines insight about the essay in the passages below.

My brothers are notorious. They have not been to prison. They have been imprisoned. The prison is not a place you enter. It is no place. My brothers are notorious. They do regular things, like wait. On my birthday they say my name. They will never forget that we are named. What is that memory?

The days of our childhood together were steep steps into a collapsing mind. It looked like we rescued ourselves, were rescued. Then there are these days, each day of our adult lives. They will never forget our way through, these brothers, each brother, my brother, dear brother, my dearest brothers, dear heart

Your hearts are broken. This is not a secret though there are secrets. And as yet I do not understand how my own sorrow has turned into my brothers hearts. The hearts of my brothers are broken. If I knew another way to be, I would call up a brother, I would hear myself saying, my brother, dear brother, my dearest brothers, dear heart

On the tip of a tongue one note following another is another path, another dawn where the pink sky is the bloodshot of struck, of sleepless, of sorry, of senseless, shush. Those years of and before me and my brothers, the years of passage, plantation, migration, of Jim Crow segregation, of poverty, inner cities, profiling, of one in three, two jobs, boy, hey boy, each a felony, accumulate into the hours inside our lives where we are all caught hanging, the rope inside us, the tree inside us, its roots our limbs, a throat sliced through and when we open our mouth to speak, blossoms, o blossoms, no place coming out, brother, dear brother, that kind of blue. The sky is the silence of brothers all the days leading up to my call.

If I called Id say good-bye before I broke the good-bye. I say good-bye before anyone can hang up. Dont hang up. My brother hangs up though he is there. I keep talking. The talk keeps him there. The sky is blue, kind of blue. The day is hot. Is it cold? Are you cold? It does get cool. Is it cool? Are you cool?

My brother is completed by sky. The sky is his silence. Eventually, he says, it is raining. It is raining down. It was raining. It stopped raining. It is raining down. He wont hang up. Hes there, hes there but hes hung up though he is there. Good-bye, I say. I break the good-bye. I say good-bye before anyone can hang up, dont hang up. Wait with me. Wait with me though the waiting might be the call of good-byes.

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In writing about Trayvon Martin, this poet saw the history of systemic racism - PBS NewsHour

ACT/SAT optional in spring admission – Dominion Post – The Dominion Post

WVU Today

As the COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the ability of many college-bound high school students to take either the ACT or the SAT, West Virginia University has joined a long list of institutions relaxing test score requirements in its admission policies.

If a student is not able to take the SAT or ACT, we will still admit them to WVU as long as they have shown academic ability on other areas of their application, said George Zimmerman, WVU executive director of admissions and recruitment. We have found that GPA is a better predictor of college success and reflects a students overall academic performance.

However, Zimmerman noted some scholarships and individual program admissions, including the PROMISE Scholarship, may still require a test score. As a result, a test score is still recommended in certain cases in order for a student to be considered for the most merit aid.

Some students admitted under the test optional process, who do not meet specific program requirements, will begin their career in the WVU Center for Learning, Advising and Student Success.

We want high school seniors to have confidence that their application will be reviewed without scores, provided that other benchmarks are met, Zimmerman said.

Its also important for students to understand that WVU has a rolling admissions calendar, so we encourage students to apply as soon as possible to get an admissions decision, he added. If a test can benefit their application, students can submit test scores at any point in the process before the start of the fall term, Zimmerman said.

The change will take effect Aug. 1 for admission to spring and fall 2021 terms and will be re-evaluated in time for the spring 2022 term.

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ACT/SAT optional in spring admission - Dominion Post - The Dominion Post

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: To BLM, some Black lives matter – Washington Times

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The cancel culture is getting out of hand. Some folks insist on getting rid of anything that offends them, with no concern about what might offend others. Who can dispute that Black lives matter? Who can dispute that all lives matter? But what about the organization, Black Lives Matter? Go to its website. Its origins are based partly on two falsehoods: first, that killers of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown were not acting legally in self-defense.

Actually, there was a nationally televised trial which found George Zimmerman not guilty in the Trayvon Martin case, and then Attorney Gen. Eric Holder investigated the Brown case and cleared Officer Darren Wilson. The BLM websites What We Believe section states: We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable. So, BLM supports the most self-destructive facet of Black culture, fatherless families, which guarantees much higher rates of school dropout, crime, unemployment, incarceration and suicide.

Also, BLM focuses on the unwarranted killing of blacks by police (these are in fact very few and are exaggerated grossly), but ignores the far greater problem of Black-on-Black murders.

Check the FBI website for 2018, which shows that the murder rate for Black-on-white is 12 times that for white-on-Black. LM is pushing to defund police, which is resulting in an explosion of violent crime, disproportionately by Blacks against Blacks. This is anarchy. How is any of this helping Black lives? Its not. Its ending them. So apparently only some Black lives matter to BLM yet BLM signs proliferate at civil rights marches.

Why should non-Blacks not find this organization offensive and want to cancel it? And why should they empathize with the civil rights movement when BLM purports to speak for most Black people?

LT. COL. WALT BRINKER

U.S. Army (retired)

Eastover, N.C.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: To BLM, some Black lives matter - Washington Times

In Your View: Religion isn’t the answer – The Independent

The BLM movement isnt a recent group, nor led by an ungodly alliance. But like every movement, there are those who for various reasons try to usurp authority claiming to represent them. Its been around since July 2013, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the death of African American teen Trayvon Martin 17 months earlier, in February 2012.

If religion was the best representative, then why didnt religious leaders start it or form one of their own? Why was one highly respected black minister assassinated over 50 years ago?

Shaun King did say what Mr. Waugh said he did. But he is not a leader of BLM, though he is a prominent left-wing fundraiser, activist and minister. Hes not even a fundraiser for BLM. The truth is, on Sept. 12, 2019, Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson wrote a lengthy article raising multiple concerns in regards to King, especially related to fundraising. If you are going to judge all by the acts and words of a few then that has to be done to the police as well. You dont get it both ways.

I am a news junkie. I dont listen to sound bites and videos of one station. I do listen to FOX along with several others because the press isnt perfect. Its run by humans who as much as possible try to be unbiased. Yet arent always successful. They all have indisputable evidence that sometimes they have to apologize for. So I research what is said before forming an opinion or debating it with others. I dont presume one is omnipotent.

Sylvia McClelland-Morrison

Ashland

Trump like

a Sadducee

There were two major political parties during the New Testament times in Palestine:the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

The Pharisees were known for insisting that the law of God be observed as the scribes interpreted it and for their special commitment to keeping the laws of tithing and ritual purity.

The Sadducees membership opposed Jesus during His ministry. The Sadducees came from the leading families of the nation the priest, merchants and aristocrats. The high priest and the most powerful members of the priesthood were mainly Sadducees. Many wealthy lay people were also Sadducees.

They enjoyed privileged positions in society and managed to get along well under Roman rule. The Sadducees also rejected the tradition of the elders who were the body of oral and written commentary that interpreted the law of Moses.

Donald Trump is likened to the Sadducees. He also believes in free will,in which the people are responsible for their own prosperity or misfortune. Trump wants to make the law and everyone to abide by his interpretation. He wants to surround himself with people who will agree on his authoritative ways.

Trump is trying to set up a dynasty with his family to follow him in power. Trump looks up to Vladimir Putin and his power over the Russian people, and would like to operate in the same manner as Putin.

If Trump can remove the power of the people and their elected officials who somewhat keep him in check, he will be able to operate as Putin does. As Trump continues to drain the proverbial swamp of the people who do not agree with his way of governing, and as he exercises his authority in controlling the actions of the elected members who are trying to function in their elected duty to operate the government. He uses fear tactics and slanderous utterance in the presence of the whole nation to defame and defeat anyone who may disagree with his fashion of governing.

He has proven to me that he needs to be removed from his diabolic skepticism.

Ralph Martin

Ashland

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In Your View: Religion isn't the answer - The Independent

Houston Rockets: Chandler, Rivers wont wear social justice messages on jerseys – Hoops Habit

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - NOVEMBER 16: Tyson Chandler #19 of the Houston Rockets looks on during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center on November 16, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

Houston Rockets teammates Tyson Chandler and Austin Rivers will both wear their own names on the back of their NBA jerseys after the name they chose was not one of the 29 approved slogans.

Speaking to the media on Tuesday, both players discussed their original plan to honor slain Florida teen Trayvon Martin with his name on the back of their jerseys. Martin was a 17-year-old African-American from Miami Gardens, Florida, who was fatally shot in Sanford, Florida by George Zimmerman in 2012.

Im going to stick with my name, Chandler said. What I was thinking about doing was wearing Trayvon Martins name because I thought that would be a powerful statement. I felt like it would remind people that we dont know what this young mans future could have been.

And I felt like, with his name on the back of a jersey, it would remind people of lives that are cut short and we never know what those lives could have become, Tyson continued. I thought it would have been a nice gesture to wear it out on the court and for his family to remind people.

But that wasnt one of the ones (we could use) so Ill keep my name on the back.

As part of its commitment to continuing its support around social and racial justice which became a focal point around the world this summer after the death of George Floyd by a white Minneapolis police officer the NBPA approved 29 slogans that players could choose from to wear on the back of their jerseys during the NBA restart in Orlando.

Some players chose from the list, whose messages included Equality, I Am A Man, How Many More? and Black Lives Matter, while others including LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and Anthony Davis have chosen to wear their own names but will still support social justice issues.

Chandlers Houston Rockets teammate, Austin Rivers, will also wear his name on the back of his jersey for the same reason.

I wasnt able to put Trayvon so Im using my name. I do like some of the messages that they have. I like that some of the players are using that, but I wanted to go a different route, said Rivers.

I wanted topersonally for me, being from Orlando and Trayvon being from right outside Orlando that kind of resonated with me and my city and where Im from. No matter where I go or where I play, I always represent Orlando Florida.

So I wanted that but theyre not letting it happen so if thats the case, Ill wear Rivers.

Chandler said he has plans to keep the conversation on racial and social justice going and take action.

For the long run, Id like to get with lawmakers. I think thats where we could have a big impact. A lot of the laws need to be changed, that way we can govern them correctly, he said.

I love the momentum. I love the movement and everything that everyone is standing for, he continued. I would love to get with some lawmakers here in the near future. That is my plan.

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Houston Rockets: Chandler, Rivers wont wear social justice messages on jerseys - Hoops Habit