Tag Archives: BIPOC

Malcontentment Happy Hour: March 1, 2021

Our live webcast from the former Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction

The show from March 1, 2021, featured David Obelcz and our co-host Jennifer Smith.

  • White Nationalist hatred on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation
  • Update on the Seattle Police shooting of a suicidal man
  • Malcontented Minutes
    • Prince Harry and Meghan Markle expecting their second child
    • Amazon sued for racial discrimination against Black and Latinx employees
    • Deb Haaland confirmation turns contentious
    • Woman arrested when Cheetos dust gives away her crime
    • Largest Protestant adoption agency in nation now open to LGBTQ parents
    • Texas AG sues utility companies over sky-high electric bills
    • Florida man makes wedding proposal using stolen wedding ring
    • Teen collects 30,000 pairs of shoes to donate to the unhomed
    • New York Governor Cuomo sexual harassment scandal
    • Mormon church reaffirms support for LGBTQ equality and religious freedom legislation
  • $15 minimum wage dies in the Senate, and the reasons are complicated
  • COVID-19 Fast Five Update
    • COVID cases are increasing just as the United States is letting its guard down
    • Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccine receives emergency approval by the FDA
    • Seattle to open mass vaccination site at Lumen Field (formerly Century Link Field)
    • Black community lagging behind in vaccination in all but 5 states
    • A year later, Washington state is approaching 5,000 COVID deaths
  • Women History Month

New video of Rochester, New York PD pepper spraying Black child emerges

From Malcontentment Happy Hour, February 22, 2021

Warning: This story contains video of police activity that some may find disturbing. Viewer discretion is advised.

Rochester, New York Police released another 86 minutes of video of the before, during, and after of a 9-year-old girl in crisis being pepper-sprayed. The disturbing video shows that the mother of the child did not call 911 about her having suicidal ideation or being in a mental health crisis. Instead, the mother is seen chatting with officers about her former significant other having a warrant for his arrest, and that he stole one of her cars.

The video goes on to show the child waits 19 minutes for treatment after being pepper-sprayed, and the EMTs request the cuffs are loosened for being too tight. An NPR report indicates the mother requested a social worker or mental health specialist to come to the call, and officers refused. Hospital officials also denied the child a mental health evaluation.

The mother is now suing the city while three officers are suspended, one without pay over the incident.

Malcontentment Happy Hour: February 22, 2021

Our live webcast from the Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction

The show from February 22, 2021, featured David Obelcz and our co-host Jennifer Smith.

  • Most Tacoma Police Department officers will have body cams by end of the week
  • UW students suspended from attending in-person classes after a snowstorm kegger
  • Rochester, New York Police release 86 more minutes of video of 9-years-old girl pepper sprayed
  • Justice for Elijah McClain inches closer
  • Malcontented Minutes
    • Ohio bomb squad is called on Sprinkles the cat
    • Mashpee-Wampanoag First Nation will keep their tribal lands
    • Mariners president resigns after telling the awful truth about baseball
    • Lake Travis residents in Texas help each other in face of winter disaster
    • Catholic League leaders say Joe Biden’s LGBT obsession is hurting Christians
    • LGBTQ virtual spaces help keep college students connected to combat isolation and depression
    • U.S. shelters for migrant children near-maximum capacity as Biden Administration struggles with “kids in cages’
    • A mariachi band from Houston serenades Ted Cruz outside his home to bring a bit of Mexico vacation to him
    • Mancin Music on TikTok video absolutely shreds Kashmir by Led Zeppelin
    • Kayne West and Kim Kardashian are calling it quits
  • Chad Wheeler arrest video and audio released by Kent Police
  • Walking while Black incident in Plano, Texas
  • Insurrection Update
  • The tale of three vehicular assaults and three different forms of justice in the United States

Memorial at NAAM honors Anais Valencia

From Malcontentment Happy Hour, February 18, 2021

Anais Valencia was murdered in the NAAM parking lot on February 5, 2021

[SEATTLE] – (MTN) Black, religious, and community leaders from across the spectrum came together in a call for an end to violence, being bright in the world, and honoring Anais Valencia. Valencia, just 23-years old, was murdered by Gregory Taylor while he was in a mental health crisis on February 5 in the parking lot of the Northwest African American Museum. During a cool, dry evening with the moon above, religious and community leaders, along with family, remembered Valencia and discussed the tragedy of BIPOC families burying their children due to gun violence.

LaNesha Barber of NAAM, started the words of comfort, “This is a turning point for our community, turning toward the light and a turning toward love. Your presence here tonight begins this turning point.” Seven members of the clergy from Christian and Jewish faith addressed the small crowd as they held candles in the cool evening breeze.

“I think about the power of the cry,” said Reverend Mary Bogan, of the Damascus International Fellowship Baptist Church. “I think about my savior Jesus and his last seven words, and how important it was for him to message the freedom of acknowledging the pain. The freedom of being able to sit with something that is more about the presence of an absence, or the absence of a presence. I thought about what it means to get a call. Deep bonds of love have been torn apart and a community once again feels the stain of violence.”

Reverend Rick Rouse of the Lutheran Church quoted Jimi Hendrix saying, “Jimi Hendrix once said when the power of love overcomes the love of power, we will have peace again.” Controversial figure Virginia Beach of the African American Community Advisory Council spoke of being “exhausted,” from the continued violence, and fighting the sense to quit against the continued strain the Black and Person of Color community faces.

As darkness fell, family and friends gathered around a small memorial in the parking lot of NAAM, just steps from where Valencia lost her life. Later that same night, LaNesha Barber’s words of turning toward the light and love fell hollow on the ground as police shot and killed a man having a mental health crisis on the Seattle waterfront.

Malcontentment Happy Hour: February 18, 2021

Our live webcast from the Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction

The show from February 18, 2021, featured David Obelcz and our co-host Jennifer Smith.

  • Remembering Anias Valencia – NAAM Memorial
  • Seattle police shoot and kill a suicidal man
  • Malcontented Minutes
    • Disney issues cultural advisories on certain movies but excludes Pocahontas
    • Two Florida men claim to be US Marshals to avoid wearing masks
    • Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoon greets a newborn baby gorilla
    • Puerto Rico declares an emergency due to ongoing gender-identification violence
    • Bachelor/Bachelorette host Chris Harrison stepping down amid southern plantation ball flap
    • Ohio man skips a job interview to rob a bank instead
    • Mattress Mack of Houston opens up his stores to freezing Houston residents
    • Los Angeles Schools defund the police to invest in Black student achievement
    • Ted Cruz says “let ’em eat snow” as he takes off for Cancun amid one of worst weather disasters in Texas history
    • US House is expected to pass sweeping LGBTQ reform bill next week
  • Joe Biden gets facts wrong on minimum wage, immigration, and what is going on with COVID stimulus
  • Insurrection upate

Black couple home appraisal low balled, believe race was a factor

Five Fast Facts

  • Paul Austin and Tenisha Tate Austin bought a home in Marin City, California in 2016
  • They did $400K in renovations and upgrades including adding a second floor and more than 1,000 feet of new living space
  • An appraiser valued the home after renovations at $989,000, which was below comparable homes in the neighborhood – the Austin’s felt the low appraisal was due to their race
  • A white friend agreed to be their stand-in during a second appraisal, including replacing family pictures and items in the home
  • The home appraised for $1,482,000 in the second visit – which can’t be accounted for changes in market conditions between the two appraisals

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) – In the New Year, systemic racism has continued to force inequity in home ownership rates across the Bay Area, and Black families who are in a position to purchase a home often face discrimination.

It is no secret that home ownership is a proven pathway to building wealth in the United States. But in a competitive housing market with some of the most expensive homes in the country, it is tough for Black Bay Area residents to buy a home to start the process.

Keep reading at ABC 7

Malcontentment Happy Hour: February 11, 2021

Our live webcast from the Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction

The show from February 11, 2021, featured David Obelcz and our co-host Jennifer Smith.

  • Winter Storm Watch in place, winter is coming, all in one week
  • King County warming center controversy and location
  • Malcontented Minutes
  • Chad Wheeler update and an interview of his victim Alleah Taylor
  • Tragedy in Central District – two dead, one wounded in an officer-involved shooting
  • Black History Month
  • Life in a bubble and why impeachment won’t bring an end to Trumpism

Seattle Police release video of shooting incident by Jimi Hendrix Park

[SEATTLE] – (MTN) The Seattle Police Department has released a heavily edited video from the shooting incident by Jimi Hendrix Park last night. Yesterday evening around 9:15 PM, 911 started receiving calls for shots fired in the 2300 block of Massachusetts Street, by the Urban League Village Apartments. As police arrived they heard gunfire and held their position to wait for more units to arrive. According to the Seattle Police Department, they were confronted by an armed man who fires at the police, and officers returned fire. During this period, 911 received a phone call from a woman reporting that she and her friend had been shot, and her friend was dying after being shot in the face three times. They reported they did not know their location, but 911 dispatch had identified it in the call as the 2300 block of Massachusetts Street. One woman died, the other is in critical condition, and the gunman was declared dead at the scene.

This video contains graphic scenes and descriptions of violence, viewer discretion is advised

The heavily edited video raises questions on the police account of the incident. The video shows two points of view. One from a group of heavily armed officers, who repeatedly order the gunman to put their gun down. There is suddenly a hail of semi-automatic gunfire from sidearms and rifles. A second body cam video from a closer perspective shows the gunman emerging from a driveway and raising his weapon toward police, but it does not appear to show the gunman firing at officers. The gunman has been identified by multiple sources as Gregory Taylor, who was a resident of the apartments.

The conduct of 911 operators will likely be called into question by the community. The woman caller repeats that her friend is dying and she doesn’t know her location. The first dispatcher sounds exasperated as he connects the Seattle Fire Department to the call before asking for other basic information.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”23″ gal_title=”Jimi Hendrix Park Shooting”]

Protesters marched in Seattle tonight and dropped two banners over an overpass condemning Seattle Police actions. Later, protesters gathered outside of the East Precinct on Capitol Hill in a familiar scene, creating chalk art on the temporary wall. Seattle Police appear to have made one arrest during that protest.

One dead, one critically wounded, and suspect killed overnight in Seattle

[SEATTLE] – (MTN) One woman is dead, and another is fighting for her life after being shot last night. Seattle police received 911 calls about shots being fired in the 2300 block of Massachusetts Street, adjacent to the African American Heritage Museum and Cultural Center by Jimi Hendrix Park.

A Seattle police spokeswoman stated that the police heard gunfire upon arrival and waited for additional units to arrive before advancing into the scene. According to witnesses, including those we spoke to, they saw a gunman firing multiple shots. One individual stated Seattle police “swarmed” an armed person and shot him. Seattle police claim there was an exchange of gunfire with the suspect, who was hit multiple times.

[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”22″ gal_title=”Jimi Hendrix Park Shooting”]

Officers secured the scene and found two shooting victims about a block away in a vehicle. Both women were transferred to Harborview Medical Center, where one remains in critical condition. The other woman died from multiple gunshot wounds while in transit to the hospital.

Multiple people have identified the person shot by Seattle police as Gregory Taylor. Seattle police stated that Taylor knew the two shooting victims and that this was not a random attack. Taylor’s next of kin was notified at the shooting scene shortly after arriving

After the shooting, several protesters arrived at the scene, which police had secured. Family members and others asked through social media for the protesters to leave. A small memorial was set up in Jimi Hendrix Park with candles and chalk art.

Tensions between the Seattle Police Department and the public are high after months of social justice protests, motivated by George Floyd’s death. The Seattle police have had to walk back claims of IEDs used by protesters, untrue accusations of extortion in CHOP over the summer, and multiple uses of force claims against the department. Since Adrian Diaz has become the Acting Chief, four officers have been fired for violating department policy. These incidents have worked against community trust, along with an extensive history of biased policing in BIPOC neighborhoods. The Seattle Police Department has been operating under a federal consent decree for almost a decade.

The Force Investigation Team is investigating the officer-involved shooting. On their blog, Seattle police stated they would release body cam video within 72 hours, per department policy.

Malcontentment Happy Hour: February 8, 2021

Our live webcast from the Seattle Anarchist Jurisdiction

The show from February 8, 2021, featured David Obelcz and our co-host Jennifer Smith.

  • Winter weather is coming and King County has told local communities not to open warming centers
  • Find a COVID Shot WA at www.findacovidshot.org is helping Washington seniors and BIPOC communities get on vaccination lists
  • Malcontented Minutes – our new speed round of news
    • Michigan man killed by baby shower cannon explosion
    • Amanda Gorman becomes the first poet to open a Super Bowl game
    • Black-owned eTailers are creating a one-stop-stop for BIPOC founded beauty products
    • Seattle based Magistrate Judge releases Ethan Nordean – US District Judge says not so fast
    • Queer artists of color are dominating 2021 LGBTQIA art exhibitions
    • Fiona the Cincinnati Zoo hippo turns 4-years old
    • Ten-years old BIPOC Bellevue girl builds a website to share positive COVID news
    • Virginia and Nebraska push to advance bills striking unenforceable gay marriage bans from state constitutions
    • The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Subversion & the Art of Slavery Abolition
    • Florida man in Florida stadium runs onto the field during the Super Bowl
  • Black History Month
  • Bothell protest car attack goes unpunished