28 January 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

NAACP invokes Troy Davis legacy in anti-death penalty drive

originally by: Blackstarnews.com
published: 23rd Jamuary 2012

Motivated by the tragic execution of Troy Davis in Georgia last September, the NAACP has renewed its fight to make the death penalty a part of America’s past. Over the next year, NAACP state representatives in several key states will urge their legislators to take the necessary steps to repeal the ultimate punishment.

“People in this country care about justice and fairness,” says Benjamin Todd Jealous, President and CEO of the National NAACP. “Unfortunately, Troy Davis’s case and too many other cases in our country demonstrate that these elements are sorely lacking in the application of capital punishment in this nation. African Americans and the poor are disproportionately handed this extreme punishment for the same offenses as their wealthier or White counterparts.”

20 January 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

18 years on: reflections on the Stephen Lawrence verdict

originally by: brap
published: January 2012

History will recognise that the indefatigable campaigning of Stephen Lawrence’s parents has done more to change this country than a mountain of race relations legislation. brap CEO Joy Warmington reflects on the lessons of the Stephen Lawrence murder.

I, like many others, waited with bated breath for the outcome of the Stephen Lawrence retrial – and felt a sense of immediate relief at the conviction of his killers. But now some of these immediate emotions have dissipated, I wanted to reflect on what this case has meant for the race equality movement and for wider issues of justice within our society.

Firstly, of course, we must be thankful that after longer than Stephen Lawrence himself lived, two of the teenager’s killers are now behind bars.

7 January 201217 December 2022 4WardEverUK

Disabled man tasered by police

from: Network for Police Monitoring
published: 6th January 2012

A respected deaths in custody campaign group has today raised questions about the use of a police taser against a disabled man, who was unable to obey an order to get out of the car he was driving.

Shocket Aslam, who is dependent on a wheelchair, has said that police approached his car aggressively after he was stopped on the M6 motorway. It is understood that a number of police vehicles were deployed after Mr Aslam left a petrol station without paying for £20 of petrol.

He has alleged that immediately on reaching his vehicle, the police smashed a side window and hit him with what he describes as a cosh. He protested that he was disabled, and could not easily get out of the vehicle, but was then tasered from behind in his shoulder.