Author
Free Radio Youth Collective
After the opening music ("Calling Out" by Lyrics Born), and a show rundown, Leanne and Mari cover some of the latest in youth news (news starts at 2:14).
YOUTH NEWS
After more than a year, the man who killed Sakia Gunn was sentenced this week to a 20 year prison sentence for aggravated manslaughter. Sakia Gunn, a lesbian teenager from Newark, was stabbed to death in 2003 by Richard McCullough, now 30 years old. Gunn and friends were waiting for a bus in Newark in the early morning hours when McCullough drove up in a car and asked the girls if they wanted to come with him to a party. Gunn told McCullough that they were lesbians and weren’t interested. Newsday reports that McCullough and a friend quote began spewing homophobic insults end quote, and a fight broke out. Gunn was stabbed and killed in the melee.
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In related news, the murder of another gay African-American teen, Rashawn Brazell, remains unsolved. On February 14, pieces of Brazell’s dismembered body were discovered in the subway, and his torso was found at a recycling plant several days later. Brazell’s mother spoke recently at a community forum, expressing her outrage at the lack of answers coming from police and demanding an increase of the current $2,000 reward for information leading to arrests. Some see a racial bias in the lack of media and police action on the case. Speaking at the forum, Marvin Paige, of the gay advocacy group Black Men’s Exchange, told the New York Blade quote, “Had Rashawn Brazell been a young white man, this murder would have been news for days.”
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Students at University of California - Santa Cruz were brutally attacked by university police while camping overnight on campus. 19 were arrested for trespassing and resisting arrest. The arrests came after activists erected a "Tent University" to protest several fiscal issues including the lack of raises for campus workers.
According to an Indymedia report, Santa Cruz Vice-Chancellor of Communications Elizabeth Irwin, gave misleading reports to the news about the clash between students and police. Irwin was quoted by KSBW news crew as saying: "'No, no, there were no batons, there were no Tasers. Someone said there was a Taser (gun) used. No, there was no force of that sort,'
Meanwhile, student Max Glick reported "I was personally batoned by a cop in my stomach as were several other students. We have pictures of bruises to prove it. They did not ask us to move, they simply started attacking students with batons. We have documented these attacks with several photos and videos and everything will be online within the next 24 hours."
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USC wasn’t the only campus battling police this week. In Madagascar students protests against university budget cuts turned violent when police attacked a group of nearly 500 demonstrators. According to the United Nations Integrated Regional Information Network, the students took to the streets in the capital city of Malagy, some throwing Molotov cocktails and rocks. 17 were arrested and 5 police officers were injured. Civil rights worker Madeleine Ramaholimihaso told IRIN quote "The students do have legitimate concerns, but I think that a lot of the frustration is fuelled by the difficult economic times - the students are just expressing what most people in the country are feeling right now. We expect the government to do more to ease the poverty."
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In Chicago, Students from Kenwood Academy are tangling with a McDonald's store located near their school.
Two weeks ago, Catherine Smith, a fifteen year-old student at Kenwood, was handcuffed and held in a police car for forty minutes after refusing to sit in McDonald's designated student section. The section was created to contain students to a limited area in the restaurant, due to their purportedly rowdy behavior.
On the day of her police encounter, Smith and a group of five friends were sitting in a non-designated area because seats in the student section were full. When a security guard asked Smith and others to move, she calmly stated she would not since there were no other tables available. Shortly thereafter, the police arrived, handcuffed Smith and held her in their vehicle, even though they had no plans to arrest her.
In response, more than 100 protesters picketed the chain last week. During the protest, a McDonalds spokeperson announced that they were retracting their seating policy. Catherine Smith and her family, however, have not yet received an apology from either McDonalds or the Chicago Police Department. Organizers are currently considering boycotting the restaurant along with other area businesses that are not teen-friendly..
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