PRESORTED STANDARD .S. POSTAGE PAID WILMINGTON, N.C. PERMIT - NO. 675 50 CENTS Established 1987 T h eme: “Prepare For T h e Harvest" VOLUME XXIX, NO. 34 August 25 - August 31, 2016 ISN IDE 2 O pinions & Editorials 4 6 7 3 Health & Wellness Highest Number “2 Strong, 2 Real” Award-Winning 4 Career & Education of Minority Celebrate at the Civil Rights 5 Business News & Research 22nd Annual Journalist 4 Events & Announcements Medical International George Curry 7 Spirit & Life Students Ever Locks Conference Dead at 69 8 C lassifieds New Tools Find Out Who Dies in Police Custody? Chicago’s Black Community By Amanda Woog countability. Stunned by Latest Police Shooting Postdoctoral Fellow at Reliable information on Institute of Urban Policy deaths that occur during ar- Research and Analysis, rests and while in jail and University of Texas at Austin prison is important. Such da- ta allow us to identify prob- How many people die in lems in the criminal justice our criminal justice system system and come up with so- each year? lutions based on evidence. It It turns out it is hard to also provides greater trans- tell, and it depends who you parency and accountability, ask. and ultimately can help gain Following the deaths of communities’ trust. Michael Brown, Eric Garner, In response to its own Freddie Gray and many oth- findings in 2015 and the na- ers at the hands of the police, tional upheaval around ho- this lack of information has micides by law enforcement, By Erick Johnson, The Chicago Crusader emerged as one of the most BJS this month announced pressing issues in criminal an improved nationwide da- Chicago police have shot another teenager, and gangs justice reform. Reading me- ta collection plan. The plan are allegedly planning to retaliate for his death. dia reports of these deaths recognizes that “accurate and would lead one to suspect For years, racial tensions and gun-violence in Chicago comprehensive accounting of have been brewing, but this summer, the city is on the verge that dying in police custo- deaths that occur during the dy is a widespread problem. of boiling over with police shootings, homicides and rising process of arrest is critical for discontent with a justice system that has failed many Blacks But hard data have been hard [law enforcement agencies] to to come by. That’s why I be- demonstrate responsiveness for decades. And in the middle of it all is a new Black police lieve new initiatives in Texas to the citizens and commu- chief who’s on the hot seat. and California could be game nities they serve, transparen- On Thursday, July 28 amid the sweltering heat of sum- changers, and deserve to be A woman protesting the shooting death of Alton Sterling is cy related to law enforcement mer, a Chicago police officer shot and killed 18-year-old Paul replicated in other states. detained by Baton Rouge police. Photo: Jonathan Bachman O’Neal, triggering a wave of protests and anger from Blacks The federal government tactics and approaches, and accountability for the actions who are still reeling from the brutal police killing of Laquan has acknowledged that feder- McDonald nearly two years ago. al data initiatives, which rely of officers.” on law enforcement self-re- The improved data col- It happened in the South Shore neighborhood, a pre- porting, have failed to pro- lection will provide better na- dominately Black middle-class community where First vide accurate information. In tionwide statistics. But states Lady Michelle Obama grew up. O’Neal died a violent death. 2015, the Bureau of Justice also have an important role in Police said that he was driving a Jaguar that was stolen from Statistics found that data collecting and disseminating Bolingbrook, a suburb west of Chicago. Police officers fired collection under the Arrest- data. 15 shots at O’Neal as he sped through the South Shore neigh- Related Deaths program, State agencies and local borhood. He crashed into two police cars then fled on foot. which was in place for most law enforcement are more likely to respond to state di- of the 2000s, identified on- Chicago continued on page 6 ly about half of the expected rectives and initiatives than to number of homicides by law additional federal oversight. enforcement officers. And programs to build pub- Content Creator, Actor, Writer, The most comprehensive lic trust in local law enforce- information has come from ment and state agencies must Director Mike Ray Is on the Move watchdog groups and media come from within those insti- sites like Fatal Encounters tutions. and The Counted which track Two states are leaders deaths in police encounters in arrest-related and custo- through open-source data dial death reporting – Texas mining of news accounts. But and California. These two these websites are also incom- states have the nation’s larg- plete. Fatal Encounters esti- est incarcerated populations. mates it has tracked 62 per- Combined, they have more cent of deaths since 2000. The than 425,000 people locked Counted only began its tal- up in prisons and jails. Each ly in 2015. Further, watchdog state has been collecting state sites cannot alone restore the custodial death data for de- trust in government institu- cades. tions that has been lost in po- Delegates listen to mothers of victims of police shootings during the DNC, July 26, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson lice shootings and lack of ac- Tool continued on page 5 Mike Ray pilot “The Productive Lie” and written script “Letters to My Father” have How the Islamic State Recruits and Coerces Children already gained noteworthy respect. This week the world once ATLANTA – You may have heard him, voicing again witnessed an Islamic Iraqi security forces detain a boy commercials for Home Depot, Verizon, BMW, Nationwide State’s use of at least one child after removing a suicide vest from him in Insurance, and IBM. You may have seen him, appearing in bomber, perhaps two. Kirkuk, Iraq. Photo: Ako Rasheed roles on “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne”, USA Network’s A child between the ag- es of 12 and 14 was reported- “Necessary Roughness”, and BET’s 2-hour movie, “Let The ly the culprit behind a suicide Church Say Amen”, just to name a few… but Mike Ray is attack – blowing up the wed- an actor, voice-over artist and also a rising filmmaker with ding of Besna and Nurettin a passion for creating content. Akdogan in Gaziantep, This is what veteran actor, Vivica Fox has to say… Turkey and killing 54 people “I’ve known Mike Ray for many years. This man gives 110 on Aug. 20. percent to every project he touches. I look forward to seeing Although now the my creative friend explode onto the scene, so others can see Turkish government is not certain whether it was a child what I already know!” or an adult, it’s certainly not Mike Ray’s pilot “The Productive Lie” and written script the only time children have “Letters to My Father” have already gained noteworthy been used by terrorist net- respect, earning him recognition as Best New Filmmaker works to perpetrate attacks. at the 2015 Peachtree Village International Film Festival. The following day, a child “Letters to My Father” is a drama about a dying Army was caught before he could sergeant’s plight to protect the future of his family, in the detonate a suicide bomb at a and what role the parents and original Syrian schoolteach- a band-of-brothers effect, and wake of an ALS diagnosis (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Shi’a school in Kirkuk, Iraq. community play in recruit- ers remain, they must now brings the children to the at- During the course of re- This emotional telefilm is based on the struggle and actions ment. Understanding these teach an IS-controlled cur- tention of IS personnel who of Mike Ray’s own father, a veteran of two wars, when faced search for our book, “Small differences helps us know riculum to gender-segregat- talent-scout for children ex- Arms: Children and Terror,” how best to approach treating ed pupils. Parents continue to hibiting early potential for with the disease. John Horgan and I have the children’s trauma, and fig- send their children to school, “Cub” status in IS’ dedicated “The Productive Lie”, which won the Audience Award learned how IS socializes ure out which children can be although coercion is always training camps. Through a so- at the 2015 Charlotte Black Film Festival, is a feature length children into their terrorist rehabilitated and which ones present. Failure to do so might cialization and selection pro- production. This crazy, sexy, cool dramedy starts as a network. We have also had telefilm, but finds legs as the story develops into an episodic, the opportunity to meet with might be vulnerable for recid- place the entire family at risk. cess, IS implies that entry in- children who have been res- ivism as adults. IS will punish such families to the Cubs of the Caliphate is were Mike has written several episodes. “I want people to cued from terrorist groups in We have been research- by taking their homes and re- a rare commodity and some- see themselves in the works I create,” says Mike Ray. ing IS Cubs of the Caliphate, fusing to provide food and thing desirable for each child. Pakistan. Ray continued on page 6 There are important dif- so called “Ashbal al Khilafah,” protection. By limiting access, IS creates ferences in how groups en- for two years, tracking how IS This is where children a competition.