Call for ‘Black Lives Matter’ to Apologize



 

Pastors and community leaders came together at Mount Moriah Baptist Church to call for an apology from the Black Lives Matter movement. The actions of members of the local chapter upset leaders last week after a meeting with Mayor Eric Garcetti took an ugly turn.

“We say today to Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, do the right thing,” Rev. Xavier E. Thompson said. “We are not against you. But certainly, you have offended not only a house of worship but you have offended the entire faith based communtiy.”

At Monday night’s forum, protesters turned their backs to the mayor as he spoke, and then surrounded his car as he tried to leave.

The mayor released a statement the next day saying “[I] will continue to be there to hear those concerns and find solutions to our most pressing problems. We must move forward and I remain committed to our shared concerns.”

Rev. Kelvin Sauls, the pastor of Holman United Methodist Church, revealed that he was threatened by members of the Black Lives Matter movement that night.

“I was there,” Najee Ali said. “I saw with my own eyes Pastor Sauls be physically threatened with violence in his own church. That’s unacceptable for Black Lives Matter activists to threaten anyone with violence.”

Although many people think this could cause division within the Black Lives Matter movement, Rev. Paulette Gipson, the president of Compton NAACP, believes they are together though their methods are different.

 

Content originally posted by Annenberg TV News.

 

Claims of racial profiling by USC campus security fuel demand for investigations



Najee Ali speaks outside the Galen Center. | Celeste Alvarez (Neon Tommy)

Najee Ali speaks outside the Galen Center. | Celeste Alvarez (Neon Tommy)

By Celeste Alvarez

Civil rights organization National Action Network held a press conference Tuesday on the recent allegations of racial profiling by members of USC’s Department of Public Safety.

Speaking in front of the Galen Center, Political Director Najee Ali of NAN demanded an independent state and federal investigation be conducted regarding racial profiling by USC Department of Public Safety officers following claims made by actress Taraji P. Henson.

“We take those claims very seriously and we know for a fact that several students have claimed they have been racially profiled by USC in recent years,” Ali said.

Henson told Uptown Magazine that she had initially planned for her 20-year-old son, Marcel Henson to transfer to USC, however decided against it after he allegedly experienced racial profiling by police officers on the campus.

The “Empire” star told the magazine police stopped him “for having his hands in his pockets.”

“I’m not paying $50K so I can’t sleep at night wondering is this the night my son is getting racially profiled on campus,” Henson told the magazine. She ultimately decided to have him attend her alma mater, Howard University, a historically Black institution.

In response, DPS Chief John Thomas released a statement Monday evening stating he was “deeply disturbed to read news reports about a prospective student who felt profiled on or near campus because of his race.”

He has also stated that he would like to meet with Henson and her son to “look into this matter further and better understand who was involved and what took place.”

Thomas also noted that as “someone who personally experienced racial profiling as a teenager, I have a stake in learning more about this incident and doing all I can to reach a just resolution.”

It is unclear which police department was involved in the incident with Marcel, but Thomas did note that “[a]ny allegation of bias or unequal treatment by university officers would trigger an investigation that [he] would supervise along with the university’s Office of Equity and Diversity.”

Ali expressed concern that any investigation conducted by USC officials will be biased when it comes to addressing issues of racial profiling conducted by DPS. He also noted that although NAN stands by Henson they have not been in contact with her directly.

He further discusses his own experience with racial profiling at USC in the video below.

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From Watts 1965 to #BlackLivesMatter