Northern Illinois Campus Shooting

Five dead, including gunman, in US university shooting
by Mira Oberman Thu Feb 14, 9:03 PM ET

CHICAGO (AFP) - A black-clad gunman turned a university lecture into a Valentine's Day massacre Thursday, killing four people before turning the gun on himself in the latest episode of US school violence, authorities said.

Armed with a shotgun and two handguns, he calmly stepped out from behind the curtain at the front of a packed auditorium just minutes before a geography class ended at Northern Illinois University, officials and witnesses said.
"It started and ended within a matter of seconds," university police chief Donald Grady said at a press conference outside this Midwestern US city.
"We have no apparent motive at this time," Grady said. "The suspect killed himself on the stage."
Grady would not identify the four victims or confirm reports that a teacher was among the 18 people shot.

Witnesses said the shooter, described as a white male around six feet (1.8 meters) tall, said nothing as he opened fire.

"He was aiming towards the crowd but I don't think he was aiming at a specific person," a witness named Sheila told WBBM radio. "He was quiet. He just stood on the stage in front of everybody and just started shooting."

"I saw him holding the gun and it was huge. I thought it was fake and then I realized he was really shooting at people and I got down," she said. "I saw a lot of blood. I have blood all over my clothes."

Officials of the 112-year-old university 65 miles (105 kilometers) west of Chicago gave out few details of the incident.

"It has been confirmed that there has been a shooting on campus and several people have been taken away by ambulance," its website said.

A spokesman for nearby Kishwaukee Community Hospital earlier said 17 wounded victims had been brought in.

Students described now-familiar scenes of panic in the fifth school shooting in the United States in the last week.

"I saw a lot of confusion," Dominique Broxton, 22, told the Chicago Tribune, describing the scene from her dorm room. "Students were running. People really didn't know what was going on."
The shooting came 10 months after 32 students and faculty were shot down by a mentally disturbed student at Virginia Tech University in the deadliest massacre ever at a US school.

Chicago has long been noted for the Valentine's Day Massacre of February 14, 1929, when seven people were executed by machine-gun, in a Mafia killing during the city's gangster heyday.
Northern Illinois University, chartered in 1895, is a teaching and research institution with a student enrollment of more than 25,000 and nearly 1,300 teachers. It has 862 international students from 88 nations.

Broxton said she could see two wounded students from her dorm room.
"The ambulance took away two students on the ground right outside my dorm," she said. "I don't know them. They looked bloody. Where I am right now, there are a lot of police, at least a dozen. There are police cars and trucks everywhere."

"There is an intercom system inside the dorm. Someone came on and stated that someone had been caught. They said they caught the shooter and that we should remain calm and stay in our rooms."

bell hooks Pt 8 cultural criticism (rap music)

renowned intellectual bell hooks examines popular culture in the context of patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism.

Cross Post from Black and Missing: Do you know Phylicia Moore?

For a few days now we have been hearing about Natalee Holloway and the new developments in her case. But a similar situation happened last year with another American teen: Phylicia Moore. Have you heard of her? Unfortunately most people haven't. So today I'm going to do a flashback post. I have not posted on her before because I'm just finding this out myself. After about an hour of searching, I finally found an article from June 2007 that I think will give you guys a good understanding of what went on with the case.

When Lola Moore thinks back to the day her daughter and two dozen of her classmates said their goodbyes as they prepared to leave for a trip to Ghana, one moment is especially haunting. "The last thing the chaperones said was, `Don't worry — we'll take good care of her,'" Moore recalled Friday as she fought back tears. "And she was the only one who didn't come home."

Six weeks after 18-year-old Phylicia Moore's body was discovered at the bottom of a hotel swimming pool in the Ghanaian capital of Accra, Lola and Douglas Moore are demanding answers to questions they say have not been adequately answered by the initial investigation in Ghana or by school officials in Teaneck.

Their anger stems from two beliefs: that their daughter's death was not an accident, and that Phylicia would still be alive had the trip's chaperones been more vigilant in monitoring the students.

"She was stolen from us," Lola Moore said in an interview at the office of Nancy Lucianna, an attorney representing the family.

Lucianna filed a legal notice Friday informing the Teaneck School District of the Moores' intent to sue for negligence in their daughter's death.

They also have been pushing for the FBI to investigate, an effort aided by Rep. Steve Rothman, D-N.J. The U.S. ambassador to Ghana, Pamela E. Bridgewater, told the Moores in a letter Friday that Ron Nolan, the FBI's legal attache assigned to Lagos, Nigeria, would travel to Ghana next week and serve as a liaison to a task force formed by Ghanaian authorities to review Moore's death.

Under international law, the FBI cannot be formally involved in the investigation until it receives an official request from the Ghanaian government. The FBI had not received such a request as of Friday.

The details of the final hours of Phylicia Moore's life are frustratingly incomplete. She was seen leaving the hotel swimming pool alone around 10:30 p.m. April 15. About 11 hours later, her body was discovered in the pool, still clad in a tank top and shorts with a bathing suit underneath.

An autopsy performed in Ghana found no foul play, pending the results of toxicology tests. A separate autopsy performed in the United States for the Moores concluded that Phylicia's body had not been in the water for a significant amount of time.

Douglas Moore rejects the notion that his daughter, who could tread water but was not a swimmer, would have been horsing around in the pool — particularly at the deep end, where her body was found.

He is troubled that Phylicia's absence apparently was not noticed by the chaperones, nor was it reported to them by the students, some of whom were awake until the wee hours of the morning while the chaperones slept.

"Most certainly there was negligence," Douglas Moore said.

Teaneck High School Principal Angela Davis was out of the office Friday and could not be reached for comment. School district officials have said they support an FBI investigation into Phylicia's death.

The Moores claim Ghanaian authorities botched the investigation by failing to interview more than a handful of students and chaperones before the group continued its tour delivering supplies to schools and to an AIDS orphanage. The group returned to Accra before flying home, but that gave authorities little time to conclude an investigation.

"I feel it's important that in order to solve this, everybody should be interviewed, not just a few people," Douglas Moore said. "That goes for the people connected to the hotel, any visitors, all the students and the chaperones. Then they will most likely get a handle on what happened to my daughter. But to just let it go for a month like this, that's no good."

For now, the last images of Phylicia are found on a video shot by a student on the bus to the airport. She is wearing a pink sweat shirt and flashing what her mother called her "signature smile." She looks giddy with anticipation as the videographer asks her how she is feeling.

"I feel good," she says. "I'm leaving my parents. I'm excited. I'm scared I forgot something.

[Source]


Phylicia Moore, a Teaneck HS honors student, went to Ghana on a goodwill mission to donate books to an orphanage and assist children suffering from AIDS with 23 other students and nine chaperones. This was a dream trip for Moore, who saved for months and took an after-school job at a local Bed Bath & Beyond to pay the cost of the trip. She was a well-rounded student with so much to offer.

Nearly a year since the above article was written, it appears that there is no new information in the case. But thank God for people like Congressman Steve Rothman (D-Fair Lawn) who pushed to make something happen. On December 3rd, 2007, he introduced Phylicia’s Law (in memory of Phylicia Moore), a bill that require public schools to have safety plans and security procedures in place for school-run, overnight, off-premises field trips.

“Every child’s life is precious so when there are reasonable steps that we can take to better protect our young people, then I believe we should take them. It is not unreasonable to put safety plans and procedures in place before a trip occurs. This will help ensure that all involved – the schools, the chaperones, the students, and parents – know what their individual roles and responsibilities are on a trip and what will happen should tragedy strike,” said Rothman.

Phylicia’s Law says that at a minimum a safety plan should address policies on curfews, room checks, and chaperone qualifications, and emergency procedures to be followed in the case of serious injury or death. However, school districts, who know their own schools and students best, will have full discretion to set the specific requirements in a plan as they see fit. Parents will see the policies before approving a trip and can then determine whether they feel that it is safe for their child to go.

You can go here to read the full text of Phylicia's Law. There's also a website where you can find a petition created for those who support Phylicia's Law. Please show your support by signing it and passing the word on to your family and friends.

To further show your support you can donate to the Phylicia Moore Scholarship Fund in her honor.

Keep Phylicia's memory alive and push for more exposure and investigation on her story!

Hat tips to Latimer Williams and Electronic Village for reporting her story.

globeandmail.com: Australia PM proposes apology for Aborigines

globeandmail.com: Australia PM proposes apology for Aborigines: "CANBERRA — Australia's prime minister on Tuesday proposed the text of an unequivocal apology by Parliament to Aborigines, the country's original inhabitants, for “the indignity and degradation” caused by the policies of past governments.

The motion, to be moved Wednesday by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in Parliament, is directed at thousands of Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their families under assimilation policies that lasted for decades.

Aborigines remain the country's poorest and most disadvantaged minority.

“We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians,” the apology motion says."

Women risk assault with clothing choice: MP - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

Women risk assault with clothing choice: MP - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation): "A South Australian MP has told parliament that women who wear clothing with provocative slogans risk sexual assault.

Former Liberal, now independent MP Bob Such made his comments to the State Parliament during debate on rape reform legislation.

Dr Such believes that some women may be inadvertently sending a wrong message by the clothing they wear, such as t-shirts.

'What clothing you wear or don't wear, none of that justifies any form of sexual assault,' he added.

'Some of these young women, they might think it's fun to put that message on but I don't think it helps the situation to be encouraging people out there who don't need much encouragement to do what they shouldn't do.'"

"Jena 6" Defendant Arrested In Texas, Teen Faces New Charge After Being Accused Of Slamming Student's Head Into Bench - CBS News

"Jena 6" Defendant Arrested In Texas, Teen Faces New Charge After Being Accused Of Slamming Student's Head Into Bench - CBS News: "(AP) A defendant in the Louisiana 'Jena Six' case was arrested after allegedly slamming a student's head into a bench at his new school in Texas, police said.

The defendant, Bryant R. Purvis, 19, was arrested on a charge of assault causing bodily injury Wednesday after an altercation at Hebron High School. It began because Purvis believed a student had flattened his tires, Sgt. John Singleton said."

Missing Black Women Ad

Video asking for more coverage of missing black women by the main stream media

Victims of the Freeway Phantom

In 1971-72, a killer called the Freeway Phantom terrorized the young black female population of Washington, DC. He was never caught. He raped and strangled at least 6, discarding the victims near I-295. (Hence the name). It is hoped that this video might generate even one clue that might solve these tragic cases. Background music is George Harrison's "Give Me Love" and Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World". -- KWH

Missouri suburb shaken by gunman's rampage - Los Angeles Times

Missouri suburb shaken by gunman's rampage - Los Angeles Times: "The roots of the dispute involved the city ticketing his business, Cookco Construction, for parking commercial vehicles in the neighborhood, said Ron Hodges, a friend who lives in the community. The tickets were 'eating at him,' Hodges told the Associated Press. 'He felt that as a black contractor he was being singled out,' said Hodges, who is also black. 'I guess he thought mentally he had no more recourse."

Meghan Williams To Receive $40,000 scholarship

Thanks, Ann.

This courageous young girl deserves every bit of it.

Ridwah Laher: Hamilton Faces Racist Abuse

Fatima

I am not a fan of Formula One racing but I started paying some attention when Lewis Hamilton shook up the rafters and brought some real excitement to the sport.

Hamilton, a 23 year old Black Briton, has however angered some Spanish fans who support his Spaniard team mate and rival, Fernando Alonso.

So what is a bigotted Spanish fan to do when your hero is left looking quite ordinary by a brilliant Black kid?

Well taunt him of course. And what better way to taunt him than by showing up in blackface and wooly wigs with shirts that read "Hamilton's Familly" (sic).

These bigots showed up on Saturday as Hamilton was testing at the Montmelo circuit in Barcelona.

Sad huh?

Hamilton says he is saddened by this behaviour. But he is not alone in facing this kind of racist abuse.

Sports figures who are not white are often racially abused at sporting events in Spain.

Last year there was a spate of racist insults at football (soccer) matches.

La guayabita: Why Afro-Colombians Oppose the Colombia FTA

La guayabita: Why Afro-Colombians Oppose the Colombia FTA: "Marino Cordoba, founder of the Association of Internally Displaced Afro-Colombians (AFRODES), submitted this post as a guest blogger for The Hill.

The U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement is considered a non-starter in the U.S. Congress because the country is the world’s deadliest for union activists. Less known, but equally disturbing is the systematic violence now confronting Afro-Colombians.

African descendants comprise 26% of Colombia’s population. As with other African descendants, we face racial discrimination which results in economic hardships far worse than those experienced by the average Colombian. However in Colombia, a vibrant 1980s civil rights movement won full recognition of our cultural rights and collective ownership and community control of our territories and natural resources. The 1991 Colombian Constitution and the landmark Law 70 explicitly enshrine these rights and recognize official democratic Afro-Colombian governance structures, similar to those of your Indian tribes."