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Erick Gelhaus, deputy who shot 13 year old Andy Lopez, returning to patrol

 

Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Erick Gelhaus will return to patrolling the streets next week, nearly 10 months after he shot and killed 13-year-old Andy Lopez, sparking protests that revealed deep distrust of law enforcement among some residents, especially those in the Latino community.

The Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office in July cleared Gelhaus of any criminal wrongdoing for his actions in the fatal Oct. 22 shooting, which ignited an emotional debate about officers’ use of deadly force and the dangers of toy guns made to look like real firearms.

Lopez was shot while walking down a residential street on Santa Rosa’s southwest outskirts carrying an airsoft BB gun made to resemble an AK-47 assault rifle. Gelhaus told investigators he ordered the boy to drop the gun, then opened fire when Lopez turned toward the deputy, partially raising the barrel of the gun.

Gelhaus did not return a call seeking comment about his return to patrol duties. His attorney Terry Leoni said in an email that the veteran deputy welcomed “this assignment, and knows his nearly 25-years in law enforcement will continue to benefit the community.”

“He will continue to proudly serve the people of Sonoma County, as he has always done,” Leoni said.

Gelhaus, a firearms instructor in the Sheriff’s Office, has been back at work since December, largely in administrative assignments within the department. His return to patrol, including a wide range of duties interacting with the public, marks another potent moment in what has been a painful and tumultuous chapter in Sonoma County history.

For those who have continued to protest the deputy’s actions, news of Gelhaus’ return to patrol was met with surprise and a sense that their concerns had gone unheard.


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Source: www.pressdemocrat.com

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Sheets of Blood Streets of Pain

 

“Racism is not dead in this nation. Shame on any of us for trying to bury the inherent and blatant racism of the United States and its people, it has always been part of our makeup and it has come roaring back in its full and awful glory in the past decade…”

 

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Source: valentinelogar.com

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Trans Girl’s Friend Helps Stop Stabbing Attack on D.C. Metro

 

A 15-year-old transgender girl was stabbed in the back Wednesday while riding on a D.C. metro train. According to witnesses, 24-year-old Reginald Anthony Klaiber began verbally assaulting the teen before attacking her. One unnamed witness and friend of the teen told NBC News 4 that they intervened in the attack to protect her: “He pulled out a knife and he stabbed my friend. And that’s when I maced him.”

 

Source: colorlines.com

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On Yellow Face, Racial Parody, and White Denial

 

Seattle Times columnist Sharon Pian Chan went after the play [The Mikado] in an editorial on July 13. Chan begins her critique with the following:

“Remember when someone pranked a San Francisco TV station into reporting that the names of the Asiana plane crash pilots were “Captain Sum Ting Wong” and “Wi Tu Lo”?

After the station KTVU realized its mistake, it fired three producers.

But in Seattle, at least one theater plans to spend the summer guffawing about how Asian names sound like gibberish…Set in the fictional Japanese town of Titipu — get it? — [The Mikado] features characters named Nanki Poo, Yum-Yum and Pish-Tush. It’s a rom-com where true love is threatened by barbaric beheadings.

All 40 Japanese characters are being played by white actors, including two Latinos. KIRO radio host Dave Ross is in the cast.

It’s yellowface, in your face.”

 

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Source: www.racefiles.com

 

I haven’t seen people of color dressing up like white people and making fun of them.

 

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VIDEO – A THUNDER-BEING NATION – The Oglala Lakota of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation

 

The journey of the Oglala Lakota of Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, from their origins through to their contemporary life. The most comprehensive look at an Indian Reservation in a documentary made over 13 years by international award winning film-maker Steven Lewis Simpson director of Rez Bomb.


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Source: vimeo.com

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How The Washington Football Team Creates A Hostile Environment For Native American Students

 

WASHINGTON — Much of the debate over whether to keep the Washington football team’s name has centered around whether it’s actually offensive to Native Americans. Owner Dan Snyder has searched high and low to find American Indians who aren’t put off by the term “Redskins” as justification for keeping it.

But according to Erik Stegman, an author of a new report on Native mascots and team names, that discussion misses the point.

“This entire debate is being spun in the wrong direction, and it doesn’t really matter whether or not one Native person you talk to supports or doesn’t,” Stegman said in an interview with The Huffington Post. “When you have kids in schools who are getting harassed, who are feeling a lack of self-worth because they themselves have become a mascot for someone else, I think that’s really what the point is all about. We need to stop having this debate over which Native people are offended because it’s a ridiculous debate.”

Stegman is associate director of the Half in Ten Education Fund at the progressive Center for American Progress. Previously, he served as majority staff counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. He and Victoria Phillips, a professor at American University Washington College of Law, argue in a report published Tuesday that derogatory team names create an “unwelcome and hostile learning environment” for Native students that “directly results in lower self-esteem and mental health” for these adolescents and young adults.

 

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Source: www.huffingtonpost.com