TPA TEXAS PUBLISHERS ASSOCIATION This paper can www.TheAustinVillager.com be recycled Vol. 46 No. 47 Phone: 512-476-0082 Email: [email protected] June 12, 2020 Gov.Gov. AbbottAbbott INSIDE condemnedcondemned League still deathdeath ofof GeorgeGeorge hasn’t apologized to Kaepernick Floyd,Floyd, silentsilent onon See NFL RAPPIN’ Page 5 Tommy Wyatt Texas’Texas’ policepolice Do Not Defund the Police killingkilling historyhistory Department!! BY CASSANDRA POLLOCK The Texas Tribune It has been very in- Texas Governor Greg Abbott Legislation calls spiring to see all of the (TEXAS TRIBUNE) - When George Floyd died was home playing video games with her nephew, for a shift in protests in honor of at the hands of Minneapolis police last month, Texas according to The Dallas Morning News. Hearing police culture. George Floyd who was Gov. Greg Abbott labeled the incident a “horrific act noises outside her window in the middle of the See FUNDING killed by a Minneapolis of police brutality” and has since repeatedly said night, Jefferson grabbed her handgun and went to Page 6 police officer and the that Texas can’t let such a tragedy happen. the window, her nephew later said. The former of- many other Black Citi- “George Floyd has not died in vain,” Abbott said ficer, Aaron Dean, did not identify himself as law zens who have been Monday at a public memorial for Floyd in Houston. enforcement and shot her through the window. murdered by police all “I am committed to working with the family of Javier Ambler, who was also black, died last over the country. George Floyd to ensure we never have anything like year after Williamson County sheriff deputies held Advocates’ request The demonstra- this ever occur in the state of Texas.” him down and stunned him with a Taser after pull- for more funding tions were international. It already has. ing him over for failing to dim the headlights on his falls short The demonstrators are But the governor has been noticeably silent on SUV. Ambler repeatedly told officers he wasn’t re- See COUNCIL asking for changes in the Texas’ own high-profile examples of police killings. sisting arrest and that he couldn’t breathe, accord- Page 7 Police Departments are An Abbott spokesperson did not respond to ques- ing to the Austin American-Statesman. calling for changes in the tions for this story Tuesday. And in Austin, cellphone video recorded by a Let Justice treatment that police Last year, Texas police shot and killed 117 neighbor showed that Mike Ramos, a black and His- are known to use against people, according to a report by the Texas attorney panic man, was unarmed and driving away from Roll Down: Blacks and other minori- general’s office. A string of high-profile fatal police police in April when a police officer shot and killed Unveiling ties. shootings and in-custody deaths of black Texans in him. The officer, Christopher Taylor, is on paid leave. Among the recent years has sparked protests and widespread Those high-profile shootings from 2019 and Bicameral changes that some are calls for police reform and racial justice. this year are still under investigation. The names of Justice in asking for is to defund In 2018, former Balch Springs police officer Roy the people killed have been printed on protest signs the Police Departments. Oliver was convicted of murder in the shooting and shouted alongside Floyd’s during the recent Policing Act This means that we will death of Jordan Edwards, a 15-year-old passenger Texas demonstrations. Abbott has not mentioned have to come up with in a car that was driving away from police. A year them. From the Office of new ways to protect our- later, former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was Rebecca Webber, an attorney for Ramos’ mother, U.S. Representative selves and our com- convicted of murder for killing Botham Jean, a 26- said Tuesday that it’s hard for Brenda Ramos to hear city Lloyd Doggett munity. It may require year-old man who was unarmed at home when the and state officials speak out for Floyd but not her son. Washington, D.C. – that we all will have to off-duty officer shot him from the doorway. Guyger ”Governor Abbott rightfully condemned a mur- U.S. Representative strap on guns as in the said she mistook his apartment, which she entered, der across the country but what about the awful vid- Lloyd Doggett (D-TX), days of the wild wild for her own home. eos of the killings of Mike Ramos and Javier Ambler Chair of the House Ways west. Last October, a Fort Worth police officer dis- right here in our community?” Webber said in an email and Means Health Sub- What we need is patched to perform a welfare check on Atatiana to The Texas Tribune. “Where is the outrage from offi- committee, this morning an overhaul of the rules Jefferson instead fatally shot the black woman, who cials about these tragedies?” joined his colleagues in that the police are to the Congressional Black abide by and stronger Caucus as an original punishment for those George Floyd laid to rest in Houston sponsor of the bicameral who violate those rules. BY ALEX SAMUELS | The Texas Tribune Justice in Policing Act, We have to make sure the most sweeping po- that police officers who lice reform bill in con- murder unarmed citi- (HOUSTON, TX) - gressional history. zens pay the ultimate Hundreds of people filed “Recent killings price. into a Houston chapel have made all the more The same price Tuesday to pay their fi- important asserting that that other citizens have nal respects to George Black Lives Matter and to pay when we murder Floyd, whose death at responding in a mean- other people. the hands of the Minne- ingful way to wrongdo- While the dem- apolis police ignited a ing,” said Congressman onstrators are calling for protest movement Doggett. “This compre- justice, we need to keep worldwide, along with a hensive legislation af- our eyes on the future. flood of pain, anguish firms the calls for justice We need to make sure and a want for change in rightly ringing through- that in the end wrong American policing. out our streets: it holds doers will be punished Although masks police officers account- to the full extent of the and tears muffled some “Who would’ve thought that his name will now be mentioned in South Africa, able for wrongs, ends law. people’s words, mourn- Canada, Nairobi, Berlin, South Korea, Europe?” Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner the wall around informa- Most of our Po- ers took turns remem- said during the funeral. Photo credit: Godofredo A. Vasquez/Pool via REUTERS tion on use-of-force, lice officers are hard- bering the man who bans chokeholds, and working people who are called Houston’s Third temic problem that has white life, we’re going to capped off a series of takes many more neces- having to suffer because Ward home. He was a been allowed to perme- keep coming back to gatherings honoring sary actions. Failure by of the wrong doing of brother, a son, a father ate since we were these situations over Floyd in the past week; it some law enforcement their fellow officers. and a friend. In death, brought to these shores. and over again,” was closed to all but fam- personnel to protect We need to give his name has become a We are fighting wicked- Sharpton added. “I want ily members, friends and Black citizens threatens the police our support as global chant, a hashtag ness in high places,” civil to give a commitment to invited guests, including the core of our democ- we continue to fight and a symbol of racial rights activist the Rev. Al the family that we’re Houston Mayor Sylvester racy—undermining con- against the slaughter of injustice. Sharpton said in a eulogy going to be here for the Turner; U.S. Reps. Sheila fidence in government our neighbors. “We are not fight- for Floyd. long haul. When the last Jackson Lee and Al Green, and making hollow the We all need to be ing some disconnected “Until we know the TV truck is gone, we’ll both Houston Democrats; promise of life, liberty, involved in making these incidents. We are fight- price for black life is the still be here.” boxer Floyd Mayweather much-needed changes. ing an institutional, sys- same as the price for Tuesday’s service and singer Ne-Yo. See, STEPS, page 7 Page 2 ~ THE VILLAGER/June 12, 2020 THE COMMUNIQUÉ www.theaustinvillager.com www.theaustinvillager.com THE BULLETIN THE VILLAGER/June 12, 2020 ~ Page 3 TV One Original Documentary, THE BEAT We Want YOU! DON’T STOP Premieres June 21 at 7 P.M. CDT Advertise With Edited by Naomi Richard | THE VILLAGER The (VILLAGER) - TV emerged out of under- VILLAGER One celebrates Black privileged neighbor- Music Month with the hoods during the height debut of its original of the crack cocaine epi- Country Boyz Fixin’s demic in the 1980s, documentary, THE BEAT 4140 E. 12th Street, Austin, TX 78721 DON’T STOP, airing on which was largely Featuring Fish, Poboys, Hot Wings, Pork Chops, Sunday, June 21 at 7 P.M. blamed for the rise in Homemade Gumbo, Shrimp and Alligator (CT), followed by an en- crime and violence that DINE IN OR core presentation at 9 paralyzed D.C. THE BEAT ORDER TO GO DON’T STOP takes view- Mon - Fri: 11 am - 8 p.m. P.M. (CT). The long- Saturday: 12 noon - 5 p.m.