Social Justice
Portland brothers film racist attack on train
While riding the MAX, three brothers overhear a man throwing racial slurs at a woman while she was holding her toddler. They began filming.
Three brothers Emilio Herrera, 21, and his younger brothers, Romeo, 18, and Pablo, 17, were riding the MAX in Portland on Saturday evening when they heard a loud noise at the front of their train.
“I see this fairly big man yelling,” Emilio Herrera said to Oregon Live. “That man was just yelling at this woman, yelling the n-word, kind of being belligerent.”
Herrera says the woman the man was yelling at was an African American woman who was sitting with another woman and a toddler. “No one deserves to be called anything like that,” said Herrera.
The three brothers took action and began filming the attack. They approached the man and told him to stop. This is when the man took his focus off the woman and towards the three brothers.
He asked us what the f we were going to do about,” said Herrera.
The brothers didn’t want to start a fight with the man, Herrera told OregonLive, but they also were skeptical of calling the police. “I watch the news,” said Herrera. “We’re three young brown kids so I didn’t know how that would turn out.”
Instead, the brothers asked the man to get off the train. “We tried to handle it the best we could,” Herrera said.
In the video that has since gone viral, you can see the man call the brothers the n word and try to swipe the phone out their hands. According to Herrera the man pushed him.
The man finally got off the train.
OregonLive was able to speak to the woman through email. 27-year-old Portland resident Natisha Sweaney had this to say:
I was coming from a birthday party in Hillsboro when a man got on the MAX and was asking everyone for 75 cents. My godmother and I both said “No” and we continued with our conversation. The man sat down a few seats in front of us. A couple max stops later the man stood up and walked in front of us and flipped us off, while just standing there.
Being a new mom I am very cautious with riding public transportation.
I asked him “please sit down. please just sit back down.” He did not listen and came about a foot away from us and was yelling racial slurs and cussing in our face. At this point the only thing I could do was hold my daughter tightly and cover her ears.
Three men came running from the other side of the MAX. They distracted the man from being in our face. The man redirected his aggression to the three men. The three men stayed close to us, sitting a few seats away. The man finally got off the MAX but about 45 seconds later got back on and continued to harass the three men for their phone, since they recorded the altercation.
This all happened on the front MAX, right behind were the driver is located. After the man got off the MAX for good. The TriMet driver got on the intercom and stated that the MAX would be waiting a few more minutes before departure.
I have never been in an altercation like this, especially not since having my child. I ride the MAX every day to work. I’ve never felt uncomfortable on public transportation but since this I have been extremely alert and uncomfortable. My main focus now is learning to drive and getting my drivers license. I would never want my child to have to go through that again.
Source : OrgeonLive
Crime & Justice
Detroit man awarded $10 million after wrongful conviction
Alexandre Ansari was wrongfully serving a life sentence over claims that in 2012 he shot and killed Ileana Cuevas, a 15-year-old girl.
A Detroit man who was wrongfully convicted and incarcerated for over six years was awarded $10 million in damages by a jury.
$10 million for man wrongfully convicted
Alexandre Ansari was wrongfully serving a life sentence over claims that in 2012 he shot and killed Ileana Cuevas, a 15-year-old girl, and wounded two others in Detroit, according to a lawsuit filed by Ansari in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division.
“Once I got the verdict back, my heart dropped. And I’m like, ‘Dang, I got to spend the rest of my life in here for something I didn’t do.’ And you know, I tried to kill myself,” Ansari told Linsey Davis on “ABC News Live Prime.”
“It felt like nobody didn’t put all the evidence together to see that I wasn’t the person in the first place. So things started getting overwhelming for me.”
Exonerated
Ansari, 39, was exonerated in 2019 by the Wayne County Circuit Court after it determined that Moises Jimenez, a former Detroit police detective withheld evidence for Ansari’s trial that would have implicated someone else as the shooter, according to the County of Wayne Office of the Prosecuting Attorney.
Jimenez received an anonymous tip that linked the shooter to the Mexican Drug Cartel, according to the complaint that released Ansari.
The officer withheld the evidence from Ansari’s 2013 trial, according to the lawsuit.
Jimenez’s attorneys told ABC News that the former detective claims that he provided all evidence he uncovered during his investigation and plans to appeal the $10 million lawsuit verdict.
There have been no reported arrests connected to the shooting since Ansari’s exoneration. Ansari was wrongfully arrested for the crime when he was 27 years old.
Black Excellence
Regina King stars as Shirley Chisholm, the first Black woman in Congress
Shirley is will be released on Netflix March 22.
In the first trailer for the upcoming Netflix movie Shirley, Regina King stars as the first Black woman to be elected to Congress.
Regina King as Shirley Chisholm
Chisholm’s story will be chronicled, showing her uphill battle and obstacles to win a seat in Congress as the daughter of a Barbados-born maid and a Guyanese laborer, her struggles to navigate Congress alongside her White male colleagues, and her groundbreaking 1972 presidential campaign.
Movie production
Produced by Regina King and her sister Reina King, Shirley also stars the late Lance Reddick, Lucas Hedges, Terrence Howard, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Christina Jackson and more.
King, who spent 15 years producing the film, said the project was an incredible feat.
“It was always a little disheartening for Reina and I to have so many people over the years of our lives not know who Shirley Chisholm was,” King told Harper’s Bazaar.
“What she did was so pioneering. She was a true maverick and, you know, we use this term all the time, but she was a true first.”
King said they decided to release the film during an election year as they thought it would make for a more “impactful” release.
“As a team, we felt that is probably the best way we could possibly honor Shirley: to release her in a space that she created for herself.”
Regina King as Shirley Chisholm trailer
Shirley is will be released on Netflix March 22.
Social Justice
Mike Carey, the first Black Super Bowl referee, wants to continue to give back to the game he loves
Carey candidly spoke with CNN and reflected on the progress in diversity within the NFL officiating community and expressed continued passion for the sport.
Mike Carey, the first Black Super Bowl referee, made history in 2008 during Super Bowl XLII.
He officiated the iconic game where the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, preventing their historic 19-0 season.
Mike Carey on DEI
In the game, Carey did not call a sack on Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Despite facing criticism, Carey has always stood by his decision.
He also took a stand by refusing to officiate games involving the Washington “Redskins” due to their offensive name, emphasizing the importance of treating everyone with respect.
Carey candidly spoke with CNN and reflected on the progress in diversity within the NFL officiating community and expressed continued passion for the sport.
While there has been headway on diversity within the league, Carey said there is still much work to be done.
“The diversity in officiating when I was there, was not there. And it wasn’t malicious,” Carey told CNN.
“[Now], you have way more Black officials. You’re now having not only women, but women of color, and whatever your sexual orientation is, it’s less and less of an issue.”
After football officiating
After his retirement in 2014, Carey became a CBS Sports analyst and co-founded Seirus Innovation, a company manufacturing snow sports products.
While he is enjoying the success of his newfound career, Carey says he is grateful for his experiences, stating, “Everything that I’ve done, I’ve just loved immensely.” said he continues to look back over his football career with pride.
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