Commentary by DailyKos editor JoanMar
Families took their children to see a high school football game in Philadelphia, PA. and one little daughter would not make it back home. As the peaceful families filed out of the stadium, people a block away got into a fight that they decided could only be resolved with gunfire. Three cops assigned to protect the attendees of the football game upon hearing the shots a block away, mind you, had a decision to make. What do they do? They, in their infinite, collective wisdom, decided to shoot up the first car they see coming their way. Black occupants, they must be the shooters! No one in the car was hit by the “dozen or more bullets shot in response,” thank goodness. Four innocent people including three children would not be so lucky. Of those struck by the bullets fired from police guns, one would succumb to her injuries. Fanta Bility an 8-year-old baby girl died as a result of the bullets that were indiscriminately pumped into her tiny body.
"We have to be able to justify why police officers or others shot into a crowd of Black and brown children," said President of the NAACP Darby Area Branch.
I’ll give you three guesses as to what the murderous cops did after they shot and killed little Fanta. I knew you’d only need one and yes, you are correct! They f***ing lied! They claimed that they were in a shootout and that they were only “responding” to incoming fire. Only no guns were found in the car or on the persons of the oh-so-lucky passengers of the marked car.
In the meantime — and even as I was getting set to write this diary — CNN was doing another update — one every hour — on Gabby Petito (and autocorrect already knows the correct spelling of her name. Anyone on this site remembers how long it took for autocorrect to accept the correct spelling of Barack Obama’s name?). It is a disgusting shame the shabby treatment given to a case about law enforcement officers recklessly firing live bullets into a car full of innocent people and shooting up innocent bystanders, yet, here we are STILL having saturation coverage of a young white woman who, sadly, we already know to be dead and her boyfriend on the run. News media still devoting time and manpower to a case that has basically been solved...and that which we don’t know about it should not justify networks still doing the breaking news banners with the scary music.
But back to the murder of little Fanta: of the 6,600 people police killed since January 1, 2015, 115 of them were under 18-years-of age. Of that 115, 36 were white, 70 (yes, you read that right, 70), were Black or Brown, and another 9 were shoved under the categories “unknown” and “other”. We can safely conclude that of the 115 children killed by cops since 2015, 79 of them were children of color. I have yet to see a breaking news streamer about those children...individually or collectively.
According to The Washington Post database, since they began keeping records of police killings, cops in this country killed nine kids ages 14 and under. That number would not include the murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice or 6-year-old Aiyanna Stanley-Jones, both of them black. You remember beautiful Aiyanna, don’t you? That sweet little girl was sleeping with her grandmother when cops burst into their Detroit home, killed her, and then arrested and charged the loving, distraught grandmother for the murder of her grandchild all the while trying to cover up the dastardly deed they knew they had done.
Those children 14 and under killed by cops since 2015:
13-year-old Adam Toledo — Hispanic
14-year-old Antonio Arce — Hispanic
6-year-old Kameron Prescot — White
14-year-old Jason Ike Pero — Native American
13-year-old Tyre King — Black
14-year-old Jesse James Romero — Hispanic
12-year-old Ciara Meyer — White
6-year-old Jeremy Mardis — White
8-year-old Fanta Bility — Black
Rest in Paradise, beautiful Fanta. The media can ignore you, but we won’t. We call your name, Baby Girl.
Fanta Bility, a beautiful and loving friend has passed away. A unique soul with great personality has an amazing sense of humor, diligent and caring. Fanta Bility always brought light to every room she entered. And will be dearly missed by family, friends, and everyone. A life so beautifully lived deserves to be beautifully remembered.
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that were looking forward to $45 billion in funding may be faced with just $2 billion under the Biden administration's multitrillion-dollar spending plan, a result of Democratic infighting, the Associated Press reported.
The $3.5 trillion bill was set to include $45 billion for HBCUs and other minority-serving institutions, but the newest iteration of the bill allots only $2 billion for educational programs and infrastructure of HBCUs. That amount could even be reduced to competitive grant funding, instead of direct funding to the schools.
Harry L. Williams, president of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, which represents public HBCUs, stressed the importance of the funding, and the needs the original funding could have helped fulfill. He said Black colleges have unique history, needs and financial challenges.
They often struggle with funding for upgrading their campuses, updating their research programs, providing essential materials, hiring teachers and attracting new potential students.
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In a convenient twist of fate, the Indiana University Bloomington alum has reportedly contracted COVID-19 at the exact same time that her employer is mulling her future at the network.
From Front Office Sports:
Her critical comments about Disney did not go over well in Bristol or Burbank. Both ESPN and Steele thought it was appropriate for her to take some time off, said sources.
The network declined to comment on whether Steele’s hiatus is due to internal discipline or possible suspension.
Hmmmm.
Also adding fuel to the rumors that Steele was indeed suspended is a pair of statements that were made yesterday from both Steele and her employer.
“I know my recent comments created controversy for the company, and I apologize,” Steele wrote in hers. “We are in the midst of an extremely challenging time that impacts all of us, and it’s more critical than ever that we communicate constructively and thoughtfully.”
“At ESPN, we embrace different points of view,” her employer wrote. “Dialogue and discussion make this place great. That said, we expect that those points of view be expressed respectfully, in a manner consistent with our values, and in line with our internal policies. We are having direct conversations with Sage and those conversations will remain private.”
On Twitter, however, users have noted how drastically different that ESPN has publicly addressed Steele, who publicly questioned Barack Obama’s Blackness, and former His & Hers host Jemele Hill, who called a thing a thing when she accurately identified Donald Trump as a white supremacist back in 2017.
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Malaria is one of medical science’s most formidable foes. The search for a vaccine has been going on for decades. Dozens of candidates have been tested in recent years. But so far only one, a jab called rts,s, made by GlaxoSmithKline, has proved effective in the final stages of clinical trials. On October 6th the World Health Organisation (who) recommended rts,s for use in childhood vaccination in places with transmission of Plasmodium falciparum, the deadliest of the five parasites that cause malaria, and the most common in Africa.
The who reached its decision after reviewing results from Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, where more than 800,000 infants were vaccinated with a four-dose regimen. In these countries rts,s was included among the routine childhood vaccines distributed by primary health-care centres. This implementation programme, in which rts,s reduced by 30% the number of cases of severe malaria which led to hospital admissions, therefore measured what kind of efficacy can be expected if the vaccine is rolled out widely across Africa.
Some may think that 30% efficacy is not much. But in parts of sub-Saharan Africa children contract malaria six times a year on average. Each year more than 260,000 African children die of it before their fifth birthdays. Those who survive often suffer lifelong harm, including stunting, a form of impaired growth that affects the ability to learn. The impact of rts,s will thus be huge.
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