The 44 Percent: Dalonta Crudup, Rep. Cori Bush’s Capitol sit-in and Simone Biles
I was called a n----r for the first time in my adult life on Sunday.
It happened while I was picking up groceries at Target, the slur courtesy of a woman with olive skin and long, black hair. She stood on one side of the parking deck hallway leading to the staircase that descends into the store. A man, likely her significant other, was seated on the other. Their parallel placement seemed planned: she looked at him, he nodded at her and she spat the words “f---ing n----r,” tossing in a homophobic slur to boot before shooting me a dirty look.
I was surprised. No lie, I straight up froze. All the tough talk about what I’d do when called a “n----r” flew out the window. After grabbing my groceries, I passed her again and she flipped her hair at me. For the first time in my life, I wanted to hurt somebody.
But that anger was the point. She wanted to provoke me. God forbid I took the bait and, to quote the homie, smacked the spark out of her man. The results could’ve been catastrophic, especially if Miami Beach police got involved. Just ask Dalonta Crudup and Khalid Vaughn.
My anger soon gave way to a sense of disappointment. All I could think about is why I froze.
Then I remembered that I had ordered my groceries in advance. The couple still had to shop. That, for whatever reason, made me feel better. The clip of Cam’ron constantly quipping “You mad” on “The O’Reilly Factor” began to replay in my head. I couldn’t help but laugh at the couple’s absurdity.
My point is this: We can’t let the hateful words of a few jeopardize our mission. Here I am, a 25-year-old Black man living a life that my enslaved ancestors could only dream about. I’ll be damned if somebody takes it away from me. Don’t get me wrong, bigots deserve what happens to them the minute they start hurling racial slurs. But sometimes that open-palm smack to the face is just not worth it.
INSIDE THE 305
Activists seek stiffer charges for Miami Beach officers accused of beating Black men:
More than a dozen activists gathered outside the Miami Beach Police Department to call for stiffer penalties for the officers involved in the beating of Dalonta Crudup and Khalid Vaughn, two Black men, in late July.
The five officers — Miami Beach Police Sgt. Jose Perez and officers Kevin Perez, Robert Sabater, Steven Serrano and David Rivas — were each charged with a single count of misdemeanor battery. Lyle Muhammad, the Circle of Brotherhood’s executive director, called the misdemeanor charges “weak as church water wine.”
“If any one of us would have taken a boot to an incapacitated, handcuffed police officer, I think we would be charged with more than a misdemeanor,” Muhammad said.
Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle released a video of the July 26 incident on Monday. Just in case you haven’t seen the footage, here’s a brief overview, courtesy of the Herald’s Charles Rabin:
21 officers descend on a man they chased into a South Beach hotel, who is alleged to have hit an officer with his motor scooter.
In the video, one officer repeatedly kicks the handcuffed man in the head, before another officer picks him up and slams his head to the ground. A short while later a group of officers redirect their attention to a man videotaping the incident. He’s soon slammed into a concrete pillar, then repeatedly punched and elbowed in the head and rib cage while on the ground.
As I noted yesterday, this is only the latest instance of excessive force involving a Miami Beach Police Department frequently accused of police brutality and racism:
Two officers harassed then beat a handcuffed Harold Strickland, a gay man, in 2009. Police killed Raymond Herisse, 22, in 2011 after firing more than 100 bullets in a chase and shooting that left several bystanders wounded. Graffiti artist Israel “Reefa” Hernandez, 18, died after being chased and tasered by police in 2013.
“We keep on calling these isolated incidents, but they keep on occurring amongst the culture of abuse and racism,” Muhammad said. “… There is so much training growth and development needed down here in Miami Beach.”
High ranking Black female Miami cop says she’s seeking whistleblower protections:
It’s getting mighty scary out there in the city of Miami.
As the Herald’s Charles Rabin reported, Keandra Simmons, Miami’s second-highest ranked Black female police officer, intends to file a civil rights lawsuit over her recent demotion that occurred “with little explanation.”
She was told late last week by Chief Art Acevedo that she along with three others were being demoted and that the chief was hiring a new deputy who had worked for him previously in Houston.
The brief memo sent to senior officers last Friday said Acevedo decided to make the changes after speaking with every staff officer and members of the community. Simmons, 41, was rolled back to a lieutenant in field operations and had her salary slashed.
Late Sunday night, Simmons’ attorney Michael Pizzi filed complaints with the city notifying Acevedo, the mayor, city attorney and city manager that Simmons was seeking whistleblower protections and that the city had failed to explain why she was being demoted.
Pizzi said the major would move forward with a lawsuit “based on injuries sustained from defamation, racial and gender based discrimination, harassment, deprivation of First Amendment and due process right.”
OUTSIDE THE 305:
Black family could get beach land returned to them after nearly 100 years:
Nearly 100 years after the city of Manhattan Beach seized Willa and Charles Bruce’s ocean-view property, a pending bill in the California state legislature could give the land back to the family.
Yahoo News’ Garin Flowers explained the situation as follows:
In 1912, Willa and Charles Bruce, a young Black couple, purchased prime ocean-view property in Manhattan Beach. They built a resort and created one of the few small strips of beach in the Los Angeles area where Black visitors could enjoy the sand and water as well as hang out, eat and dance.
But some white residents, including members of the Ku Klux Klan, were unhappy with minorities coming to their area, and started to threaten and harass the Black beachgoers. Eventually, the Manhattan Beach City Council concocted a plan to take the property by way of eminent domain in 1924, under the guise of building a park. The city seized the two parcels of land in 1929, giving the Bruces only $14,500 after they fought it, and the city demolished the resort. The land sat empty and no park was built for decades.
“This is the story of a crime, it was fraud,” Chief Duane “Yellow Feather” Shepard, a distant relative and spokesperson for the Bruce family, told Yahoo News. “They defrauded our people and they denied them their civil rights and their right to the pursuit of happiness.”
Rep. Cori Bush’s Capitol sit-in pushed for extension of eviction moratorium:
We need to give U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri her flowers ASAP.
Beginning this past Friday, the activist-turned-congresswoman slept on the steps of the United States Capitol for four nights in an effort to encourage the White House to extend the eviction moratorium. The New York Times’ Nicholas Fandos offered the following description of the events:
She stayed put — in rain, cold and brutal summer heat — until Tuesday, when President Biden, under growing pressure from Ms. Bush’s group and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, abruptly relented and announced a new, 60-day federal eviction moratorium covering areas overrun with the Delta variant of the coronavirus. Even as Mr. Biden reiterated his administration’s fears that the ban would run afoul of the courts, it was a striking reversal for his team, designed to give state and local governments time to distribute billions of dollars in federal rental assistance that has yet to go out the door.
“My brain could not understand how we were supposed to just leave,” Ms. Bush said in an interview on Wednesday, recounting the months she spent 20 years ago living out of a 1996 Ford Explorer. “I felt like I did sitting in that car — like, ‘Who speaks for me? Is this because I deserve it?’”
Hundreds of thousands of low-income renters owe Bush a debt of gratitude. Her refusal to accept the status quo should inspire others to do the same. Although it will take time to see how this affects the way in which elected officials utilize their power, a precedent has been set.
“Hopefully, this has shown not only leadership, the caucus, but our progressive family that when we say we are not going to back down, we don’t back down,” Bush told the Times. “And when we say our communities need this particular thing, we can stand together to work together to get it.”
HIGH CULTURE:
You are a superstar, Ms. Simone Biles:
Speaking of giving flowers, Simone Biles deserves some as well.
Struggling with her mental health and the death of her aunt, Biles still managed to leave Tokyo with two Olympic medals. The accolades, however, are beside the point: Biles deserves praise because she stepped away for some self-care. That makes her more of a winner in my book than anything else.
Where does “The 44 Percent” name come from? Click here to find out how Miami history influenced the newsletter’s title.
