The incident outraged parents of Hobgood Elementary School and surprised many in the Murfreesboro neighborhood.

Police saw a video of an off campus fight between two children and showed up at the school. They handcuffed the students and drove them to the juvenile detention center, where they were charged with criminal responsibility of another.

Sources close to the case said the children who were arrested were not in the fight and were not the ones who recorded it.

The students were arrested, accused of not stopping a fight, and were later released from the juvenile center on Friday, said the Rev. James McCarroll, pastor of First Baptist Church on East Castle Street in Murfreesboro. The church hosted a community meeting Sunday afternoon about the incident. In addition to angry parents and supporters, Murfreesboro Police Chief Karl Durr and City Manager Rob Lyons were in the crowd.

The system of white supremacy is becoming so malicious, they are now targeting innocent Melanoid babies. This is why Black people are going to have to get serious about combating this vicious system of racial injustice.

Earlier this week, an article was published on WREG (an NBC affiliate in Memphis)’s website, which reported the Memphis police’s alleged crackdown on crime in the Binghampton area of Memphis.

Tuesday (January 26), court injunctions were placed on two gangs, the Vicelords and the Grape Street Crips.

To the uninformed masses, this would appear to be a noble deed committed by the Memphis police. On the contrary, gang injunctions have had a notorious history of singling out innocent Black males (just because they randomly knew of a gang member, for example), and often gives municipalities in urban areas across the U.S. reason to gentrify traditionally Black neighborhoods.

We will continue to keep you informed of further developments as it pertains to this story.

B. Clark

The woman, named Alexis Cain, was sentenced to two years in prison after leaving her puppy in the car on a hot July afternoon. Although the puppy succumbed to the summer heat while sitting in the car, the owner of the dog (Cain) had no intent to inflict harm upon the animal.

The 24-year-Cain, who worked in a supervisory role at her job, displayed the ability to be a responsible young adult, despite what state prosecutor, Eric Christiansen says. ““I think it’s fair,” he says. “She left the dog in there for two hours. She killed the dog, basically. Just let it cook to death.”

The two year prison sentence is excessive due to the nature of the crime, yet Christiansen states that it was done to make an example out of people who may do what Ms. Cain did back in July. Alexis Cain is eligible for a program that would enable her to do her time outside of prison with stipulations of good behavior.

Regardless of the fact that she is granted such an opportunity, this is yet another example of the lives of animals being valued over the lives of Black humans. In the process, another Black life (Cain’s) has been made more difficult for trivial purposes.

For more on this story, follow this link.

B. Clark

The initiative, which was authorized by Congress in 2006, states on its website that it “is a unique, creative, and highly successful, initiative that encourages persons wanted for non-violent felony or misdemeanor crimes to voluntarily surrender to the law in a faith-based or other neutral setting”

Last week (Sept. 18-19), dozens of people showed up at the church before the event’s 9:00 A.M. opening, in hopes of having their slates cleaned by law enforcement, which included district attorneys and judges who were on hand to participate in the event as well. Only after confessing their crimes were the predominantly Black participants then subject to “favorable consideration for surrendering” by the law enforcement officials on hand.

According to News 2 (WKRN in Nashville), close to 30 people had come close to surrender, with half of them doing so within the first 30 minutes of the event…and this all occurred on the first day of a two day event. Dr. William Harris, pastor of the Galilee Missionary Baptist Church, said that 563 people turned themselves in during 2007’s Fugitive Safe Surrender program. Law enforcement also highly encouraged individuals to turn in any firearms and drugs that they may have in their possession as well.

What’s interesting about this story is that Black churches will eagerly participate in initiatives such as Fugitive Safe Surrender where many more Melanoid people find themselves being railroaded into incarceration, yet refuse having anything to do with addressing the roots of Black Society’s issue (among a plethora of other issues) of mass incarceration in the first place.

Not only were people encouraged to turn themselves in, they were also compensated for doing so. The reward you ask? A $10 gift card to a local gas station (Mapco).

Here is a link to the original story.

B. Clark

After an email was released from Tennessee Democratic Party Chairwoman Mary Mancini that linked last week’s Charleston killings to a 1940 murder of a West Tennessee NAACP activist, her Republican counterparts vehemently denied any overt racism that occurred in the state. Republican Party chairman Ryan Haynes accused her of looking to raise funds from the unfortunate incident. “They’re trying to profit from a horrific situation. That is inappropriate in every sense of the word,” Haynes said. “It’s disrespectful to a community that is still living this horror. It is highly disrespectful to those who lost their lives last Wednesday night in Charleston.”

Mancini’s actions aren’t the only issue here. Republicans and Democrats are currently in opposition over the possible removal of the bust of former Confederate Army General and Ku Klux Klan leader Nathan Bedford Forrest from the state capital building. U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn., and state House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, are both calling for the removal of the bust of the Klan leader, stating that it has ‘no place in the Tennessee statehouse.’

The white supremacist general, who massacred 300 Melanoid soldiers during the Civil War, and served as the first Grand Wizard of the KKK, has had a bust statue in his honor located in the Tennessee state capital building since 1978.