Tributes & Remembrance

4WardEverUK

All the ways Sandra Bland’s legacy lives on (7 years on)

Sandra Bland
Sandra Bland

source: NEWSONE
originally published: 7 February 2022

Monday marked the 35th birthday of Sandra Bland, who was found dead in police custody following a questionable traffic stop-turned violent by the arresting officer in Texas in 2015.

The online birthday party happening across social media helped draw attention to all the ways that Sandra Bland’s legacy lives on nearly seven years after her death.

Sandra Bland’s birthday came one day after that of Trayvon Martin, who would have turned 27 years old this weekend.

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4WardEverUK

Mumia Abu-Jamal remembers Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s visit on death row

Desmond Tutu
Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela – Image Credit Al Jazeera

source: DemocracyNOW!
published: 28 December 2021

Mumia Abu-Jamal remembers South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who died on Sunday at the age of 90. Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for fighting to end apartheid in South Africa. In 2007, Tutu visited Mumia when he was still on death row.

“His spirit reflected a giant,” says Abu-Jamal. “He struggled for change with his prophetic voice, his sweet humor, his deep love and his boundless sense of compassion.”

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4WardEverUK

Film-making pair team up to tell British woman’s story [Ruth Ellis]

Ruth Ellis
Ruth Ellis

source: Rome Sentinel
published: 9 November 2019

She was the last woman hanged in Great Britain after being convicted of shooting her lover to death. And a director/producer in Los Angeles, originally from Rome, and a cameraman/videographer from Barneveld, are teaming up to tell her story.

Peter-Henry Schroeder, owner and operator of PHS Productions, owes his acting roots to his mother Marie Angotti-Schroeder, who while living in Syracuse, enrolled her sons and daughter in the Syracuse Children’s Theatre, which continues today.

While his two brothers pursued other avenues, Peter-Henry and sister Maria Curley, continued with their passions for the performing arts. Curley is the co-founder of Present Company Productions, an Oneida-based theater company that produces, among its projects, dinner theater at Theodore’s Restaurant in Canastota.

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