By Liane Scott, on February 24th, 2015 
Last Friday I posted an event “Rally and March for Raphael Briscoe.” Having very little information about Raphael Briscoe, I did a quick Google search and proceeded to cross-post the first article I found which was from Homicide Watch DC. The article stated that Raphael was the third person killed by police in 2011. The other two were reportedly killed after a shoot-out with police following a botched robbery attempt. The article said nothing about how or why Raphael was killed by the police. Today, I did a little more research. Here’s what I found.
WJLA did report the story the day of the shooting. Below is the video they posted on their website. It’s worth watching, not for the information about Raphael Briscoe, but for all of the information that’s left out.
If the above video isn’t working CLICK HERE to watch the video on WJLA’s site.
According to the WJLA report, Briscoe had a gun. In fact, he had a BB gun, which is not quite the same as a regular gun that fires lead bullets at 2,500 feet per second. They also failed to report that Briscoe was shot in the back in the act of running from the police. To their credit, WJLA did report on their website a follow-up report with more details, but I couldn’t find any evidence that this report ever made it to television.
WASHINGTON, DC (WJLA), April 26, 2011 –Police Chief Cathy Lanier said officers with the Gun Recovery Unit confronted an adult male with a gun. An officer or officers fired on the suspect after the situation escalated. The suspect was struck at least once.
The suspect was identified as 18-year-old Rafael Briscoe of Southeast.
Lanier on Wednesday said the weapon the suspect pulled out was a BB gun. She said she has seen the gun and there was no way, under similar circumstances, that officers could have known it wasn’t a real gun.
The officer involved in the shooting has been placed on leave.
Witnesses said the shooting episode started in the Forrest Ridge Apartment complex. They described the victim as a “good kid.”
WUSA did a far better job, reporting not only that the gun wasn’t real, but also that Briscoe was shot after running from the police. In reality, he was running from an unmarked police car full of heavily-armed white men with guns.
WUSA’s website report had even more details …
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA), April 27, 2011 — A day after an 18-year old man was killed by police in a Southeast DC neighborhood residents there continue to demand answers.
DC Police confirm a plain clothes officer shot and killed 18-year old Rafael Briscoe after he ran from them along the 2400 block of Elvans Rd., Southeast, Tuesday afternoon. The officer was part of an undercover detail known as the Gun Recovery Unit, a group of officers tasked with taking guns off the streets. Investigators say a BB gun resembling a real handgun was found on Briscoe.
The shooting has sparked outrage among community members who held a vigil for Briscoe Wednesday evening. Neighbors who live in the area are now turning their frustration at the police, claiming Briscoe was shot in the back and never threatened the officer.
Cherie Smith, Briscoe’s grandmother, said, “The police senselessly shot and killed my grandson, and they are making up all kinds of excuses for them doing it.”
DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier will only say the incident is under a full investigation. On Wednesday she said, “In any instance when we have use of force, especially deadly force that’s a serious matter and we’ll make sure that it’s handled properly.”
The events of the shooting were captured by a police surveillance camera along Elvans Rd. 9NEWS NOW has officially requested a copy of the surveillance video from DC Police.
It took four years and a lawsuit by the ACLU before surveillance video of the incident would materialize. WNBC reports on the case as it has developed after the policeman who killed Raphael Briscoe was cleared of all charges.
As is not uncommon, the text-based version of the story on WNBC’s website had more, and perhaps more incendiary details. Including, the knowledge that Raphael did not turn towards the car that was following him in the surveillance video, which calls into question reports that he brandished the offending bb gun at the police who pursued him.
WASHINGTON, DC (WNBC), February 23, 2015 –A jury cleared Metropolitan . . . → Read More: Raphael Briscoe Video News Round Up
By Liane Scott, on February 20th, 2015 
#DCFerguson will hold a rally, 6pm, February 22 at the Congress Heights Metro Station in Washington DC and March to the 7th District Police Station. The purpose of the rally is to bring more awareness to the “Jump Outs” a military style tactical unit within the Metropolitan Police Department.
Justice for Raphael Briscoe Rally & March Congress Heights Metro Station February 22, 6:00 PM
#DCFerguson continues to stand in solidarity with the Ralphael Briscoe family and the sisters and brothers that are continuing to protest and resist the police murders of Black and Latino people every 28 hours in America.
ANSWER Coalition organizer Eugene Puryear says,”The murder of Rafael Briscoe should be a turning point. Where we finally come to terms with the root causes of these issues and address social deprivation and oppression and the police brutality that comes with it.”
The initial sponsors of #DCFerguson include the National Black United Front, the ANSWER Coalition, We Act Radio, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the American Muslim Alliance, as well as independent organizing networks that have sprung up in the wake of Michael Brown’s killing.
If you haven’t heard of Raphael Briscoe, here’s some background information.
Rafael Briscoe Third Person to be Killed by Officers in D.C. this Year
Cross-posted from Homicide Watch DC April 27, 2011
Rafael Briscoe of Southeast, DC, who was killed Tuesday afternoon by D.C.Metropolitan Police officers, is the third person to die in a D.C. officer involved shooting this year. On Feb 13, Davon Sealy, 19, of Gaithersburg, and Akeem Jamaal Cayo, 21, were fatally shot in a shoot-out with officers after a botched home invasion robbery.
MPD’s protocol for deadly use of force is here. A good discussion of the use of deadly force, it’s impacts and how communities respond is on the FBI’s website, here. That document describes the general tension surrounding officer-involved fatal shootings as follows:
Some members of the public seem to automatically assume that the officer did something wrong before any investigation into the incident begins. Conversely, others believe that if the police shot somebody, the individual must not have given the officer any choice.
By Liane Scott, on February 18th, 2015 
Curious about how the city will be spending their budget next year? Mayor Bowser’s budget is not yet put together, but according to D.C. Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey S. DeWitt she’s got a shortfall in the amount of $256.3 million to worry about. How did that happen? According to Colbert King of the Washington Post, this is what happened.
Excerpt from Mayor Bowser’s Budget Test by Colbert King
Warning: I’m about to get into the weeds with numbers, but there’s no way around it. The digits are what got us here in the first place. And we can’t get out without dealing with the numbers, in all their boring forms.
Shortly after the November election, DeWitt, operating under the notion that fair warning is fair play, notified Mayor Vincent Gray (D), Mayor-elect Bowser and all members of the D.C. Council that the city faced a budget gap of $163.1 million. A good chunk of the deficit resulted from spending for homeless services. In addition, the city had to cough up an estimated $15.7 million as a result of a court order.
Subsequent to the November report, DeWitt identified an additional $53.7 million of increased costs related to city-provided services.
The news wasn’t very bright on the revenue side, either. In fact, DeWitt notified city officials in December that anticipated fiscal 2016 revenue had fallen short by $39.5 million.
Hence, the total $256.3 million budget gap that Bowser and the council must close as they formulate and produce a balanced budget for the coming fiscal year.
What to do? What to do? After all those campaign promises to spend more on affordable housing, programs to end homelessness and incentives and subsidies for economic development comes now the hard part: fulfilling those champagne dreams with a soda-water pocketbook.
However Bowser and the council decide to balance the budget, they will have to find ways to reduce spending and increase revenue.
And it’s not going to be painless.
These numbers may be used as an excuse not to fund programs that are important (if not crucial) to DC’s under-served communities. On the other hand, maybe I’m just being cynical. The best way to hedge our bets here is to show up at the new mayor’s Budget Engagement Forums. Anyone willing to step up to the microphone will have the opportunity to provide input to help shape the District’s budget priorities. The forums are scheduled for the following dates and times:
Budget Engagement Forums Thursday, 19 February 2015 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Woodrow Wilson High School 3950 Chesapeake Street, NW Saturday, 21 February 2015 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Anacostia High School 1601 16th Street, SE Monday, 23 February 2015 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm Dunbar High School 101 N Street, NW
By Guest Contributor, on February 12th, 2015 
Cross-Posted from The Stranger Written by Charles Mudede on Tue, Sept 2, 2014
Nicholas Kristof:
The net worth of the average black household in the United States is $6,314, compared with $110,500 for the average white household, according to 2011 census data. The gap has worsened in the last decade, and the United States now has a greater wealth gap by race than South Africa did during apartheid. (Whites in America on average own almost 18 times as much as blacks; in South Africa in 1970, the ratio was about 15 times.)
This inequality was almost nowhere mentioned during the Occupy moment. Indeed, the “black-white income gap” today is wider than it was in 1967. That bad check the March on Washington was all about worth even less in 2014. The Golden Age of Capitalism missed excluded black Americans. The Golden Age of Capitalism missed a large part of black America. Thomas Piketty:
Inequality reached its lowest ebb in the United States between 1950 and 1980: the top decile of the income hierarchy claimed 30 to 35 percent of US national income, or roughly the same level as in France today. This is what Paul Krugman nostalgically refers to as “the America we love”—the America of his childhood. In the 1960s, the period of the TV series Mad Men and General deGaulle, the United States was in fact a more egalitarian society than France (where the upper decile’s share had increased dramatically to well above 35 percent), at least for those US citizens whose skin was white.
During this Golden Age, white Americans relocated to the suburbs and abandoned black Americans in the inner city. The government also ended its pre-World War Two commitments to urban public housing and redirected its resources to the suburbs: roads, generous tax breaks, and long-term home loans (the 30-year mortgage was not devised by the market but by the government). Some turn to the 90s (the Clinton-era) as evidence of economic progress (low unemployment) for black Americans—but this was all an illusion. The prison population in 1970 was below 300,000; in the 1990s it approached 2 million (the population of the US in 1970 was 200 million; by 1990, it was 300 million). Black males make up half of the prison population (1 million), and the Bureau of Labor Statistics does not include those who are sitting in cells doing nothing in its unemployment figures (Read Punishment and Inequality by the Harvard sociologist Bruce Western). But the story is not over yet.
Things are only going to get worse because since the 90s, black Americans have, in greater and greater numbers, been forced out to suburbs like Ferguson at the very moment the market and white Americans are returning to the core of the city, and the core is where the jobs are…
Nicholas Kristof points out that white Americans do not want to hear about this problem. They think the story of inequality and race is getting more attention than it deserves…
MANY white Americans say they are fed up with the coverage of the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. A plurality of whites in a recent Pew survey said that the issue of race is getting more attention than it deserves.
By Guest Contributor, on February 9th, 2015 
Cross-Posted from Hyacinth’s Place Written by Vanessa Wellbery
Here we go again – budget season!
Every year, District government lays out a plan for how much money it will take to meet our residents’ diverse needs—and keep the city running. It’s not just how much money, but where the money should go. Everything under the sun is in the budget, from street repairs to the police force to school lunches.
I say budget season because the whole process will go on for a number of months. Don’t be intimidated! It’s going to be fun!
Here are some of the important parts of the process:
Agency oversight hearings. Yesterday marked the start of agency oversight hearings. Between February and March, City Council committees will get to ask D.C. government agencies questions about their programs and how they use their funds. These hearings are one tool Councilmembers use to make decisions about what funding streams are effective and whether they are serving their purpose.
The Mayor’s budget proposal. While the council is holding oversight hearings, the Mayor will be preparing her own budget proposal, which she will release on April 2. Every year the Mayor sends the City Council a budget proposal outlining how she’d like to see all the services and programs the city provides funded. Mayor Bowser has indicated she is committed to putting resources behind fighting homelessness, and her budget proposal will send a clear message on whether she intends to stand by that commitment. One way to keep reminding her that it matters to us is by attending one or more of her three budget engagement forums this month.
Public hearings. Members of the City Council have another way of gathering information—public hearings. Through April and May, public hearings will be an opportunity for the citizens of D.C. to weigh in on the budget. By testifying, organizations and individuals can illustrate how budget decisions have a real impact on Washingtonians’ lives. As just one example, Hyacinth’s Place testified before the Committee on Housing and Economic Development last year about the Housing Production Trust Fund, one funding stream that makes permanent supportive housing programs like ours possible.
Mark-ups. Now that the committees have gathered information from government agencies, reviewed Mayor’s budget priorities, and heard input from real Washingtonians, they hold mark-ups, where they will craft the actual budget and vote to approve it. These mark-ups also take a number of weeks! But once the council has agreed on and passed a full budget in the form of a bill, they send it to the Mayor, who also has to approve it.
Hyacinth’s Place has hit the ground running, and we’ll be active throughout budget season. Like last year, we’ll advocate for the Housing Production Trust Fund and the Local Rent Supplement Program. We’ll also lend our support to our diverse partners who advocate for the many other programs that fight poverty in the District.
Here are some ways you can be involved.
– Check out the Fair Budget Coalition’s (FBC) budget priorities. Hyacinth’s Place worked with FBC to craft this comprehensive list of funding recommendations. It’s a great primer for all the important programs we’ll be fighting for this budget season. – Tweet using the FBC’s hashtag #WeAreALLdc. You can also retweet us! – Like us on Facebook for an easy way to get updates and see our latest blog posts. – Come to the Mayor’s budget engagement forums over the next month. Email Vanessa@hyacinths.org if you’d like to attend. – Attend council hearings or, if you can’t be there in person, stream them online. – Testify at the public hearings! We’ll let you know when the time to sign up comes closer. – Check out these other great resources: the Fair Budget Coalition, the Coalition for Nonprofit Housing and Economic Development the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute
It’s going to be a long haul, but we’re excited to be a part of the effort to make D.C. a safe and healthy place for all its residents to thrive!
|
Subscribe to Blog via Email
|
)% 
%categories-linked( 