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10-09-2007, 02:39 PM
Halloween display of hanging prompts racism concerns
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Link to article:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS/70925012
WATCHUNG — The operator of a Halloween costume store here said a window display depicting a man hanging from a noose will be removed after a Scotch Plains woman complained, saying it was appalling and racist.
Delores Jackson, a fifth-grade teacher at the Charles H. Skillman Elementary School in Plainfield, said the display she saw Sunday in the window at the Halloween Scene store in the Blue Star Shopping Center on Route 22 West depicted a stuffed doll resembling a black man, wearing a labor suit and hanging from a noose.
"They are selling this particular display like spiders hanging from the ceiling. ... I took offense by a black man being hung in a display window," Jackson said.
Jackson and her son, J.J. Jackson, 24, entered the store after seeing the display and asked a clerk about it. The inflatable "hanging victim" costume is manufactured by California-based First Imperial Trading Company, and resembles a "decaying person," said Robert Lap, store operator.
The costume often is used at haunted houses to create a "special graveyard effect," a store employee said Monday.
Lap said the display is nothing more than a "Halloween prop," and that Jackson was the only person in Halloween Scene's 30 stores in New York and New Jersey to complain about it.
How people perceive the display is "in the eye of the beholder," he said.
"Honestly, I didn't think of it (being racist in nature) until it was brought to me yesterday," Lap said. "I know myself; I am not a racist. It's simply a Halloween prop."
Lap confirmed later Monday that it would be removed from all Halloween Scene stores.
"(We're removing it) for obvious reasons," he said.
A media representative for First Imperial Trading Company said Monday that the company manufactures about 800 Halloween items and was unsure about the "hanging victim" display.
Jackson said she was especially concerned about the display appearing just days after civil rights concerns in Louisiana over the Jena Six.
Jena Six refers to a group of six black teenagers who were accused in the Dec. 4, 2006, beating of a white teenager in Jena, La. They were arrested and charged with felonies. The white teenager was said to have taunted the black students previously with racial slurs, and nooses were hung from a tree in front of the students' high school.
Tens of thousands of people from across the nation descended Thursday on Jena to rally around the cause of the six black students.
With the rallies fresh in her mind, Jackson questioned the display's purpose.
"It's advertising that this (mocking a hanging) is OK," Jackson said.
She also was concerned about the display's proximity to a neighboring store that sells school supplies to parents, teachers and children.
"I don't take this as a good display. Period," Jackson said. "I would hate to ride in my neighborhood and see this display hanging from the trees."
Monday's incident represented another local concern about perceptions of racism. Last week, Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Plainfield, asked the Union County Prosecutor's Office to investigate what a Plainfield man said was a racial epithet printed on a receipt for a cell phone that was bought at a Plainfield store.
When city resident Nykii Southerland, 27, went to the U.S. 1 Wireless store at 102 W. Front St., the phrase "good morning MY NIGGAS @ U.S. 1 HOLLA BAK" appeared on his receipt next to an otherwise unspecified charge for $25.
Victor Vaibak, owner of the U.S. 1 Wireless store, said Monday that the clerk who printed the phrase on the receipt has been fired.
"It really freaked me out. I lost my mind when I heard this," Vaibak said. "I feel very bad. This is not the way we run business. This is not the way we treat everybody. I want to apologize deeply to the guy, that's all I can say."
J.J. Jackson, who also heard about the incident at the phone store, said of that incident and the costume display: "It's hitting too close to home with American history."
Don't Feed the Homeless: Group Intentionally Violating City Ordinance During "Ladle Fest"
Link:
http://www.wftv.com/news/14289861/detail.html
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A controversial city ordinance has led to a number of protests and now a trial. An Orlando man is the first person to face a jury for feeding the homeless.
It's the first trial of its kind. A man is facing a judge and jury for violating Orlando's ban on feeding the homeless. Eric Montanez, 22, was caught feeding a group in Lake Eola Park earlier this year. The prosecution told Eyewitness News their case rests on video taken of Montanez feeding the homeless, breaking Orlando's feeding ban.
"There are a lot better things for law enforcement to be doing in this town, but this was an outrage," said George Crossley of the ACLU.
Montanez and a small group of supporters marched from Lake Eola Park to the Orange County on Monday morning.
"We're ready to take this on," Montanez said.
Montanez and the group he's involved with, Food Not Bombs, returned to Lake Eola just after sunrise to once again violate the ordinance that has him on trial. Food Not Bombs volunteers served breakfast to about 100 Montanez supporters, most of them homeless. They will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner during what they're calling a three-day "ladle fest," not a protest.
"Me personally, I think that's discriminating for one," said Lamont Robinson, a homeless man.
"We're out here trying to survive from day to day life and this gentleman over here is helping us," said Melvin Moore, a homeless man.
In April, Montanez was arrested for violating the city ordinance that bans mass feeding in one area. His attorney will argue that the law is a violation of civil rights and say Montanez did nothing wrong, because every feeding that he participated in was done at a public park.
"The law itself should be illegal. Feeding people should not be criminalized. Being poor should not be criminalized," Montanez said.
The group is hoping to pressure city leaders into axing the ordinance that they believe is a violation of their civil rights, but the city has made no mention of such consideration being in their plans.
Teen Armed with Clothing Iron Killed by Police
Police said they were responding to a domestic disturbance in the 600 block of East Brill Street.
Relatives said Yvonne Young called police saying her 15-year-old son, Ron Timbers, was threatening her with a knife and hammer.
Shortly after police arrived at 2:00 p.m., the incident turned deadly. Police shot and killed the teenager after they say he lunged at an officer with a clothing iron.
"It totally escalated out of control, something we feel was very unnecessary in reference to him. He's only 15," said the boy's aunt, Lamika Jenkins.
Timbers, who was a ninth grader at a school for kids with serious discipline problems, was described by some neighbors as a rowdy kid who got into fights here and there.
"He always ran around with knives like last summer," said neighbor Jessica Marquez. "There were always cops at his door, so I don't know what was going on with his family."
Still, family members said police did not need to shoot Timbers.
"He had an iron in his hand. He was only 15. It makes no sense for the cops to shoot him. None whatsoever," said another aunt, Carmen Young.
Initially police reported that Timbers lunged at an officer with a knife or tire iron. Later, family members said that he had a clothing iron. Family and residents had a lot of questions for police, but nobody was talking. Police deferred all questions to the commissioner's office, which did not release a statement.
The officer who fired the shot that killed Timbers has been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation, which is standard procedure.
Noose Found on Columbia Teachers' College Professor's Door
The police are investigating a hate crime at Columbia University's Teachers College after a noose was found on the door of a black professor. Teachers College president Susan Fuhrman issued a statement.
The police were the school this morning because a hangman's noose was discovered on the office door of one of our African American faculty members. The incident has been reported to the New York City Police Department (Detectives Bureau of Manhattan) and is under active investigation by the Hate Crimes Task Force. The TC community and I deplore this hateful act, which violates every Teachers College and societal norm
http://pic60.picturetrail.com/VOL1671/8249656/15414288/282501528.jpg
Link to article:
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070925/NEWS/70925012
WATCHUNG — The operator of a Halloween costume store here said a window display depicting a man hanging from a noose will be removed after a Scotch Plains woman complained, saying it was appalling and racist.
Delores Jackson, a fifth-grade teacher at the Charles H. Skillman Elementary School in Plainfield, said the display she saw Sunday in the window at the Halloween Scene store in the Blue Star Shopping Center on Route 22 West depicted a stuffed doll resembling a black man, wearing a labor suit and hanging from a noose.
"They are selling this particular display like spiders hanging from the ceiling. ... I took offense by a black man being hung in a display window," Jackson said.
Jackson and her son, J.J. Jackson, 24, entered the store after seeing the display and asked a clerk about it. The inflatable "hanging victim" costume is manufactured by California-based First Imperial Trading Company, and resembles a "decaying person," said Robert Lap, store operator.
The costume often is used at haunted houses to create a "special graveyard effect," a store employee said Monday.
Lap said the display is nothing more than a "Halloween prop," and that Jackson was the only person in Halloween Scene's 30 stores in New York and New Jersey to complain about it.
How people perceive the display is "in the eye of the beholder," he said.
"Honestly, I didn't think of it (being racist in nature) until it was brought to me yesterday," Lap said. "I know myself; I am not a racist. It's simply a Halloween prop."
Lap confirmed later Monday that it would be removed from all Halloween Scene stores.
"(We're removing it) for obvious reasons," he said.
A media representative for First Imperial Trading Company said Monday that the company manufactures about 800 Halloween items and was unsure about the "hanging victim" display.
Jackson said she was especially concerned about the display appearing just days after civil rights concerns in Louisiana over the Jena Six.
Jena Six refers to a group of six black teenagers who were accused in the Dec. 4, 2006, beating of a white teenager in Jena, La. They were arrested and charged with felonies. The white teenager was said to have taunted the black students previously with racial slurs, and nooses were hung from a tree in front of the students' high school.
Tens of thousands of people from across the nation descended Thursday on Jena to rally around the cause of the six black students.
With the rallies fresh in her mind, Jackson questioned the display's purpose.
"It's advertising that this (mocking a hanging) is OK," Jackson said.
She also was concerned about the display's proximity to a neighboring store that sells school supplies to parents, teachers and children.
"I don't take this as a good display. Period," Jackson said. "I would hate to ride in my neighborhood and see this display hanging from the trees."
Monday's incident represented another local concern about perceptions of racism. Last week, Assemblyman Jerry Green, D-Plainfield, asked the Union County Prosecutor's Office to investigate what a Plainfield man said was a racial epithet printed on a receipt for a cell phone that was bought at a Plainfield store.
When city resident Nykii Southerland, 27, went to the U.S. 1 Wireless store at 102 W. Front St., the phrase "good morning MY NIGGAS @ U.S. 1 HOLLA BAK" appeared on his receipt next to an otherwise unspecified charge for $25.
Victor Vaibak, owner of the U.S. 1 Wireless store, said Monday that the clerk who printed the phrase on the receipt has been fired.
"It really freaked me out. I lost my mind when I heard this," Vaibak said. "I feel very bad. This is not the way we run business. This is not the way we treat everybody. I want to apologize deeply to the guy, that's all I can say."
J.J. Jackson, who also heard about the incident at the phone store, said of that incident and the costume display: "It's hitting too close to home with American history."
Don't Feed the Homeless: Group Intentionally Violating City Ordinance During "Ladle Fest"
Link:
http://www.wftv.com/news/14289861/detail.html
ORLANDO, Fla. -- A controversial city ordinance has led to a number of protests and now a trial. An Orlando man is the first person to face a jury for feeding the homeless.
It's the first trial of its kind. A man is facing a judge and jury for violating Orlando's ban on feeding the homeless. Eric Montanez, 22, was caught feeding a group in Lake Eola Park earlier this year. The prosecution told Eyewitness News their case rests on video taken of Montanez feeding the homeless, breaking Orlando's feeding ban.
"There are a lot better things for law enforcement to be doing in this town, but this was an outrage," said George Crossley of the ACLU.
Montanez and a small group of supporters marched from Lake Eola Park to the Orange County on Monday morning.
"We're ready to take this on," Montanez said.
Montanez and the group he's involved with, Food Not Bombs, returned to Lake Eola just after sunrise to once again violate the ordinance that has him on trial. Food Not Bombs volunteers served breakfast to about 100 Montanez supporters, most of them homeless. They will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner during what they're calling a three-day "ladle fest," not a protest.
"Me personally, I think that's discriminating for one," said Lamont Robinson, a homeless man.
"We're out here trying to survive from day to day life and this gentleman over here is helping us," said Melvin Moore, a homeless man.
In April, Montanez was arrested for violating the city ordinance that bans mass feeding in one area. His attorney will argue that the law is a violation of civil rights and say Montanez did nothing wrong, because every feeding that he participated in was done at a public park.
"The law itself should be illegal. Feeding people should not be criminalized. Being poor should not be criminalized," Montanez said.
The group is hoping to pressure city leaders into axing the ordinance that they believe is a violation of their civil rights, but the city has made no mention of such consideration being in their plans.
Teen Armed with Clothing Iron Killed by Police
Police said they were responding to a domestic disturbance in the 600 block of East Brill Street.
Relatives said Yvonne Young called police saying her 15-year-old son, Ron Timbers, was threatening her with a knife and hammer.
Shortly after police arrived at 2:00 p.m., the incident turned deadly. Police shot and killed the teenager after they say he lunged at an officer with a clothing iron.
"It totally escalated out of control, something we feel was very unnecessary in reference to him. He's only 15," said the boy's aunt, Lamika Jenkins.
Timbers, who was a ninth grader at a school for kids with serious discipline problems, was described by some neighbors as a rowdy kid who got into fights here and there.
"He always ran around with knives like last summer," said neighbor Jessica Marquez. "There were always cops at his door, so I don't know what was going on with his family."
Still, family members said police did not need to shoot Timbers.
"He had an iron in his hand. He was only 15. It makes no sense for the cops to shoot him. None whatsoever," said another aunt, Carmen Young.
Initially police reported that Timbers lunged at an officer with a knife or tire iron. Later, family members said that he had a clothing iron. Family and residents had a lot of questions for police, but nobody was talking. Police deferred all questions to the commissioner's office, which did not release a statement.
The officer who fired the shot that killed Timbers has been placed on desk duty pending the outcome of an Internal Affairs investigation, which is standard procedure.
Noose Found on Columbia Teachers' College Professor's Door
The police are investigating a hate crime at Columbia University's Teachers College after a noose was found on the door of a black professor. Teachers College president Susan Fuhrman issued a statement.
The police were the school this morning because a hangman's noose was discovered on the office door of one of our African American faculty members. The incident has been reported to the New York City Police Department (Detectives Bureau of Manhattan) and is under active investigation by the Hate Crimes Task Force. The TC community and I deplore this hateful act, which violates every Teachers College and societal norm