CINCINNATI-Police are searching for a missing woman who was last seen on Sunday, Sept. 19 in Over-the-Rhine.
Police said Ameka Thompson, 42, left to go smoke a cigarette outside of her apartment on Logan Street around 10:30 p.m. and has not been seen since.
They said her mental health may not be good, but she is in good physical health.
She is described as 5′5″, 130 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes.
If you see her you’re asked to contact Det. Nikki Oliver at 513-352-4567.
A group of 10 Black women filed a class action lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police Department Wednesday claiming they experienced racial discrimination and sexual harassment while working for the department and the division in charge of stopping or punishing those behaviors instead enabled a "culture of intimidation" and colluded with management to discredit the women.
Melvin Van Peebles, an actor, writer, director, producer and icon of Black cinema whose films include Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and Watermelon Man, died Tuesday night at his home. He was 89.
His death was confirmed by his son, Mario Van Peebles, who said in a statement: “Dad knew that Black images matter. If a picture is worth a thousand words, what was a movie worth? We want to be the success we see, thus we need to see ourselves being free. True liberation did not mean imitating the colonizer’s mentality. It meant appreciating the power, beauty and interconnectivity of all people.”
Van Peebles probably is best known for writing, directing, producing and starring in Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, the landmark 1971 blaxploitation pic that was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry last year.
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) issued the following statement after bipartisan congressional talks between he, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and Rep. Karen Bass (D-Calif) on overhauling policing practices have ended without an agreement:
“America has a serious problem when it comes to discriminatory policing and excessive and deadly force used against communities of color. We can’t properly honor the lives of the victims of this violence if we don’t take meaningful steps to prevent future violence and deaths from occurring and make our communities safer.
“We made it clear from the beginning of our negotiations that a bill must ensure true accountability, transparency, and the policing standards necessary to bring an end to horrific incidents of violence Americans are routinely seeing -- like the murder of George Floyd. After months of exhausting every possible pathway to a bipartisan deal, it remains out of reach right now, even after working collaboratively with and securing the support of policing groups like the Fraternal Order of Police and International Association of Chiefs of Police for our proposals.
“Unfortunately, even with this law enforcement support and further compromises we offered, there was still too wide a gulf with our negotiating partners and we faced significant obstacles to securing a bipartisan deal.
“The time has come to explore all other options to achieve meaningful and common sense policing reform. I will not stop fighting until we achieve change that keeps our communities and police officers safe.”
Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Joyce Beatty (OH-03) issued the following statement on the treatment of Haitian migrants at the U.S. Border:
“The images that we’ve seen over the last 24 hours are horrific and I share the outrage being expressed by Americans across the country. This sort of mistreatment is an affront to the very conscience of this nation, and it is absolutely unacceptable.
Beatty continued, “The Congressional Black Caucus has a long history of supporting our brothers and sisters across the Diaspora and we have pledged our support for the people of Haiti. To that end, I have called for an investigation into the actions of CBP and call on DHS Secretary Mayorkas to ensure that mistreatment and violence like this never happen again. The Congressional Black Caucus is actively monitoring developments and we are prepared to travel to the border to observe this situation ourselves. Treatment like this cannot be tolerated. ”
