4 police officers charged with civil rights offenses in connection to Breonna Taylor's death

Four current and former Louisville Metro Police Department officers involved in the deadly raid on Breonna Taylor's home were arrested and charged with federal civil rights offenses, unlawful conspiracies, unconstitutional use of force and obstruction offenses, Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a press conference

NAACP calls for Department of Justice to investigate death of Jayland Walker

The NAACP is making a direct plea to Attorney General Merrick Garland for the Justice Department to open a federal civil rights investigation into the shooting death of Jayland Walker, the Black man who was killed last month by officers in Akron in a hail of police gunfire.

“No one is above the law, including law enforcement. Those responsible for hunting him down and firing 90 bullets at him should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. We are urging you and your Department of Justice to conduct a thorough investigation into the murder of Jayland Walker, and – if what we all saw with our own eyes is true – federally charge the officers responsible for his gruesome assassination,” Derrick Johnson, the president and CEO of the NAACP, wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“If the officers’ conduct did not scream just how inhumane and fatally dangerous they are, the very fact that they handcuffed his corpse speaks volumes. This does not happen to white people in America,” Johnson said. “Just over a week ago, a mass shooter was detained as a ‘person of interest’ before being officially charged 24 hours later. He killed seven people and wounded countless others at a parade, yet officers did their job professionally and arrested him with dignity.”

“It is time to hold law enforcement officials accountable for treating Black Americans by different standards. We pray that your department will launch this critical investigation in the quest for justice in this case,” he added.

The Justice Department has yet to comment on the letter.

NAACP calls for federal charges against officer who killed Laquan McDonald

The NAACP on Tuesday sent a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland urging him to file federal civil rights charges against the white Chicago police officer who fatally shot Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014.

Former officer Jason Van Dyke was sentenced to six years and nine months after his conviction in October 2018 for the killing of McDonald, who was 17 at the time. Van Dyke is set to be released from prison on Thursday after serving less than half of his prison sentence.

In the letter, NAACP President Derrick Johnson urged Garland to "provide your commitment to move forward with appropriate and applicable federal charges based on the Federal Grand Jury findings and other relevant evidence"

"Given the egregious nature of his crime, the NAACP believes that at a minimum, the murderous officer should be charged with a federal civil rights violation under Title 18, U.S.C., Section 242 - Deprivation of Rights Under Color of Law," Johnson added.

He added that over its 113-year history, the organization has "seen unfair and inequitable favor given to law enforcement officers who unjustly take the lives of members of the Black community and have fought fervently in opposition to such favor."

[SOURCE: THE HILL]

Black women's groups feel jilted by Obama with Supreme Court pick

Black women's groups said Wednesday they feel President Barack Obama jilted them by choosing someone other than a black woman as his newest nominee for the Supreme Court.

Obama chose federal appeals court Chief Judge Merrick Garland, a white man, to replace deceased Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Garland is the third Supreme Court nominee of Obama's presidency.

"The fact that he would once again look over black women for this specific appointment is an absolute slap in the face to his top supporters," said Avis A. Jones-DeWeever, founder of the Exceptional Leadership Institute for Women.

Minority voters have been the most devoted supporters of Obama's two presidential campaigns. Black women, in particular, had the highest turnout among all racial and ethnic groups in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections, and they had hoped Obama would nominate a black woman to the high court.

Besides Garland, Obama's short list included federal appeals court judges Paul Watford, who is black, and Sri Srinivasan, who would have been the court's first Asian-American and the first Hindu.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Obama selected Garland "for one reason and one reason only, and that is simply that he believes that Chief Judge Garland is the best person in America to do that job."

But many may be disappointed Obama did not choose a "judge who can add to diversity on a court that still fails to represent the richness we see in our communities," said Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center.

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