Buck O’Neil going into National Baseball Hall of Hall of Fame

Buck O’Neil, a champion of Black ballplayers during a monumental, eight-decade career on and off the field has been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.

John Jordan "Buck" O'Neil Jr. (November 13, 1911 – October 6, 2006) was a first baseman and manager in the Negro American League, mostly with the Kansas City Monarchs. After his playing days, he worked as a scout and, among his many credits, is credited for signing Hall of Fame player Lou Brock to his first professional baseball contract. O’Neil later became the first African-American coach in Major League Baseball.

O'Neil was a fixture in baseball for nearly his entire life, and was instrumental in the development and growth of the Negro Leagues Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum located in Kansas City, Missouri. On December 7, 2006, O'Neil was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush.

O'Neil will be enshrined in Cooperstown, New York, on July 24, 2022, along with any new members elected by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

U.S. Justice Department closes Emmett Till investigation with no new charges

The U.S. Justice Department told relatives of Emmett Till on Monday that it is ending its latest investigation into the 1955 lynching of the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi.

Till’s family said it was disappointed by the news that there will continue to be no accountability for the infamous killing, with no charges being filed against Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman accused of lying about whether Till ever touched her.

“Today is a day we will never forget,” Till’s cousin, the Rev. Wheeler Parker, said during a news conference in Chicago. “For 66 years we have suffered pain. … I suffered tremendously.” The killing galvanized the civil rights movement after Till’s mother insisted on an open casket, and Jet magazine published photos of his brutalized body.

The Justice Department reopened the investigation after a 2017 book quoted Donham as saying she lied when she claimed that 14-year-old Till grabbed her, whistled and made sexual advances while she was working in a store in the small community of Money. Relatives have publicly denied that Donham, who is in her 80s, recanted her allegations about Till.

Donham told the FBI that she had never recanted her accusations and there is “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she lied to the FBI,” the Justice Department said in a news release Monday. Officials also said that Timothy B. Tyson, the author of 2017’s “The Blood of Emmett Till” was unable to produce any recordings or transcripts in which Donham allegedly admitted to lying about her encounter with the teen.

“In closing this matter without prosecution, the government does not take the position that the state court testimony the woman gave in 1955 was truthful or accurate,” the news release said. “There remains considerable doubt as to the credibility of her version of events, which is contradicted by others who were with Till at the time, including the account of a living witness.” Days after Till was killed, his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, where it was tossed after being weighted down with a cotton gin fan.

The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act requires the Justice Department to make an annual report to Congress. No report was filed in 2020, but a report filed in June of 2021 indicated that the department was still investigating the abduction and killing of Till.

Minnesota launches the nation’s first-ever task force on missing Black women

Minnesota State Represenative Ruth Richardson

Minnesota has become the first state in the nation to launch a panel addressing the disproportionately high number of missing and murdered Black women and girls.

On Monday, Gov. Walz and Lt. Governor Flanagan, flanked by victim advocates, lawmakers, and public safety officials, including Rep. Ruth Richardson (DFL-Mendota Heights) and Department of Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington, held a ceremonial bill signing at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis to launch the nation’s first Missing and Murdered African American Women Task Force.

The 12-member task force, established with bipartisan support in the 2021 Public Safety and Judiciary Omnibus bill, will report recommendations to the Legislature to end violence against African American women and girls in Minnesota. The panel is comprised of victim advocates, law enforcement, and court officials who met for the first time on Monday.

“We know African American women and girls are disproportionately subject to violent crime,” Gov. Walz said. “That’s why we took action and established a first-in-the-nation Missing and Murdered African American Women task force.”

In 2020, almost 34% of the missing women in the U.S. were Black, according to the National Crime Information Center of the FBI, while Census data shows that Black women make up just 15% of the U.S. population.

“We are seeing African American women killed in numbers we’ve never seen before,” Commissioner Harrington said at Monday’s press conference. “Despite the small number of African Americans in Minnesota, 30% of the victims in domestic violence settings are African American women.”

A recent Violence Free Minnesota’s (VFM) report found disproportionate numbers of Black and Native domestic violence homicide victims compared to statewide demographics.

“In 2020, 40% of domestic violence homicide victims were Black, while comprising less than 7% of Minnesota’s population,” read the VFM report. “Four women were pregnant at the time they were killed by a current or former intimate partner, and three of them were Black. These violent disparities are attributed to histories of colonization, chattel slavery, genocide, generational trauma, and ongoing systematic oppression.”

Rep. Richardson, who spearheaded the legislation behind the task force, spoke about the disproportionately high numbers of missing and murdered Black women and girls during an appearance on Peacock’s “Zerlina.”

“I think one of the things that we’re really struggling with as a society is that we have not done enough work to place a value on the lives of Black women and Black girls,” Rep. Richardson said. “Because when we look at the data, we see some really concerning disparities. Cases involving Black women and girls stay open four times longer than cases involving other women.”

She added, “Black girls are much less likely to get Amber Alerts than White girls are. And that’s a really important distinction because when there are no Amber Alerts, there are no police resources invested in the critical first 48 hours. And you don’t get the media attention when someone is classified as a runaway versus a child in need of support or seen as a victim.”

Family of Charleena Lyles settles wrongful-death lawsuit against City of Seattle for $3.5 million

A $3.5 million settlement was reached in the wrongful-death lawsuit over the 2017 killing of Charleena Lyles by two Seattle Police Department officers, according to the family’s attorney Karen Koehler.

Koehler said a settlement agreement was reached Monday night.

Officers Steven McNew and Jason Anderson shot 30-year-old Lyles while responding to a burglary call at Lyles’ apartment near Magnuson Park on June 18, 2017.

The officers opened fire after they said Lyles confronted them with a knife. Lyles, who was pregnant, was shot and killed in front of her children.

A wrongful-death lawsuit was filed in September 2017 but dismissed in 2019 by former King County Superior Court Judge Julie Spector. The 2019 ruling was appealed and reversed on Feb. 16, 2021 and remanded to superior court for trial. The trial was set for Feb. 7, 2022.

The family claimed Seattle police violated Lyles' civil rights, that its officers were negligent, and that they violated the Americans with Disabilities Act because she was mentally ill.

According to the family's attorneys, they argued in court that the officers didn't plan properly for the situation, nor did they follow their training and department policy. They also argued the officers weren't properly equipped, pointing out neither officer had a taser and "showed up with one option - to shoot her."

Because a settlement was reached, the lawsuit against Seattle is dismissed.

The city issued the following statement regarding the settlement:

“It is indisputable that this has been a tragedy, and we are glad to have some level of closure for the parties. We stand by the multiple layers of review of this event and are pleased that the officers will be dismissed from the lawsuit. The remaining parties will be mutually seeking judicial approval for a resolution of all claims.”

[SOURCE KING 5]

MARCUS FREEMAN NAMED 30TH HEAD FOOTBALL COACH AT NOTRE DAME

Marcus Freeman, one of the rising young stars in the profession and architect of the highly-ranked Fighting Irish defense, today has been named the 30th Dick Corbett Head Football Coach at the University of Notre Dame.

Freeman will be introduced on Monday, December 6 at a 2:00pm ET press conference and will coach the Irish in their upcoming bowl game.

“It is an honor to be named the head coach of Notre Dame Football,” said Freeman. “I am eternally grateful to both Father John Jenkins and Jack Swarbrick for giving me the opportunity to lead the exceptional men who make this program what it is. Notre Dame is a very special place and I look forward to pursuing a national championship with the most outstanding student-athletes, coaches and staff in college football.”

“Marcus Freeman has not only proven himself a superb football coach, he has shown–both in his time at Notre Dame and in my conversations with him this week–that he is a person of highest integrity who cares deeply about our student-athletes and is committed to their success in the classroom as well as on the field,” said University President Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C. “I am excited to welcome him as our new head football coach, and to have his wife, Joanna, and their six beautiful children in the Notre Dame family.”

“Marcus’ ability to connect with people, his fit at Notre Dame and the way he coaches young men set him apart as we went through our search process,” said University Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick. “I can’t wait to see how the culture created by these remarkable student-athletes continues to grow under the tutelage of Marcus and his staff.”

In his first season with the Irish, he led a transformation on the defensive side of the ball that includes a number of Top-20 national rankings. The Irish rank sixth nationally in interceptions (15) and defensive touchdowns (4), seventh in total sacks (40.0), 11th in turnovers gained (23) and scoring defense (18.2) and 18th in third-down conversion percentage (.329). The 40.0 team sacks is one shy of the program record of 41 from the 1996 season.

Freeman has overseen sophomore Isaiah Foskey’s breakout season as a starter on the defensive line. Foskey has tallied 10.0 sacks this year, fourth-most in program history for a single season. The depth of the Irish defense has been on full display in 2021 as 15 different players have recorded a sack and 21 different players have had a tackle-for-loss. The 15 interceptions are the most in a single season since 2014 when the Irish had 16. In November, the Irish had three-straight games without allowing a touchdown for the first time since 2012.

Prior to coming to South Bend, Freeman spent the previous four seasons as the defensive coordinator at Cincinnati. During his time with the Bearcats, he was named the 2020 247Sports.com Defensive Coordinator of the Year and 2020 Broyles Award Finalist along with a nominee for the Broyles Award in 2019 and 2018.

Prior to his time at Purdue, Freeman coached linebackers at Kent State from 2011-12, helping develop all-conference selections Luke Batton and C.J. Malauulu.

Freeman started his coaching career as a graduate assistant coach at his alma mater, Ohio State, in 2010 and the Buckeyes went 12-1 with a victory in the Sugar Bowl.

Freeman is just the third Notre Dame head coach to have been selected in the NFL Draft, and is the first since Ara Parseghian was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1947. He is the 23rd Notre Dame head coach to have Division I playing experience and the first since Tyrone Willingham.

During his playing career, Freeman was a four-year letterwinner for the Buckeyes from 2004 to 2008. He played under current Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell and earned second team All-Big Ten honors in 2008 while helping lead Ohio State to four conference titles, three BCS bowls and two trips to the national title game during his career.

He played in the 2009 Senior Bowl and was a fifth-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears, spending time with the Bears, Buffalo Bills and Houston Texans before a medical condition ended his playing career.

Freeman graduated from Ohio State in 2007 and returned to the classroom to earn his master’s degree in 2011.