clair083

“Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph.”   Haile Selassie January 25th is the anniversary of the death of a 7 year old girl named Isabella Herrera. Isabella died on a Hillsborough County school bus. There is raw bus footage that shows what happened in graphic detail. Isabella is one of a series of students who have died while in the care of the Hillsborough County Public School system.  Image of young Isabella Herrera in a black and red formal dress in her wheelchair credit The Tampa Tribune Each of these children deserves to be remembered. They deserve to matter. I included their photographs so everyone reading this can understand that these young lives did not deserve to end so quickly and so horribly. All their deaths happened while they were in the care of the public school sys...

“There is no greater tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of the law and in the name of justice.”  ― Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws Reginald Cornelius Latson During the entire tragic ordeal of Reginald Cornelius "Neli" Latson the quote above often revisited my mind. It has taken up permanent residence in my heart. Only when I heard the grand jury verdict for the Eric Garner case did I feel as shocked and defeated as I did when I heard that Mr. Latson had no choice but to plead guilty to felony assault for an incident that should not have occurred  because he had no business in the corrections system in the first place. This despite the stellar efforts of the outstanding attorney championing him. The miscarriage of justice here is breathtaking. How much more harm will be done to this young man before he gets the help he needs? It is time to appeal to Governor McAuliffe to do the right thing and grant Reginald Latson a pardon. I am  humbly asking eve...

Tario Anderson, 34 Black, nonspeaking autistic, was walking down his street to visit family on the evening of Christmas day. He was placed in the glare of police spotlights, yelled at, at which point having done nothing wrong, he placed his hands in his pockets and continued walking. When police spotlighted and threatened to tase him, Tario ran. Neighbors tried shouting and warning police that Tario was autistic but they wouldn’t listen. His mother came running and repeatedly asked them to stop, even demanding they arrest her instead, shouting if anyone was at fault, she was. They used a taser on him, multiple officers fell on him while he was face down writhing from the taser shocks. Video shows Tario crying out in pain and calling for his mother. The Greenville police later announced that they now realized Mr. Anderson could not understand the commands given to him by police and all charges (interfering with police investigation and resisting arrest) would be dropped. The fa...