By Mina Corpuz
Willie Jerome Manning, sentenced to death for the murder of two Mississippi State University students 30 years ago, “has had his days in court” and now an execution date can be set, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled Monday.
“Petitioner has had more than a full measure of justice,” Chief Justice Michael Randolph wrote in the majority opinion joined by justices James Maxwell II, Dawn Beam, David Ishee and Kenneth Griffis.
A recent police shooting in a New York City subway station has reignited outrage around subway fares and the heavy police presence across the city
On the afternoon of September 15, a New York City police officer opened fire into a crowded subway station after following someone who had allegedly evaded the fare. As a result, four people were injured, including a fellow police officer.
Police followed a man, 37-year-old Derell Mickles, into the Sutter Ave subway station in Brooklyn, New York after allegedly seeing him evade the train fare, pursuing him up three flights of stairs. Last year, subway fares in New York City were raised from USD 2.75 to USD 2.90, which many have criticized for being unaffordable for working class people in the city. New York City Police Department Chief Jeffrey B. Maddrey claimed in a press conference that the officer opened fire on the man who had entered the station after “they become aware that he has a knife in his pocket.”
“The male basically challenges the officers: ‘No, you’re going to have to shoot me.’” Maddrey claimed. The claim that the man had a knife has been challenged by a witness to the shooting, interviewed by independent journalist Talia Jane. The witness, D, claims, “From where I was seated, he just had both hands behind his back. I tried to see a knife but I never ended up seeing his hands. Never saw one even after, when they were on the ground with him, after they shot him. They never shouted anything about him charging them, I assumed he’d gotten by them and was making his way off the platform back onto the street when they wildly shot.”
According to Gloria Holloway, Mickles’ mother, her son carries a knife in his pocket because he works as a chef. Holloway expressed her distress at how the NYPD chose to notify her that her son was shot. She had spotted an NYPD business card under her doorway after coming off of her shift as a security guard. “They just shot him, then didn’t bother to get in touch with anybody related to him?” Holloway said to The Gothamist. “And left a card here at the damn door?”
Both media and city officials have communicated the events in a way that some argue obscures what truly happened. New York City Mayor Eric Adams wrote on X, “Earlier today, one of our officers was shot while protecting our subway system. I am relieved to report he is in good condition now, and we have arrested the suspect who put so many lives in danger. I cannot thank these officers enough for their bravery.” Nowhere in this message does Adams acknowledge that this officer was shot by another officer in response to alleged fare evasion. Conservative outlet The New York Post, notorious for issuing sensationalist reports on crime in the city, reported that, “NYPD cop shot, 3 others injured as suspect comes at police with knife in Brooklyn,” which again fails to mention that the officer was shot by a fellow cop.
This is not the first time the NYPD has unleashed violence on someone for minor crimes on the trains. Brutal arrests for fare evasion are often caught on camera by other New Yorkers. Last month, a Black man was attacked by multiple NYPD officers with tasers for allegedly moving between train cars. The NYPD is also notorious for harassing vendors on the subway for vending without a license.
Paradoxically, the NYPD has been criticized for slow response to serious incidents such as a mass shooting in April 2022, when Frank James shot 33 bullets into a subway car full of commuters. A police officer responding to the scene could not get his radio to work, and told train passengers to call 911 instead. Despite New York City being one of the most heavily surveilled cities, the NYPD surveillance cameras at all three subway stations where the shooting took place were not working. It took police over a day to find the shooter. In the end, it was not even the police who discovered James’ whereabouts, but he ended up turning himself in.
The September 15 NYPD shooting has re-ignited debates around eliminating the subway fare to alleviate cost of living for millions of working people who use the trains to commute each day, as well as the militarization of police. “2 dollars and 90 cents is the price the NYPD has put on the lives of New York’s poorest,” wrote the Palestinian Youth Movement, a Palestinian diaspora organization in the US that is at the forefront of demanding an arms embargo on Israel. “With [New York] Governor Kathy Hochul deploying the National Guard to the subways and billions of dollars in NYPD technology being used to further surveil, criminalize, and repress poor people across our city, lethal results like yesterday’s are a systematic guarantee. Adams, Hochul, and City Council continue to funnel New Yorkers’ taxpayer money into their open war on poverty, as they have done with Israel’s war on Gaza over the past year.”
Cathy Rojas, a socialist activist who ran against Eric Adams for New York City Mayor in 2021 on the ticket of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told Peoples Dispatch, “The NYPD’s shooting of civilians over fare evasion demonstrates a gross disregard for our community members’ lives, going as far as attempted murder to recover only 2.90.”
Rojas continued, “This comes at a time when the MTA could, and should be free, highlighting the urgent need to end a system that prioritizes profit over human life. We must redirect funds from Wall Street and the ultra-wealthy to fully fund and modernize the transit system and make it free for everyone.”
This article originally appeared in Peoples Dispatch on September 16th, 2024
By Sameea Kamal
Ronald Latney used to believe his vote didn’t matter. But after returning to jail this year, he realized the difference it can make — especially locally.
“I try to tell everybody … like, man, we need to vote, because our lives depend on this,” he said, mentioning district attorney races and bail policies. “That’s very impactful on me and what I’m going through now.”
By Casey Quinlan
Inflation hit a three-year low last month, just as the presidential election is heating up.
But the high cost of housing and other necessities will keep the economy central to both of the major campaigns, as seen this week in the first debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
The Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation, rose 2.5% in the past year, which is the smallest jump since February 2021, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Wednesday. The main driver of this increase was shelter, which moved up 0.5% in August. Airline fares, car insurance, education, and apparel also rose that month. But wages also rose 0.4% in August and 3.8% over the past year, and the average workweek increased by 0.1 hour — welcome news for workers trying to keep up with the cost of living.
COLUMBIA — The state Supreme Court will not halt the state’s first execution in 13 years over an inmate’s claims of new evidence and legal errors, the court said in a Thursday order.
Freddie Owens, who changed his legal name to Khalil Divine Black Sun Allah, is scheduled to die Sept. 20 by lethal injection. Unless his attorneys file another motion to halt his execution that convinces the high court, the only way to prevent his execution would be for the governor to grant him clemency.
Gov. Henry McMaster has declined to say whether he will give Owens clemency, saying he will announce his decision minutes before Owens is scheduled to die. Civil rights groups are circulating a petition asking McMaster to give Owens a lighter sentence.
By Brett Wilkins
"It's abjectly terrifying that the personal benefit of any member of Congress is factored into decisions about how to wield and fund the largest military in the world," said one critic.
By Clayton Henkin
North Carolinians are getting their first look at the impact of the UNC System’s decision to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs from its campuses.
The UNC Board of Governors voted in May to repeal the policy in favor of “principled neutrality.” Campuses within the system had until September 1st to issue reports on how they followed the new directive, detailing the steps taken to achieve that compliance.
Andrew Tripp, the UNC System’s senior vice president and general counsel, told the Board of Governors on Wednesday that a total of 59 positions had been eliminated and 132 were realigned to other areas.
By Ariana Figueroa
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers and a coalition of civil rights leaders Tuesday urged Congress to reform the filibuster in order to pass voting rights legislation next Congress.
“Voting rights, succinctly put, are preservative of all other rights,” U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, said at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol.
Warnock was joined by Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Reps. Joe Morelle of New York, Terri Sewell of Alabama and John Sarbanes of Maryland, as well as dozens of representatives of civil rights groups, including plaintiffs in voting rights lawsuits in South Carolina and Alabama.
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The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s newest class is less diverse following the Supreme Court’s 2023 affirmative action ruling, according to its latest student enrollment data released this week.
The percentage of first-year and transfer students identifying as white or Asian increased this year from 88.5 percent to 89.6 percent, compared to the fall 2023 report.
Meanwhile, the number of Black, Hispanic, and Native American students declined from 22.9 percent to 19 percent.
Secretary of State Frank LaRose is fond of saying that “it’s easy to vote and hard to cheat” in Ohio elections. But his recent — and not-so-recent — conduct seems to contradict both halves of that formulation, a watchdog says.
Just two months before a presidential election, the state’s top elections officer continues to change the rules in ways that make it more difficult for some Ohioans to vote — particularly new citizens and the disabled. Meanwhile, he’s supposed to conduct elections neutrally, but the things he’s done concerning the state’s extreme partisan gerrymandering are clearly biased in favor of his own party and his friends, the watchdog said.
