LAS VEGAS — Jeffery Thompkins stood at a community rally with thousands of protesters this month, listening as they chanted, "I can't breathe."
They were shouting the last words of George Floyd, who died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25 with an officer's knee on his neck. Floyd's final moments were captured on video by a bystander.
Thompkins, 32, said he closed his eyes, holding back tears. He had heard the words before, nearly nine months earlier. But the voice he heard back then belonged to Byron Lee Williams, his mother's fiancé.
On Sept. 5, two Las Vegas police officers arrested Williams, 50, who was Black, for riding a bicycle without a safety light. Body camera video released by police showed the officers chasing Williams, holding him on the ground, handcuffed, and kneeling on his back before lifting him upright and dragging him away. Williams repeatedly told officers, "I can't breathe."
He said it at least 17 times before he died, according to the police video.
But unlike Floyd's death — which triggered a wave of protests across the country, including in Las Vegas, and led to charges for the four Minneapolis officers involved — Williams' death drew little attention. Police released just part of the video from one of the body cameras; no bystander videos emerged. A single rally for Williams last fall drew about two dozen people. No charges have been filed against officers connected to the case.
Williams' family, community activists and civil rights advocates say it is hard to understand why Williams' death did not spark the same outrage or face the same public scrutiny as Floyd's. In part, they believe it is because Las Vegas police controlled the narrative by releasing only some of the bodycam video to the public. Police showed Williams' family additional bodycam video, in which officers ignored his cries for help, his relatives say. (NBC News has not seen the additional video, but two of Williams' relatives and two civil rights advocates who saw it all described it similarly.)
And at the September news conference where police showed the partial video for the first time, officials emphasized Williams' criminal record, including drug and theft convictions.
Officer Aden OcampoGomez, a Las Vegas police spokesman, said that the case was still under investigation and that the department could not comment further.
"The police told the public their version of the story, how they wanted to," Thompkins said. "No one saw what we saw."
A push for transparency
Las Vegas has a reputation for parties, not police brutality protests. But for nearly three weeks following Floyd's death, rallies, demonstrations and candlelight vigils have swept the city, often drawing thousands of people.
While the marches have been in response to Floyd's death, organizers called for local changes, including defunding Las Vegas' police department and ending racial inequities in policing. About 12.2 percent of the Las Vegas Valley's population is Black, but from 2015 to 2019, the share of people shot by Las Vegas police who were Black ranged from 24 percent to 40 percent, according to a statistical analysis published by the department.
Some of the recent protesters called for police accountability in Williams' death, as well as the death of Tashii Farmer, 40, who also went by Tashii Brown, a Black man who died in 2017 after Kenneth Lopera, then a Las Vegas police officer, shocked him with a stun gun seven times and placed him in a neck hold. Lopera faced charges, including involuntary manslaughter, but after a grand jury declined to indict him, Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson dropped the charges.
Lopera, who left the department shortly after his arrest, had been the first Las Vegas police officer in 27 years to face a charge involving an in-custody death. (The reason for his departure from the department has not been disclosed.) No Las Vegas police officer has been charged in an in-custody death since then.
"Before there was George Floyd, there were people who died at the hands of the police department in Las Vegas just in the last few years, and their families have not seen justice," said the Rev. Vance "Stretch" Sanders, a community activist and youth pastor.
On June 5, amid the recent protests, Las Vegas police announced changes to their use of force policy. The changes, which took effect May 15, include barring officers from restraining suspects in a way that limits their ability to breathe. If suspects say they cannot breathe, they must be placed in a recovery position, such as sitting upright, and officers must call for medical assistance immediately.
That was a change that civil liberties groups say they demanded in several meetings following Williams' death, and it marks the third time the department has significantly updated its use-of-force policies since 2012, when a series of police shootings drew criticism from the U.S. Justice Department.
"We have worked very hard over the past eight years to build trust and have a department that reflects our community," Las Vegas police Deputy Chief John McGrath said in an announcement of the recent updates.
The 2012 reforms included the use of body cameras and the release of more information about in-custody death investigations. In 2017, about four months after Farmer's death, the department restricted the use of a type of chokehold.
Wesley Juhl, the spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said the changes are a step in the right direction but will not have a significant impact unless officers are disciplined or charged when they violate the policies.
Juhl added that the department needs to be more transparent about investigations of deaths in police custody, as well as any disciplinary action taken against officers; that information is now left out of the department's published reviews following deaths. He also said that while Las Vegas police generally release body camera video, often only parts of it are shown.
"It's not transparency if you're using a selected video clip to make your point," Juhl said.
"The point of transparency is for Metro to allow the public to hold them accountable," he continued, referring to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, "but we've seen time and time again that there are still unresolved questions surrounding use of force and in-custody death cases."
'Over a damn bicycle light'
Thompkins said he and his family did not know what to expect when police asked to meet with them three days after Williams' death to view body camera video. Thompkins said all that police had told the family was that Williams had been arrested, had had difficulty breathing and was taken to a hospital, where he died.
As they walked through the double doors of police headquarters, near downtown Las Vegas, less than a mile from where Williams had been stopped, it was still hard for them to believe he was gone.
Known by his friends and family as "Punch," Williams grew up in Southern California, near San Bernardino. He and Thompkins' mother, Carmon Scott, 53, had known each other since high school and eventually began a relationship. They had a child, Thompkins' older sister, and later split up but remained close friends.
Williams was one of the only male figures in Thompkins' childhood. Even when Thompkins' family moved to Illinois and then Las Vegas, they kept in touch by phone, and he considered Williams a stepfather.
Four years ago, Williams and Thompkins' mother reconciled, and he moved to Las Vegas to be with her. Thompkins, who runs the JET Foundation, a Las Vegas nonprofit that helps underserved families gain access to everything from food to medical care, began spending more time with Williams.
Thompkins said that while Williams still had his ups and downs — a drug addiction that had contributed to prison stints in California for narcotics and theft convictions, as well as arrests in Las Vegas on drug possession charges — he was trying hard to change.
Williams, a barber, often gave out free haircuts to those who could not pay for them, even when he short on cash, his family said. He doted on his three grandchildren. He enjoyed fishing at Lake Mead and listening to old-school R&B. Williams did not have a car, but he used his bicycle to run errands for elderly neighbors in his central Las Vegas neighborhood, Thompkins said.
That morning at police headquarters, Thompkins said, he, Scott, his sister, Williams' sister and her daughter sat in a small room on the first floor, with two computer screens and a few police officials. He said police explained that two officers had chased Williams on foot and arrested him for riding his bicycle without a safety light shortly after 5:48 a.m. the day he died.
Then an officer began playing the body camera video.
It showed Williams riding his bike, being ordered to pull over and then taking off running. One of the officers caught up to him about a minute and a half later at an apartment complex, where he ordered Williams to get to the ground. Williams lay down on his stomach, and the two officers handcuffed him.
"I can't breathe," Williams said in the video. One officer is shown with his knee pressed into Williams' lower back, while the other presses a hand against Williams' back, holding him to the ground. Again, Williams groaned, "I can't breathe."
"Yeah, because you're f---ing tired of running," one of the officers responded in the video.
About a minute later, a third officer arrived; both he and one of the arresting officers knelt on Williams' lower back for about 30 seconds as Williams repeatedly said he could not breathe.
"You got pressure on your butt, that's all," one of the officers responded in the video.
More officers arrived, and they pulled Williams to his feet. Within seconds, his body appeared to go limp.
"Stand up," one of the officers shouted in the video. "If you don't stand up, we're going to drag you."
The officers then began to drag Williams away.
That scene, which lasts about five minutes, is the part that was later released to the public.
But Williams' family say they were shown more that day.
Thompkins and Scott said the additional video showed officers dragging Williams around a corner, his body still limp, before dropping him on the ground. At one point, Thompkins said, the video showed Williams asking for an ambulance and an officer telling Williams that nobody was coming to help him.
Williams then fell silent, lying on the ground as the officers laughed and discussed weekend plans, Thompkins said.
Scott, Williams' fiancée, echoed Thompkins' description, as did a former ACLU of Nevada staff member and NAACP Las Vegas' chapter president, who both later watched the videos at a meeting with police.
Williams' family sat stunned, watching those scenes repeat as police played video from seven body cameras. From different vantage points, each time, they heard Williams tell officers he could not breathe.
Thompkins said he could barely speak. He watched his sister weep. At one point, overwhelmed with emotion, Scott fell out of her chair, and Thompkins had to grab her, holding her while she cried. One of the four police officials in the room asked whether she needed a glass of water, Thompkins said. It is one of the only times he remembers officers speaking to them while they viewed the video.
The videos ended with paramedics administering CPR as Williams lay motionless next to a patrol car, Thompkins said.
"That's what they told us, that he died at the hospital," Thompkins said. "But when we watched those videos, it looks like he's just dead on the ground right there, that he had already died, and for what? Over a damn bicycle light?"
The police account
The day after the meeting with Williams' family, Las Vegas police held a media briefing about his death. Assistant Sheriff Charles Hank detailed the circumstances that led to Williams' arrest and then spent several minutes describing Williams' criminal record, including the convictions in California, his arrests on drug charges in Nevada and even his "numerous traffic violations."
Hank, who recently retired, said that about a week before Williams' death, he had "absconded" by failing to check in with officers with the county's electronic monitoring program. Earlier in the year, Williams had been required to wear an ankle monitor as he awaited adjudication on June drug charges, according to court records. In response to a reporter's question, Hank said the department had been "in the process" of getting an arrest warrant for Williams before they stopped him for the bicycle light.
Court records did not show Williams as an absconder until Sept. 6, the day after his death. A bench warrant was not issued until the morning of the news conference, according to court records.
Hank added that Williams was carrying drugs on the day he died. When officers stood Williams up after having handcuffed him, two plastic bags of a white substance and an orange bottle filled with white pills dropped to the ground, and Williams appeared to kick them away, Hank said, displaying a picture of the substances. Police later determined that they contained methamphetamine and prescription painkillers.
Hank then rolled the five-minute segment of the body camera video.
Hank spoke over the video at times, pointing out that when officers lifted Williams up, he appeared to be trying to "cover something up."
Hank said officers turned off their the body cameras shortly after moving Williams near the patrol car and did not turn them back on again until paramedics arrived. He said officials were still reviewing the video and whether the cameras were turned off prematurely. He said that Williams appeared to "pass out" as he was taken to the patrol car, but he was "breathing, making noises and moving" as paramedics were called. He identified the two officers who arrested Williams — Benjamin Vasquez, 27, and Patrick Campbell, 28 — but not the several others who arrived later.
When asked by a reporter about the department's policy when suspects tell officers they cannot breathe, Hank said suspects often become winded during chases. He added that the video showed that Williams was trying to conceal drugs.
"Oftentimes, suspects will say things to somewhat distract officers, but it's important — as they did that in this case — is to address that, evaluate that," Hank said.
Paramedics took Williams to Valley Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 6:44 a.m., a little less than an hour after officers tried to pull him over.
A small protest
About a week after the police media briefing, Thompkins and his family held a protest in front of police headquarters organized with the help of Sanders, the community activist.
They asked people who joined the protest to bring bicycles to remember Williams. Angered by the way officials had presented the information about Williams' death, they demanded that the department release video from the seven body cameras they had watched.
Roxann McCoy, president of the NAACP's Las Vegas chapter, said she believes police shape the public's perception of in-custody deaths by the information they emphasize and release — which, in Williams' case, contrasted with what she had seen on the video that was not made public.
"The difference between what I saw on the news and what I viewed later is horrific," McCoy said.
"It's not fair for the police to give the entire rap sheet of someone who died in their custody but then not release the disciplinary history of the officers involved and hide behind union contracts and state codes," she added. "It's painting a picture that there is justification in their actions."
The protest drew 20 to 25 people, including Williams' family.
"It hurt that not that many people came. It really did," Thompkins said. "We just wanted people to hear us and know there was more information out there that police weren't giving them."
The next month, the Clark County coroner ruled Williams' death a homicide. The coroner said Williams died of methamphetamine intoxication, medical conditions, including heart and lung disease, and "prone restraint."
On March 3, Wolfson, the Clark County DA, made a preliminary determination not to prosecute the officers involved in Williams' death and recommended the case for a public review. The review, which can include the release of body camera video, but may not show all of it, is intended to give families and the public a chance to ask prosecutors questions about the case. Police said the review in Williams' case has been delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A report from the police department's force investigation team, which determines whether officers acted criminally during in-custody deaths, is also pending, as is a report by the department's Office of Internal Oversight. Police said the two officers who arrested Williams, who were initially placed on paid administrative leave, per department protocol, are back on active duty.
ATLANTA - Former Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe and Officer Devin Brosnan surrendered to authorities a day after the Fulton County District Attorney filed charges against them in connection to the shooting death of Rayshard Brooks.
Brosnan turned himself in before noon Thursday, Fulton County Jail records show. Rolfe surrendered about three hours later.
Brosnan, 26, had a signature bond on charges of aggravated assault and three counts of violating his oath of office in connection to Brooks' death. FOX 5 was there as Brosnan was seen leaving the Fulton County Jail.
Rolfe, the officer who pulled the trigger, faces 11 charges, including felony murder and multiple counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The felony murder charge against Rolfe, 27, carries life in prison or the death penalty if prosecutors decide to seek it.
Rolfe was terminated from the Atlanta Police Department shortly after the shooting.
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard announced the charges Wednesday. He said Brosnan stood on Brooks’ shoulder as he struggled for his life.
Brooks, 27, was shot and killed the night of June 12 at a Wendy's restaurant along University Avenue in southeast Atlanta. The officers were called over complaints of a car blocking the restaurant’s drive-thru lane.
A struggle ensued between Brooks and the officers when they attempted to handcuff him, dashcam video showed. In the struggle, Brooks grabbed a Taser and ran, firing it at the officer, Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said. Shots were fired at Brooks as he was running away, surveillance video from the Wendy's showed.
An autopsy revealed he was shot twice in the back.
2 Chainz's got more drama over his ATL joint, and this time it's beef with the keepers of Pablo Escobar's name ... who are suing the rapper over the restaurant's name.
Pablo Escobar's family company, Escobar Inc., is suing 2 Chainz for at least $10 million ... claiming his Escobar Restaurant and Tapas -- there are 2 of 'em in Atlanta -- violates federal law with its unauthorized commercial use of the Escobar name and likeness.
According to docs, obtained by TMZ, the company's pissed 2 Chainz slapped the family name across his famous ATL restaurants, their websites and social media -- not to mention the clothing sold with the restaurant name.
The company says it owns the trademark to Escobar's likeness and 2 Chainz is using the name to generate traffic and sales. The company says, for example, 2 Chainz has Escobar's likeness painted inside one of his joints. They also point to the menu featuring "Escobar Crab Cakes."
Escobar Inc. wants the 8-figure damages, minimum, plus an injunction blocking use of the name and likeness at the restaurants.
As we've reported, 2 Chainz's ATL joints have had plenty of unrelated drama recently, stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
Styles P is back with another official music video in support of his new album titled "David Styles: Curb Your Enthusiasm." This one is for "I'm the Shit."
UFC President Dana White reveals his MMA Mt. Rushmore on Episode 20 of The Schmozone Podcast. His list comprises of Amanda Nunes, Jon Jones, Chuck Liddell and Amanda Nunes.
(CNN) Vanessa Bryant, wife of the late Kobe Bryant, is urging Congress to pass a new helicopter safety bill named for her husband and daughter who were killed in a crash earlier this year.
"I strongly urge that the United States Congress pass a federal law that would improve the safety of helicopters operating in this country," she said in statement. "I believe there is a chance that Kobe and Gianna would still be alive today if their helicopter had been equipped with the safety equipment required by this pending federal legislation."
Her comments come after Democratic lawmakers on Thursday introduced the "Kobe Bryant and Gianna Bryant Helicopter Safety Act." The legislation would require all helicopters certified to carry six or more people to be equipped with a Terrain Awareness and Warning System, a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder.
"I believe that these safety measures will save many lives," Bryant said of the bill.
"As passengers traveling on aircrafts we assume that proper safety measures are in order to prevent accidents from happening before we fly. It's unfortunate that this is not the case and aircraft companies must do their part to protect lives."
Similar legislation had been introduced by Rep. Brad Sherman of California in January following the crash that killed Kobe, Gianna and six others. Sherman, however, told CNN that the bill introduced Thursday was updated after the Bryant family contacted the relevant lawmakers to say they supported the effort.
Bryant said she was "deeply moved" when she learned of the legislation would be named for her husband and daughter.
"Having Kobe's and Gianna's names associated with this federal law that has the potential to save countless lives would be a fitting tribute to their memory," she said.
Bryant also proposed that the helicopter industry "consider renaming the black box to Mamba 8 Box in honor of the 3 young Mamba team players, the 2 Mamba coaches and the 3 Mamba parents onboard, equaling 8."
The group had been heading to the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, for a youth basketball game when their helicopter crashed.
In February, Bryant filed a lawsuit against Island Express Helicopters, alleging in part that the pilot failed to safely operate the aircraft. The suit was filed the same day Kobe Bryant's memorial was held at the Staples Center.
At the time of the filing, CNN reviewed FAA records and found that Island Express was only certified for using visual flight rules (VFR) but that the conditions the day of the crash should have required instrument flight rules (IFR), something this helicopter was not licensed or certified for, according to the suit.
Vanessa and Kobe Bryant were married in 2001 and were just a few months away from their 19th wedding anniversary. Vanessa Bryant has been candid on social media about missing her late husband and their daughter. Along with Gianna, they had three other daughters: Natalia, Bianka and Capri. Gianna would have turned 14 on May 1.
At Kobe Bryant's memorial, Vanessa Bryant said, "I couldn't see him as a celebrity nor just an incredible basketball player. He was my sweet husband and the beautiful father of my children. He was mine. He was my everything."
LOS ANGELES (AP) — “That ’70s Show” actor Danny Masterson has been charged with the rapes of three women in the early 2000s, Los Angeles prosecutors said Wednesday.
The three counts of rape by force or fear come after a three-year investigation of the 44-year-old Masterson. The charges were filed and an arrest warrant issued Tuesday. Masterson was taken into custody late Wednesday morning, jail records showed. He was being held on $3.3 million bail and is scheduled to be arraigned on Sept. 18.
Masterson’s attorney Tom Mesereau said his client is innocent, and “we’re confident that he will be exonerated when all the evidence finally comes to light and witnesses have the opportunity to testify.”
Prosecutors allege that Masterson raped a 23-year-old woman sometime in 2001, a 28-year-old woman in April of 2003, and a 23-year-old woman he had invited to his Hollywood Hills home between October and December of 2003.
If convicted, he could face up to 45 years in prison.
Prosecutors declined to file charges in two other Masterson cases that police had investigated, one because of insufficient evidence and the other because the statute of limitations had expired.
Masterson has been married to actor and model Bijou Phillips since 2011.
“Obviously, Mr. Masterson and his wife are in complete shock considering that these nearly 20-year old allegations are suddenly resulting in charges being filed, but they and their family are comforted knowing that ultimately the truth will come out,” said Mesereau, who has previously represented Michael Jackson and Bill Cosby in their trials for sexual crimes.
“The people who know Mr. Masterson know his character and know the allegations to be false.”
ATLANTA (AP) — Prosecutors brought murder charges Wednesday against the white Atlanta police officer who shot Rayshard Brooks in the back, saying that the black man posed no threat when he was gunned down and that the officer kicked him and offered no medical treatment as he lay dying on the ground. Brooks was holding a stun gun he had snatched from officers but was 18 feet, 3 inches away when he was shot by Garrett Rolfe and was running away at the time, District Attorney Paul Howard said in announcing the charges five days after the killing outside a Wendy’s restaurant rocked the city.
Comedian and You actor Chris D'Elia has been accused of sexually harassing multiple women when they were underage as accusations of grooming and the solicitation of nude photos and meeting up for sex spread on Twitter.
On Tuesday, a Twitter user named Simoné, who uses the handle @girlpowertbh started a thread in which she shared screenshots of DM conversations alleging to be between herself and D'Elia when she was 16-year-old in 2014.
She wrote: "for the longest time i thought it was embarrassing for ME that i was interacting with this older man but he was the one who DM'd me on twitter and was the one who was twice my age and was the one that used the power imbalance between us to his advantage so f*** chris d'elia."
Another tweet by @girlpowertbh reads: "i am also definitely not the only underage girl he did this too. just an FYI." Adding: "for the longest time i thought this was just a funny story to tell at parties when i realized what happened isn't normal and that he was and could still be doing this to younger girls and it's my job to say something."
The Twitter user claims the only reason she never ended up meeting D'Elia was because she got a boyfriend her own age.
The thread quickly went viral on Tuesday, paving the way for an avalanche of accusations against the Undatable actor, who is aged 40.
Another Twitter user, who goes by the handle @livstadler shared her own experience with D'Elia whereby the comic asked her to "hang out" after she messaged him about a show he was performing in Toronto.
"But I was young and dumb and just really wanted to meet a role model of mine so I agreed to meet him in public, at a bar. 10 minutes before our meeting time, he switched the location to his hotel bar. I sighed, knowing where this was going. But went anyway, I wanted to meet him!" she wrote.
"When I arrived at the hotel bar, I ordered a drink and texted him, telling him I was there. Predictably, he told me to come to his hotel room. I said "no thank you, I prefer to meet at the bar". He stopped responding."
Another Twitter user @LeahKnauer recounted her experience of visiting D'Elia at his home when she was 19.
"His energy that night was very dark and creepy - I remember he even got mad at me for "ringing the doorbell wrong", so our first face-to-face interaction was him scolding me. After a few minutes of talking, I told him I was a virgin. His eyes lit up and he excitedly asked, 'So if we had sex, it would probably hurt you, right?' Then I got immediately creeped TF out and scared he was going to hurt me," she wrote.
She then explained that she was only in the house for around 30 minutes before leaving but that, "even though I was of legal age and consented to going over there, he was predatory and tbh scary."
NEW YORK (AP) — Quaker Oats is retiring the 131-year-old Aunt Jemima brand, saying the company recognizes the character’s origins are “based on a racial stereotype.”
Just hours later, the owner of the Uncle Ben’s brand of rice says the brand will “evolve” in response to concerns about racial stereotyping.
Quaker, which is owned by PepsiCo, said it’s overhauled pancake mix and syrup will hit shelves by the fourth quarter of 2020. The company will announce the new name at a later date.
“We recognize Aunt Jemima’s origins are based on a racial stereotype,” said Kristin Kroepfl of Quaker Foods North America. “While work has been done over the years to update the brand in a manner intended to be appropriate and respectful, we realize those changes are not enough.”
The Aunt Jemima image has evolved over the years to meet socially acceptable standards of the times, but the brand could not shake its history of racial stereotypes and connections to slavery. By 1989, Aunt Jemima had lost weight, abandoned her kerchief and looked more like a typical modern housewife. But the image and brand tweaks over the years were apparently not enough.
“The reputation of that brand, now more than 130 years old, was built on a racial and cultural stereotype that is widely regarded as offensive,” said James O’Rourke, professor of management at the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business. “Brand managers have been aware of that for years and have tried, largely through incremental updates to the character’s image on the packaging, to modernize how she is seen. The headscarf is gone, they’ve added a lace collar, pearl earrings. But the effect, because of the name, is the same.”
PepsiCo also announced a five-year, $400 million initiative “to lift up black communities and increase black representation at PepsiCo.”
Caroline Sherman, a spokeswoman for Mars, which owns Uncle Ben’s, says the company is listening to the voices of consumers, especially in the black community, and recognizes that now is the right time to evolve the brand, including its visual identity.
In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, activists and consumers have demanded that companies take a stand against racial injustice or lose their business. The singer Kirby posted a TikTok video called “How to Make a Non Racist Breakfast” explaining some of the backstory of the Aunt Jemima brand. That video went viral.
Land O’Lakes announced earlier this year that it would no longer use the Native American woman who had graced its packages of butter, cheese and other products since the late 1920s.
Harlem, New York emcees Herb McGruff and Stan Spit, together known as Gruff and Spit, release an official music video for "Intro Vibez" off of their latest EP titled "We Da Zone."
This one is upset because of African Americans who have protested in her hometown of Portland, Oregon.
"We gave you freedom, you dumb, ungrateful pieces of shit," she says in this video. "So, you can thank us, the Republicans for letting you act like assholes ... like you are right now. 'Cause I guaran-damn-tee if we were able to have slavery again, I'd make ya'll a slave just so you wouldn't act and destroy our cities anymore. Burn a flag, burn a black person, I say."
This "Karen" is an amateur porn star, with an alleged rap sheet that includes prostitution, theft, harassment and DUI. Seems like she would want to just STFU, but I guess she never learned that you shouldn't throw stones if you live in a glass house.
Niggas be thinkin I’m deep/intelligent, fooled by college degree My IQ is average, there’s a young lady out there she way smarter than me I scrolled through her timeline in these wild times and I started to read She mad at these crackers, she mad at these capitalists, mad at these murder police, She mad at my niggas, she mad at our ignorance, she wear her heart on her sleeve She mad at the celebrities, low key I be thinkin she talking bout me Now I ain’t no dummy to think I’m above criticism so when I see something that’s valid I listen But Shit, its something about the queen tone that’s bothering me She strike me as somebody blessed enough to grow up in conscious environment With parents that know bout the struggle for liberation and in turn they provided with A perspective and awareness of the system and unfairness that afflicts em And the clearest understanding of what we gotta do to get free, And the frustration the fills her words seems to come from the fact that most people don’t see just cuz you woke and I’m not, that shit ain’t no reason to talk like you better than me How you gon lead, when you attacking the very same niggas that really do need The shit that you saying? instead of conveying you holier come help get us up to speed Shit it’s a reason it took like 200 years for our ancestors just to get freed These shackles be lockin the mental way more than physical, I look at freedom like trees Can’t grow a forest like overnight, hit the ghetto and slowly start planting your seeds Fuck is the point of you preaching your message to those that already believe what you believe? I’m on some “fuck a retweet”, most people is sheep, You got all the answers but how you gon reach? If I could make one more suggestion respectfully I would say it’s more effective to treat People like children, understanding the time and love and patience that’s needed to grow, This change is inevitable but ain’t none of us seen this before Therefore we just gotta learn everything as we go, I struggle with thoughts on the daily Feel like a slave that somehow done saved enough coins to buy his way up outta slavery Thinking just maybe, in my pursuit to make life so much better for me and my babies I done betrayed the very same people that look at me like I’m some kind of a hero Because of the zeros that’s next to the commas, but look here I promise I’m not who you think Ran into this nigga outside of the store yesterday he said something that had me like “wait”, He was like “Cole, preciate what you been doin My nigga, that’s real” but damn, why I feel faker Than snow on the bluff? well maybe cuz deep down I know I ain’t doing enough,
The sun is shining today The sun is shining today The sun is shining today
Can you walk with me? I hope we’ll find the reason why we often sob. Go on cry.
Painful memories fuck up the vibe though I be trying to let the time heal my mind.
I was once a child, I’ve gotten older Still, I know I’m just a boy in Gods eyes.
Fill me up with wisdom and some courage, plus endurance to survive help mine thrive
Tsu Surf is one of a handful of battle rappers that can also make good songs. His latest mixtape titled "MSYKM" is a perfect example of that. The 13-track project features G Herbo, Mozzy, Jim Jones, Earthquake Jones, Benny The Butcher, Bby Hndrxx, Lady London, Justin Love, Dave East and Guordan Banks.
The mother of a Florida man accused of strangling a teenage Black Lives Matter protester and killing an elderly woman said her son called her from jail and confessed to the slayings, according to a new report.
Aaron Glee Jr., 49, who was arrested Sunday in the deaths of 19-year-old activist Oluwatoyin Salau and Victoria Sims, 75, called his mother, Sandra Cutliff, later that night and confessed to the killings, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.
Cutliff, 67, told the outlet that her son said he met Salau on a bus and invited her to his house so she could shower. He told her the teenager asked him for the drug ecstasy and when he refused she bit him and called him a “n—-r” — sending him into a rage.
“He told me that after she got out of the shower she wanted ‘molly,'” Cutliff said. “He told her he wasn’t going to buy it. He said she called him a f—ass n—-r and bit him. That’s what triggered him off.”
Glee was arrested in Orlando after police found the two women’s bodies in a home he rented in Tallahassee, police said in a press release.
Cutliff said Sims, who knew Glee so well that he called the elderly woman his “white grandmother,” angered him when she visited and called him a “slob,” so he killed her.
Salau, whose body was found Saturday, recently spoke at a George Floyd rally in Tallahassee, where she met Simms, a well-known local campaigner for Democratic politics.
Sims was last seen June 11, and Salau on June 6.
Cutliff said she did not know why her son allegedly committed the two murders, but said he suffered from mental health problems — and had been in a psychotic downward spiral in recent weeks, the Mail said.
Glee had a lengthy rap sheet and was out on bail at the time of his arrest for allegedly viciously assaulting another woman days earlier. In that case, he was charged on June 9 and accused of kicking a woman in the stomach after she refused to have sex with him.
His criminal record dates to 1989, and includes robbery, car theft and credit card fraud convictions, the Mail reported.
(CNN) Martin Gugino, the 75-year-old protester who was pushed by two Buffalo, New York, police officers earlier this month, has a fractured skull and is not able to walk, his lawyer said in a statement provided to CNN on Monday.
"I am not at liberty to elaborate at this time other than to confirm that his skull was fractured," Gugino's attorney Kelly Zarcone said. "While he is not able to walk yet, we were able to have a short conversation before he became too tired. He is appreciative of all of the concern about him but he is still focused on the issues rather than himself."
CNN has not been able to speak with Gugino directly, but in her press statement, Zarcone passed along a message from him: "I think it's very unnecessary to focus on me. There are plenty of other things to think about besides me."
Gugino is focused on getting better and he remains in rehabilitation, Zarcone told CNN on Tuesday.
"Barring something unusual and unforeseen, I don't expect much change at all this week," she said.
Gugino was injured when two police officers shoved him backwards during a protest against racism and police brutality on June 4. Video of the incident shows that he fell to the sidewalk and his head began bleeding as other officers walked by him.
Officers Aaron Torgalski, 39, and Robert McCabe, 32, each pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault and have been released on their own recognizance without bail.
Based on the initial video, police issued a statement that said Gugino tripped and fell, Buffalo Police spokesman Mike DeGeorge told CNN. Police later amended that statement and suspended the officers without pay and opened an investigation.
After video of the incident spread widely -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it was "wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful" -- Gugino became the focus of a conspiracy theory pushed by One America News Network and President Donald Trump that suggested the 75-year-old was an "ANTIFA provocateur" and that his serious injury "could be a set up."
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Tsu Surf is one of a handful of battle rappers who can also make good songs. His latest project titled "MSYKM" is a perfect example of that. The 13-track project features G Herbo, Mozzy, Jim Jones, Earthquake Jones, Benny The Butcher, Bby Hndrxx, Lady London, Justin Love, Dave East and Guordan Banks.
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