Category Archives: War On Drugs

When Andra Day was initially approached about auditioning for the title role in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, director Lee Danielss new film about the revolutionary jazz singer, she balked. First of all, (a) Im not an actress, and (b) just no, says the 35-year-old singer and songwriter, who credits Holiday, nicknamed Lady Day by jazz saxophonist Lester Young, with influencing her own musical style. For a first-ever acting gig, playing a figure of that magnitude felt daunting. I was like, I dont want to remake Lady Sings the Blues, Day says, referring to the 1972 Holiday biopic that earned Diana Ross an Oscar nomination. I love Dianas performance. She murdered it. Im good.

In the music world, Day has amassed her own laundry list of accomplishments. Shes toured with Lenny Kravitz, been nominated for two Grammys, and even sung at the White House. But her powerful performance in The United States vs. Billie Holiday, which hits theaters this month, is set to launch her into a new stratosphere. Based on Johann Haris 2015 book, Chasing the Scream: The First and Last Days of the War on Drugs, the film tells the story of commissioner Harry Anslinger (played by Garrett Hedlund), head of the U.S. Treasury Departments anti-drug agency, the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, and his pursuit of Holiday, whose outspokenness about racism and controversial 1939 recording of the Abel Meeropol protest song Strange Fruit, about lynchings in the South, made her the target of a pressure campaign by conservative authorities for two decades.

Takashi Seida

Anslinger had previously attempted to take down other high-profile members of the jazz community on drug charges, including Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker. But the tight crews around them always proved impenetrable. So he shifted his focus to a more vulnerable mark: Holiday, who struggled with both alcoholism and heroin addiction. The government couldnt stop Holiday from singing Strange Fruit, but Anslingers bureau offered another way to silence her, repeatedly levying drug charges against her and subjecting her to numerous arrests. She would leave clubs, and cops would chase her, shooting into her car trying to kill her, just for singing that song, just for who she was, Day says.

When Im in movies, Im losing myself in another person, and you have a responsibility to that person.

In many ways, Holidays entire lifeone filled with both triumphs and misfortuneswas an act of protest. In preparing to play her, Day studied diligently. Holidays godson, Bevan Dufty, whose father, William Dufty, co-wrote Holidays 1956 autobiography, Lady Sings the Blues, generously gave Day access to interviews conducted with people who knew Holiday. Day also spent time with current and recovering addicts, delving into the rituals and ravages of heroin addiction. As Day immersed herself further into Holidays life, she says she unintentionally went Method; she even started smoking cigarettes and swearing, as Holiday famously did. It was just allowing myself to be more recklessnot reckless, but sort of self-damaging in my behaviors, she says. Day also understood the importance of bringing herself to the role. Do not shed yourself, her acting coaches told her. You have to have Billie and bring Andra through Billie. Day says the process was not that different from the one she goes through when shes singing. Im losing myself in myself, she says. But when Im in movies, Im losing myself in another person, and you have a responsibility to that person.

Daniels initially had his own doubts about casting Day in the role. Its hard working with a first-time actor, he says. But they had dinner and, as both tell it, clicked instantly. Daniels says it was how he saw the soul of Billie Holiday in Day that clinched it for him. I dont think she was aware of it, he says.

Danielss confidence helped boost Days own. I got to a point where I realized, Okay, Im saying no to this because Im scared, she says.

For me, it was [about] vindicating her legacy.

Day, who was born near Seattle, was raised with her three siblings in the diverse community of Southeast San Diego, California. She attended the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, which focused heavily on musical theater. She says she always knew she could sing, but it wasnt until she starred as Ti Moune in the schools production of Once on This Island that those around her took note too. Everybody was like, Yeah, this is where its going to be at for you.

Soon Day began writing and recording on her own. But it was a chance encounter with Stevie Wonders then wife, Kai Milla, that eventually led to Day landing a record deal with Warner Music Group.

Days own song Rise Up, off her 2015 debut, Cheers to the Fall, has become an unofficial anthem of the Black Lives Matter movement, and the lessons of Holidays willingness to speak out and use music as a vehicle for activism are not lost on her. For me, it was [about] vindicating her legacy, she says of The United States vs. Billie Holiday. I want the younger generation to say, Thank you, Billie Holiday. This is the mother of civil rights, and you need to know that, [and] what she sacrificed for that.

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Andra Day on Playing Billie Holiday in 'The United States vs. Billie Holiday' - HarpersBAZAAR.com

In the summer of 1971, President Richard Nixon addressed the nation in a televised broadcasta speech that would have repercussions for decades to come.

Americas public enemy number one in the U.S. is drug abuse. In order to fight and defeat this enemy, he said, it is necessary to wage a new, all-out offensive.

And with those words began the War on Drugs. At least, officially.

Nearly 50 years later, this offensive has seeped into our policing culture. From broken windows model of policing and the advent of stop and frisk to no-knock warrants and the militarization of local police departments, the so called War on Drugs has led to the targeting of communities of color.

With over 2 million people behind bars, the United States is the worlds most carceral country. A large number of those serving time are for crimes related to drugs possession and activity.

Advocates for reform have long argued that punitive policies have not reduced the flow of drugs across the country. In fact, they have strengthened illicit drug markets, creating risky and unhealthy conditions for drug users by focusing on the criminal element of substance use instead of seeing it through a lens of healthcare access and social justice.

Meanwhile, more than 70,000 people died last year alone as a result of drug overdoses.

In this episode of Latino USA, Maritza Perez, Director of the Office of National Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance in Washington, D.C., breaks down the racial history behind the War on Drugs spanning back into the 1800s and why decriminalization may be the only way to end the persecution of people of color under the guise of drug enforcement.

Photo courtesy of Maritza Perez.

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Decriminalizing The War On Drugs - Latino USA

MANILA, Philippines There is truth to the notion that theDuterte administration's so-called 'war on drugs' is anti-poor, the results of ademographic analysis conducted by a non-government organization into the summary executions linked to the anti-drug campaign suggest.

In a study entitled "Beyond the Numbers", The Initiatives for Dialogue and Empowerment through Alternative Legal Services, Inc., or IDEALScompiled a dataset of some 500 cases of human rights violationsdating back to late 2016 until February 2020, largely from Metro Manila, and some from Bulacan, Laguna, Cavite, and Cebu.

The nonprofit in its research found that all cases involved victims who were blue-collared workers, with a majority of them working as construction workers or carpenters, while asizable portion of the victims also belonged to the informal sector as minimum-wage earners in urban poor communities.

Beyond the Numbers also noted that 99% of the victims never finished tertiary education. Only three were able to graduate from college, while the others were only able to finish high school, elementary, or pre-schoolproof, they said, that the war on drugs was a "war on the poor."

As of this post, official police figures have acknowledged just 8,000 "drug personalities" who were slain in official policeoperations,though rights groups say the actual death toll may be as high as 30,000 since Duterte's "war" began in 2016

Both local and international organizations have said that the nightly killings only increased amid the coronavirus-induced lockdowns, a claim corroborated by the government's own data.

READ:'Drug war' deaths rise amid coronavirus pandemic int'l rights monitor

Through the documentation of these cases, the atrocities committed and condoned by this administration shall not be forgotten, said Raphael Carlo Brolagda, a lawyer who serves as project coordinator and one of the researchers for the study.

"Regardless of whether the victims were indeed linked to legal drugs or not, they are human beings with rights enshrined in the constitution," he also said.

According to groups from the United Nations to local rights monitors, cops under the Duterte administration have been handed "near-impunity" by the president's pronouncements and are only further emboldened to carry out the summary executions linked to the administration's flagship campaign against illegal narcotics.

An earlier UN report has also suggestedthat the planting of evidence by police officers was a common practice. The European Parliament, for its part, has also denounced what it said was the "rapid" deterioration of human rights and press freedom in the Philippines, citingthe thousands of extrajudicial killings and human rights violations related to the drug war.

READ:'Grave violations': Bachelet presents report on Philippines to UN rights council

Official police reports on anti-drug operations routinelyclaim that only suspects who fought back were killeda narrative Beyond the Numbers initial findings also put into question.

According to IDEALS, 26.7% of the victims were never linked to drugs, according to victims next of kin.

"Witnesses or families also claimed that 129 of the cases involved warrantless arrests, 66 Tokhang, and only 40 legitimate buy-bust operations compared to state agents alleged 128," the group's statement read."Official records and testimonies of families and/or witnesses further showed that 55% of the incidents involved the Philippine National Police, while 32% were unidentified assailants."

Researchers also recorded 252 killings and 229 arbitrary detentions to go with other instances oftorture and enforced disappearances. According to the group, around 45% of the cases included otherviolations such asplanting evidence, taking of property, forceful ingestion of substance, extortion, and sexual violence.

READ:After Human Rights Day arrests, HRW says there is damning history of cops planting evidence

Especially telling, the group said in its report, was the lack of investigation being conducted on the cases. According to the NGO's findings, only32% cases with an initial investigation by the state, 98% had no further action. Furthermore, 58.5% of the cases had no information given to victims or families regarding whether or not any investigation is being implemented.

The discrepancy between the claims of the victims family and witnesses to the incident and those of the state agents was expected, the researchers wrote in conclusion.

Though the truth of what actually happened is yet to be determined, the fact remains that the claims of the government are being contested by those who have lost their loved ones despite the fear of experiencing brutality themselves.

Despite well-documented evidence, police leadership has also completely invalidated the existence of extra-judicial killings, claiming the deaths are but a narrative peddled by the administration's political opposition.

IDEALS demographic analysis used a statistical and methodological framework based on the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioners Statistical Classification Framework.

RELATED:'Negligent in the extreme': HRW says Philippines fails to assist children affected by 'drug war'

Though the study found that 86.2% of the victims were male, it was careful to mention that, If we are to consider the effects of the campaign against illegal drugs on indirect victims, women are the ones most affected by the post-incident of these HRVs.

"About 61% or 168 of the total victims were partnered through marriage or common-law relationships. Meanwhile, five were widowed. 83.3% or 129 of the victims have at least one minor dependent on them. The difficulty of losing a source of income compounds the already harsh reality of these families who are left behind, the group said.

Asked about Investigate PH,an international probe looking into the human rights situation in the Philippines, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said in Filipino at a press briefing Thursday: "Our position is consistent: our legal systems are working."

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Study backs claims that Dutertes anti-drug campaign is war on the poor, nonprofit says - Philstar.com

A few days after voting against the rescheduling of cannabis at the UNs Commission on Narcotic Drugs in December 2020, the Brazilian government released a primer on the alleged risks posed by cannabis use. Based on biased sources and filled with inaccuracies, misinformation, and stereotypes, the document states that there is no such a thing as medical cannabis. The document links cannabis use and trafficking to violence and criminality, but there is not a single word on the state violence entaild by a drug policy that legitimates police operations in favelas and poor communitiesoperations that have become crusades against Black and Brown people, claiming the lives of children and keeping their relatives behind bars.

Unlike some of its neighbouring countries, the Brazilian government has continued to block efforts to decriminalise cannabis. In 2017, when Argentina legalized medical cannabis, the right-wing Brazilian president Michel Temer censored the publication of a study by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) which questioned the very existence of a drug addiction epidemic; the government was accused of suppressing data that would call its war on drugs into question.

The current president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, has promised to invest in the war on drugs since he began campaigning for the presidency in 2018, a vow he renewed upon election. In 2019, during his first year in office, Bolsonaro signed a decree establishing his own kind of drug policy. The new piece of legislation excludes previously adopted harm reduction approaches, relying on the enforcement of coercive abstinence. In practice, this channels taxpayers money into abstinence-only institutions and removes support for people who use drugs.

The Brazilian government also altered the composition of the National Drug Policy Council, excluding civil society representatives; 13 seats were removed, including those held by the Order of Attorneys of Brazil; the Federal Council of Social Work; the Federal Council of Medicine; the Federal Council of Nursing; the Federal Council of Psychology; the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science; and the National Student Union. The seats previously occupied by an anthropologist, a journalist, and an artist were also extinct.

Following the decree, Bolsonaro sanctioned a new drug law to toughen penalties for suppliers and allow for the involuntary, forced commitment of people who use drugs into treatment. The measure was cheered and supported by representatives and senators involved in the rehab industry, which, in Brazil, are strongly linked to Christian organisations; In 2019 alone the Ministry of Citizenship channelled 70% of its funds into rehabilitation programmes run by evangelical and catholic institutions, some of them owned by conservative members of the congress.

But the extreme right is by no means solely responsible for the necropolitics of drugs in Brazil. Former progressive governments have paved the way for the escalation of policing, militarisation, and violence related to drug policies and their enforcement. According to Human Rights Watch, the drug law signed in 2006 by then president Luiz Incio Lula da Silva, a founding member of the left-wing Workers Party, had a serious impact on the dramatic increase in the prison population that followed. The 2006 law substituted the previous one, sanctioned back in 1976 during heavy years of military dictatorship, which established penalties of incarceration and fines for possession.

The 2006 law did introduce a distinction between users and suppliers based on the possession of small or large amounts of drugs, but the text did not define precise amounts or thresholds, thus leaving room for biased enforcement. When changes are made to drug legislation that rely on the discretion of law enforcement officers, bias should generally be expected. Abuse of power comes as no surprise.

This law is a blank cheque for the police to arrest vulnerable people and to frame the poor, the slum dwellers, and Black people as drug dealers and not as users, says criminal solicitor Joel Luiz Costa, born and raised in the Favela do Jacarezinho, Rio de Janeiro. In a racist and divided country like ours, where people are judged by their postcode, this type of criterion would not be a mechanism of justice. [ A] black kid, without formal work, in a ghetto neighbourhood at night, in a place said to be controlled by a certain faction, will necessarily be framed as a drug dealer regardless of the amount (of drugs) he has."

In 2005, 9% of the Brazilian prison population was serving a term for drug possession. In 2014, this number increased to 28%. According to the latest National Survey of Penitentiary Information, published June 2020, 32% of incarcerated people in Brazil 232,000 peoplewere serving time for drug-related offences, an increase of 23% since the passing of the 2006 drug law. Among the population of women in prison, over 18,000, or 57%, are serving sentences on drug charges. 214,000 men in prison, or 31% of the male prison population, are serving time on drug charges. There is no data available for the number of Black people incarcerated for drug offences, but 66% of the Brazilian prison population is formed by Black and Brown people.

Bolsonaro and his cabinet are openly committed to the escalation of the war on drugs, to an increased militarisation of the police forces, and to forced abstinence in place of harm reduction. This ideology, coupled with more repressive drug policies, laws, and enforcement is likely to pave the way for an increase in extrajudicial punishment and incarceration, which are already epidemic in Brazil.

*Felipe Neis Araujo is a Brazilian anthropologist concerned with drug policies, state violence, structural racism, and repair for historical inequalities. He writes a monthly article for TalkingDrugs. Contact him at neis.araujo@gmail.com.

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In Brazil, Bolsonaro Continues to Pump Blood to the War on Drugs - TalkingDrugs

Read recent commentaries about drug-cost issues.

The Hill:With A New President And A New Congress, It's Time For Medicare Drug Price NegotiationSince passage of the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003, which prohibited Medicare from negotiating prescription drug prices, seniors and their advocates have demanded that lawmakers take further action to lower drug costs for beneficiaries. But pharmaceutical industry lobbying and divided government have nullified earnest legislative attempts. Now, with Democrats poised to lead the White House, House, and Senate for the first time since 2010, it's time for change. Moving forward, there must be swift action to tame the punishing prices that force seniors to forgo necessary medications, to ration pills, or to choose between prescription drugs and other essentials like rent and groceries. As if to underscore the need for reform, Big Pharma raised the prices for hundreds of prescription drugs at the beginning of the year by an average 3.3 percent (with some as high as 15%) more than double this years meager Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA). (Max Richtman, 1/20)

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Omaha World-Herald:The Haven Debacle Shows The Need To Adopt Medicare For AllAs America tiptoes into the unknown of 2021, an event will soon occur that will be largely unnoticed. Just three years ago, the corporate giants Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase announced they would join forces to create a new health care company called Haven. Revolutionary in its scope, Haven would use market forces to create disruptive innovation that would bring down the costs of employer-based insurance. In the minds of many, this was long overdue. Each year, rising health care costs were eating into both corporate bottom lines as well as employee take-home pay. (Donald R. Frey, 1/25)

Times Of San Diego:Congress Must Ensure Patients, Not Corporations, Benefit From 340B Drug ProgramWith the expansion of coverage of healthcare in 2010 through the Affordable Care Act, much changed in our efforts to insure the uninsured.Today, as the health care system struggles under the weight of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more critical to ensure healthcare dollars are directed where they are needed most. Many federal programs have been evaluated and modernized to ensure their efficacy.But one federal program that has not yet been reviewed by Congress is the 340B prescription drug program. Initially created to help Medicaid (known as Medi-Cal in California) stretch resources to serve vulnerable patients, the program has since morphed into a profit maker for large corporations all while patients are struggling to access affordable care.(Scott Suckow, 1/25)

NH Times Union:Seniors Don't Find This COLA RefreshingThe cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for Social Security for 2021 is 1.3%. With an almost $4 increase in the cost of Medicare and an $18 rise in supplemental health insurance premium, I am entering January 1, 2021 with a negative $7 from my COLA, which is supposed to help retired seniors; never mind the increases in the other expenses of living like groceries or gasoline. The increase in Medicare is technically not supposed to be greater than the increase in the COLA. Nothing at all is calculated in to cover the increased cost of supplemental health insurance, which sensible seniors need because Medicare only covers the first 80% of care. If a senior is not retired from a federal position or poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, he or she needs to pay for the other 20% of coverage or else gamble that they will not need care. (Kath R. Allen, 1/25)

Arizona Republic:HIV Is Up In Arizona, Yet AHCCCS Doesn't Cover The Drugs Many NeedMany Arizonans our state legislators in particular are probably unfamiliar with the phrase U=U. But for those at risk for and living with HIV, it is a well-known quantity. U=U is short for Undetectable equals Untransmittable. For those living with HIV whose viral load has been reduced to the point where it is undetectable, it means that person is no longer able to transmit HIV to anyone else through sexual contact. U=U is achievable through a class of what can truly be considered miracle drugs and, within this class, single-tablet regimensfor HIV are the best option. (Thanes Vanig, 1/26)

Knoxville News Sentinel:Conservative Case For Marijuana Legalization And Ending War On DrugsIs there a conservative case for decriminalizing pot? In a letter published in the Abilene Reporter News, Alexander W. Salter, an associate professor of economics at Texas Tech University, makes the argument that there is. Hes right. Marijuana criminalization has been one of the worst big-government boondoggles of the past century. As he argues, it represents a threat to federalism, throws more money at our failed war on drugs and exacerbates inequalities in our criminal justice system. (Daniel Smith, 1/26)

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Perspectives: Biden, Congress Must Seize Moment To Reduce Drug Prices - Kaiser Health News

A number of acclaimed Hollywood movies explore the subjects of drug use and addiction, including Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, and Goodfellas.

Drug use has been a popular subject matter for movies since Hollywood was just starting out. 1936s Reefer Madness is a hilarious-in-retrospect propagandapiece about the devastating effects of marijuana use. As society has lightened up and drug use has become more accepted, cinema has given way to more sympathetic portrayals of addicts. Not all drug movies are mindless endeavors like Dude, Wheres My Car?.

RELATED:M*A*S*H & 9 Other Classic Comedies About War

Danny Boyles Trainspotting, chronicling the ups and downs of a group of heroin addicts in Edinburgh, is a prime example of a movie about drug use thats been praised by critics as a respectable work of cinema.

In adapting Irvine Welshs cult-favorite novel Trainspottingfor the screen, director Danny Boyle successfully visualized the manic energy of the authors prose, while screenwriter John Hodge kept the books pitch-black comic tone intact.

The loose plotting works because the movie is anchored by Ewan McGregors compelling lead performance. Drug addiction is a big theme in this movie, but it also touches on class issues in Edinburgh.

Darren Aronofsky established his ironclad command of the cinematic form with Requiem for a Dream, which charts the drug addictions of four interconnected characters as they slip further and further into a world of delusion.

Some scenes are particularly grim and the movie is difficult to watch at times, but Requiem for a Dream is the quintessential portrait of addicts losing touch with reality.

Al Pacino stars in Brian De Palmas revered crime epic Scarface as a Cuban immigrant who comes to Miami and slowly rises through the ranks of the criminal underworld to become the leader of his own cocaine empire.

RELATED:Scarface: 5 Ways It's A Classic (& 5 Ways It Aged Badly)

As with most gangster stories, Tony Montanas rise eventually gives way to his fall. In this case, it can be blamed on his own drug addiction. In the second half of the movie, hes often seen with his face buried in a mountain of coke.

There are a bunch of intertwining story threads in Steven Soderberghs crime epic Traffic, but the main one sees the U.S. President tasking a judge with making some progress in Americas ever-worsening war on drugs.

In his investigation into the ongoing drug epidemic, the judge is horrified to discover that his own teenage daughter is addicted to crack.

In the Vincent Vega and Marsellus Wallaces Wife segment of Quentin Tarantinos darkly comic crime anthology Pulp Fiction, mob hitman Vincent Vega buys some heroin from his dealer Lance and shoots up before picking up his boss wife Mia Wallace for dinner.

RELATED:Pulp Fiction: 5 Ways It's Tarantino's Best Movie (& 5 Alternatives)

After dinner, he takes her home and she wears his coat. While hes in the bathroom, she finds his heroin in the pocket, mistakes it for cocaine, snorts a couple of lines, and overdoses. If she dies, Vincent is a dead man. So, in a panic, he drives her down to Lances house to administer an adrenaline shot to her heart.

Tarell Alvin McCraney wrote his semi-autobiographical, ultimately unproduced play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue as a coping mechanism when his drug-addicted mother died. Its a coming-of-age story about the hardships faced by a gay Black kid growing up with an abusive crack-addicted mother.

Feeling a kindred spirit with the playwright as his own mother had grappled with addiction, Barry Jenkins decided to adapt the play into a movie, and the result was one of the most beautiful films ever made, more than deserving of its Best Picture win.

Matt Dillon stars as the head of a family of junkies in Gus Van Sants powerful drama Drugstore Cowboy. They travel across America and rob drugstores to fund their substance addictions.

When tragedy befalls the family, he decides to go straight but faces the tough reality that giving up his drug-using past isnt going to be easy.

Dennis Hopper ushered in the New Hollywood movement with Easy Rider, his biker movie capturing the counterculture zeitgeist of the late 60s.

Hopper co-stars with Peter Fonda as a pair of bikers who hit the road after making a boatload on a drug deal and do their fair share of drugs along the way. One particularly nightmarish sequence sees the characters have a bad trip while celebrating Mardi Gras in a cemetery.

Martin Scorseses ongoing thesis in his movies about the mafia is that a life of crime never pays and only ever ends one way. The story of mobster-turned-FBI informant Henry Hill gave Scorsese the perfect groundwork for that cinematic statement, and Goodfellas ended up being arguably the greatest gangster movie ever made. Real-life gangsters say it plays like a home movie.

RELATED:Goodfellas: 5 Movies That Influenced It (& 5 Movies It Influenced)

Henrys downfall begins when he defies his boss Paulies wishes and starts selling coke. And, of course, he starts getting high on his own supply. The iconic helicopter sequence beautifully conveys Henrys frenzied, paranoid, drug-addled mindset.

Terry Gilliam is possibly the only director whose visual style is surreal and mind-bending enough to adapt the gonzo writings of Hunter S. Thompson for the big screen.

Johnny Depp stars as Raoul Duke, a thinly veiled portrait of Thompson himself, who goes to Vegas with his lawyer Dr. Gonzo, played by Benicio del Toro, to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race. However, like the novel, the movie quickly devolves from sports journalism into a drug-addled odyssey through Sin City.

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Ben Sherlock is a writer, comedian, and independent filmmaker, and he's good at at least two of those things. In addition to writing news and features for Game Rant and lists for Screen Rant and CBR, Ben directs independent films and does standup comedy. He's currently in pre-production on his first feature film, Hunting Trip, and has been for a while because filmmaking is expensive. Previously, he wrote for Taste of Cinema and BabbleTop.

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Trainspotting & 9 Other Classic Movies About Drug Use - Screen Rant

BY HEATHER WALTERS

Longtime Colleton County law enforcement officer Gean Johnson has been promoted to Chief Deputy of the Colleton County Sheriffs Office.

In his new role, the 29-year law enforcement veteran is a leader within the department. He was promoted to the high-ranking position by newly-elected Sheriff Buddy Hill.

Acting in his new role as Chief Deputy, Johnson is working with Hill on several initiatives. One of these is working towards higher wages for Colletons law enforcement officers.

Officers encounter life-threatening events regularly while performing their duties, said Johnson. Currently, Sheriff Hill and I are devoted to working with County Council to increase officers salaries. This increase will invite more qualified applicants to apply within our agency due to having a competitive salary with surrounding counties, allowing us to fill vacant positions more efficiently.

Additionally, filling these vacancies enhances officer safety and increases officer presence within the community, he said.

In addition to seeking those higher wages, Johnson and Hill are also working to increase the local departments K9 fleet.

According to Hill, he would like to have a team of bloodhounds added to the sheriffs office, which he said are an invaluable tool in finding lost children or dementia patients, as well as offenders.

Additionally, the sheriff would like to bring the total number of narcotics-and-tracking canines to four K-9 officers, he said.

In working toward that goal, the sheriffs office recently gained one K9 officer a law-enforcement certified German Shepherd named Mako. Mako, who is two years old, came to Colleton from nearby Jasper County: his handler is Deputy Raymond Davis, who also returned to the local sheriffs office from Jasper County.

Mako is trained to detect narcotics, track offenders, and find lost children or adults. He is also trained to apprehend a fleeing offender and in-handler protection, according to Davis.

According to Hill, having K-9 officers within the sheriffs office is essential.

They are an essential tool, not just for the Law Enforcement Officer, but for the community, as well, he said. Canine Officers are used locally for many different reasons, from search-and-rescue to fighting the local war on drugs, said Hill.

A K-9 has the ability and training to find missing and lost people and to bring them home safe. K-9 officers are a vital part of our fight against drugs. Without them, we are constrained with our human ability to find drugs in a building, vehicle, or anywhere for that matter, he said. K-9s have more scent capabilities than humans. Therefore, they can detect the odor of narcotics, and in most cases, theyre hidden.

In his new role as Chief Deputy, Johnson is working with Hill toward accomplishing these two goals.

Johnson began his career in 1992 as a detention officer with the Colleton County Detention Center. From there, he transitioned to patrol and then obtained his law enforcement certification through the S.C. Criminal Justice Academy.

During my tenure within the Sheriffs Office, I was a shift Sergeant over the road patrol division, then became a Sergeant within the investigations division, he said.

Johnson switched his focus to investigations and has worked on many cases within the county. During my time in investigations, I excelled in my work, rose through the ranks, and became the captain of the CID (Criminal Investigations Division) and the civil process division, he said.

In 2014, Johnson spent a year working with the Dorchester County Sheriffs Office. But, he said his love for Colleton County brought him back.

My passion for law enforcement resides in helping the citizens in my home-town of Colleton, he said. As a result, I accepted a Walterboro Police Department position as a corporal in investigations. In the fall of 2020, I received a promotion to Sergeant.

As the Chief Deputy, Johnson said he plans to continue working hand-in-hand with Sheriff Hill, who was elected to his seat in November of 2020.

We want to build and strengthen relationships with other law enforcement agencies, including our municipalities in the county, said Johnson. I want to do this using my skills and knowledge acquired during my 29 years of service to continue bridging the gap between law enforcement and our citizens.

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Johnson promoted to Chief Deputy, vows to fight for higher officer wages - Walterboro Live

Some residents in the City of Milwaukee were left disillusioned after the Common Council reversed its December decision to reject the $9.7 million federal Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant. The three-year grant, now approved by the council, will add 30 new police officers to the ranks of the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD), allowing more veteran personnel to be repurposed for various task forces.

The decision to accept the grant came after Acting Police Chief Jeffrey Norman and other administrators sent a four-page letter to the Council saying the department was making progress working on community oriented policing standards and developing new procedures banning chokeholds and shooting into vehicles except in life-preserving measures, among other things.

Still, the decision to take the money was discouraging toPaul Mozina, who has been closely monitoring policing in Milwaukee. Im characterizing it as another futile surge in the war on drugs, Mozina tells Wisconsin Examiner. Thats really what theyve accomplished. He views the COPS grant, which continues Operation Legend, as an offshoot of prior law enforcement programs that led to over-policing in Milwaukee neighborhoods, including Operation Relentless Pursuit.

Operation Legend, which was launched in July 2020, resulted in some 74 arrests in the Milwaukee area. The arrests were announced on Dec. 23, 2020 as one of then-U.S. Attorney General William Barrs final acts in office.

We see them roaming around our neighborhoods, said Julio Gumeta, an activist with the Brown Berets and resident of Milwaukees predominantly Latinx south side, the police and the undercover cops, and, I think, the feds are still here. You see them just kind of walking by, as you go about your day on the south side. You see cars passing by, doing runs down Greenfield and National [avenues]. And these communities are mostly immigrant and undocumented families. So they have a very real fear that they may be assaulted by a police officer, or an ICE officer.

Gumeta says the apparent suicide in September of a 23-year-old south-side man as DEA agents raided his home is fresh in the neighborhoods memory. He says without body cam footage, some wonder if the agents accounts can be trusted. Headds that relations between the community and the police were further eroded after the police and ICE agents collaborated in the 2019 arrest of Jos (Alex) de la Cruz-Espinoza. After 70 days in the Dodge County Detention Facility, de la Cruz was released to be reunited with his wife and children in Milwaukee.

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Mozina sees the COPS grant as a continuation of policies that disproportionately target Black and brown communities. Its like when the weeds come up in the spring, every year the DOJ have their big bust in the spring, asserts Mozina.

Members of the Common Council also addressed concerns about the grant in a joint statement from Alds. Nikiya Dodd, Ashanti Hamilton, Cavalier Johnson and Mark Borkowski released on Jan. 19.

Earlier today, a divided Common Council made a difficult decision to accept the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grant from the federal Department of Justice. This grant should never have divided this community as deeply as it did. Public safety is a primary concern for all of us who serve this city and yet, even among ourselves, we disagreed, sometimes vehemently, about taking federal dollars when money from any source is scarce.

The joint statement emphasized the antiquated structure of the grant as a major problem. The Common Council has already made clear to the department that it must re-imagine policing to better respond to the present moment, it reads. Force must not be its first tool, but its last. And it must embrace methods like trauma-informed care, violence prevention, and other forms of early intervention. More to the point, it must also be willing to change the way it uses scarce federal dollars and no longer assume that the hiring and deployment of sworn officers is the best and only answer when outside resources are received.

Mayor Tom Barrett heavily pushed for the grant, and the final Common Council vote ended in a 9-6 decision to pass it. In December, the vote ended in a 6-8 decision to not accept the grant. However, Dodd moved to reconsider the grant again after the New Year. Ald. Hamilton who, initially voted against the grant and later changed his vote along with Dodd and others, pushed for the MPD to accept the grant under certain conditions.

The seven conditions, which include prioritizing traffic enforcement and rebuilding damaged relations with community members, are meant to steer the department toward better relationship with the communities it serves.

Since May 2020, Milwaukee residents have joined nationwide calls to reallocate funds away from police and toward other services. Defund the police became a controversial rallying cry that continues to draw protesters out into the streets.

In December 2020, Markesha Tucker, director of the African-American Roundtable and a community organizer withLiberateMKE, wrote an op-ed in reaction to the grants initial rejection. Tucker hoped that voting no would allow the council, to focus on community safety strategies like non-police responses to mental health, a priority we presented in a letter signed by over 80 community organizers and community leaders, with a similar resolution being unanimously adopted by the Common Council. Come December that didnt happen, leaving some alders worried that the larger problem was being avoided.

Ald. Milele Coggs highlighted the importance of the department facing the fractured relationship it has with the community. Regardless of which way this goes, Coggs told Urban Milwaukee, the city loses if we do not begin to embark on the much tougher conversations about the future of policing in the City of Milwaukee. I know many of us will breath a sigh of relief when this vote is over, but I do believe that when this vote is over the real work begins.

Despite the increasing funding for police operations, drug-related deaths are increasing. The city is now entering 2021 after experiencing surges in drug overdoses, homicides and suicides in 2020. From Mozinas perspective, drug war tactics are part of the problem, not the solution.

Im alluding to the collateral damage of the drug war, Mozina says. He argues that the common council and police department, wont admit that the drug war is an utter failure, and is causing more damage. Its not helping anything. The fact that theres an illegal street market leads to increased violence on the street, overdoses.

As residents attempt to reimagine what public safety looks like, activists wonder why leaders wont heed calls to revamp approaches to public health and safety. Instead of funding more police, he says cities should be creating avenues for community engagement. Theyre so used to having this stuff rubber stamped, that they thought this was going to be a walk in the park, says Mozina. What if they asked the community, Where do you want those 30 veterans dedicated?

Tucker noted in her op-ed that, hundreds of voices that spoke at budget hearings over the past two years said they dont want the COPS grant today, tomorrow or next year! The community wants something else, and its not more police.

See the article here:

Activists disillusioned after approval of previously rejected COPS grant - Wisconsin Examiner

For some, Joe Biden entering the White House has felt like a sigh of relief: The president who unabashedly led the country with hate and helped orchestrate the deaths of more than 410,000 Americans in a pandemic is finally gone. Biden signed 17 executive actions on his first day as the countrys chief executive, and has signed about another dozen since. He has made it his priority to reverse and reject much of Trumps agenda.

While his gestures so far spell hope, other Americans are holding their breath, familiar with how progress in America always comes at a price. When Black Americans in particular make strides toward equality, the determined hand of white supremacy pushes back. Emory African American studies professor Carol Anderson calls this phenomenon white rage.

According to Anderson, white rage is legitimatized through the policies that make up the American political framework. It lives in voter ID laws and manifests in the Black votes that are never cast. It lives in criminal sentencing laws and plays out in a war on drugs that was waged against Black people. It is the rage that fueled the insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to dismantle Americas multicultural democracy and it hasnt gone away.

White rage is the operational function of white supremacy. It is the fear of a multicultural democracy. It is predicated on a sense that only whites are legitimate Americans, Anderson told me.

I talked to Anderson, who wrote an entire book about white rage, about its meaning and how it has historically operated in America. Our conversation, which has been edited for length and clarity, also addresses how to put an end to it.

What is white rage and how does it apply to this moment?

I think a lot of folks get white rage wrong. When I talk about white rage, Im talking about the policies that undermine African American achievement and advancement. These policies sanction the violence that accompanies white rage to make that environment look legitimate. White rage is about policy, and one of the big policies driving this thing right now is voter suppression.

Since white rage is a response to African Americans political advancement, we saw them rise up in mass after the election of Barack Obama, for example. He pulled through millions of new voters with his ground game that were overwhelmingly African American, Hispanic, Asian American, the young, and the poor. When you look at voter suppression policies, thats the hit list. And when you think about Trumps big lie that these elections were stolen and you see where he identified these so-called stolen elections, he didnt point to Salt Lake City, Utah. He didnt point to Paducah, Kentucky. He pointed to Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee, Atlanta. In many ways, these are the same cities that the manufactured lie of massive rampant voter fraud came out of after the 2000 election. These are cities that have sizable or majority Black or minority populations. How many times have we heard about fraud or how we have to purge all of these votes because weve got dead people voting?

Can you say more about how the voter fraud lies coming out of the 2000 election illustrate white rage?

In 2000 in St. Louis, almost 50,000 voters were purged from the rolls. When they went to go vote, their names werent there and the poll workers had no indication, no evidence, no poll books about who these folks were. So they sent them downtown to the Board of Elections. It was a hot mess. People were down there for hours trying to get back on the rolls so they could vote. The polls were getting ready to close, but Democrats sued to keep the polls open, saying this wasnt their fault, that they were illegally purged. They were able to keep the polls open for three more hours.

But the Republicans came in with a higher court and said this is illegal, its voter fraud, and that theyre trying to steal the election. A judge shut down the polls after 45 minutes. It was eventually proven that there wasnt any massive rampant voter fraud, except they had a huge PR campaign that kept pumping this idea of voter fraud, voter fraud, weve got to protect the integrity of our elections. We got to save democracy from these people who are stealing our elections. So weve been here before, and its the lie of voter fraud that then created the policies of voter suppression.

What are these voter suppression policies that are apparently so central to white rage?

Voter ID laws. It sounds race neutral and it sounds like its in support of strengthening democracy. But voter ID laws are based on the lie of voter fraud. We have to have people be themselves to make sure theyre not stealing the election. So you create the lie, then you create the obstacle of IDs. Weve got evidence of this. Its like what happened in North Carolina they requested data by race on the types of IDs people held, and then wrote the law to privilege the IDs that whites had and to disqualify the IDs that African Americans had.

Why does white rage have to manifest in this way? Or rather, why does it manifest in this way?

White rage is the operational function of white supremacy. It is the fear of a multicultural democracy. It is predicated on a sense that only whites are legitimate Americans. So when I heard that language of If you only count the legal votes and not the illegal votes coming out of Philadelphia and Detroit, that was the signal that those votes coming out of the cities, which becomes like a synonym for where Black people live, are illegal by the very function that those voters are in the city. And so it is a way of crafting Americanness as white-only, like hanging a Jim Crow sign on it. And that, therefore, the rights of American citizenship are white-only.

What are some other examples of how white rage has worked historically?

We saw it after the Brown decision to integrate the schools. Over 100 Congressmen signed what was called the Southern Manifesto, saying they would use every lever of power that they had to defy the US Supreme Court. You saw then states crafting policies to figure out how to get around integrating public schools. They were crafting policies such that they would shut down entire public school systems and then provide state-funded tuition for white children to go to all-white private academies. Thats white rage policy.

Meanwhile, there was no funding whatsoever for Black children to continue their education. In Prince Edward County, Virginia, those public schools were shut down for five years. Imagine youre in the fifth grade and your school shuts down and opens up again when youre in the 10th grade. What have you missed? So much.

One of the big white rage policies was the war on drugs coming out of the civil rights movement, where you get the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The war on drugs was racialized. African Americans used drugs the least except for marijuana, where their usage is on par with other racial and ethnic groups. But they were disproportionately incarcerated incarcerated at a much higher rate. What a felony conviction does is it allows you to short-circuit the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. So those who were incarcerated didnt have access to education. They could be denied housing with a felony conviction. With the Voting Rights Act, you have felony disenfranchisement, which means you can deny those who have been convicted of a felony their right to vote. In the US, about 6.1 million people were denied the right to vote because of a felony conviction in 2016. In Florida, with Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to some people with felony convictions, we found out that 1.7 million of them were in Florida alone. Florida had permanent felony disenfranchisement.

After Amendment 4 passed, there was a commission where you could petition to get your voting rights back. But former Gov. Rick Scott had rigged it so that only a trickle got through. And then there was a piece in the Palm Beach Post that showed that the way he had that thing rigged is that if you were a Republican, you got your voting rights back.

Wow.

Yeah. [Laughs] Yeah. I love the work that local journalism does! In Florida, 40 percent of Black men could not vote because of a felony conviction. Thats white rage, and thats the power of the war on drugs.

You also argue that when theres Black advancement, white rage is activated. What do you mean by that? And in thinking about January 6, what kind of Black advancement have we been seeing in the past couple of months or years to activate what happened?

Think about the incredible mobilization of Black voters, Latino voters, Indigenous voters, Asian Americans, that flipped Georgia blue to Biden and to Kamala Harris that organizing, that mobilizing. And Stacey Abramss group Fair Fight was in Wisconsin too, working with WisDems, and flipped Wisconsin that kind of engagement. The refusal to bow down to voter suppression and to a pandemic that disproportionately kills Black people. People here in Georgia were like, I will stand in line for 11 hours if I have to that kind of determination. Black achievement, Black advancement, the refusal to accept subjugation, the demand for citizenship rights all of that was front and center in this 2020 election. Black resilience and Black resolve are punished.

And you saw it here in Georgia with the Senate runoff where, again, Black voter turnout was just record-breaking. They elected Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossof to the Senate. They dislodged two incumbents who ran on a white supremacist platform. They couldnt talk about what they had accomplished; what they ran on was fear. David Purdue issued an ad where he had lengthened Jon Ossoffs nose. Kelly Loeffler ran on an ad where she had darkened Raphael Warnocks face, kind of like that Time O.J. Simpson cover. Be afraid. Be afraid. Be afraid.

We voted them out of office and, in response, the Republicans in the legislature here in Georgia are figuring out how to make absentee ballots much more difficult to use in the middle of a pandemic. Weve had no-excuse absentee ballots for 15 years, and theyve overwhelmingly been used by white Republicans. In the midst of this pandemic, African Americans used them heavily. And so now, instead of embracing this growth in democracy and this high voter turnout, the Georgia legislature is figuring out how to make it harder to use absentee ballots by maybe getting rid of this no-excuse provision. Theyre saying maybe we need to add a photo ID requirement. So if youre in your home and you want to use an absentee ballot, how many people have copiers in their homes to make a copy of their ID? This is how you can bureaucratically and race-neutrally begin to carve out your own electorate to block voters that will not vote for you, or that you suspect will not vote for you. That is the white rage backlash.

So when does the backlash end? As things stand, when theres a moment of Black advancement, white rage comes to try to steal it away. It feels like a pendulum swinging. Will this motion ever stop?

It will stop when whites and when politicians stop thinking in terms of the zero sum game that the only way that African Americans can advance will be at whites expense. The zero sum game is an old tried-and-true playbook. Think about it this way: The US has spent about a trillion dollars on the war on drugs to lock up those who do and sell drugs the least. What could we have done with a trillion dollars? What would that have meant in terms of being able to keep college affordable? In terms of the kinds of tuition support that could come from state dollars? What could we have done in terms of access to affordable health care with a trillion dollars? Breaking the frame of the zero sum game is going to be so important for the pendulum of white rage to stop swinging. Its going to require dismantling white supremacy as an operating code.

Id like to end by talking about the phrase white rage itself. In our society, white people are rarely described as angry by those in power, no matter the amount of crimes they commit, no matter the amount of genocide thats taken place at their hands. Its Black people and other people of color who are the angry and vengeful ones. Whats the purpose of merging these two words together, two words that, based on what were taught in American society, dont go together?

The phrase came to me when Ferguson was on fire. I was watching television, and it didnt matter whether it was CNN, MSNBC, or Fox, they were all talking about all of this Black rage. Look at Black people burning up where they live. I was sitting there shaking my head, saying, Thats white rage. And I went, Oh my gosh, this is white rage.

I lived in Missouri for 13 years. I saw how policy worked there to undermine African Americans access to their citizenship rights. In America, we are so focused on the flames that we miss the kindling. The kindling those are the policies.

In Ferguson, for instance, there was a police force that basically harassed the Black community and saw them as a revenue-generating force. So 25 percent of the citys budget was extracted from the Black community via fines and fees: Looks like youre doing 26 in a 25 mph zone. We had an education system there in Missouri that measured schools on a 140-point scale for graduation rates, matriculation rates, test scores, etc. In Michael Browns school system, they got 10 points out of 140 for 15 years. And there were policies of disenfranchisement there. Some 60 percent of Ferguson is Black, but in the municipal elections in 2013, there was a Black voter turnout of only 6 percent. Thats what happened in Ferguson. These are white rage policies.

Ive had people say to me, Why dont you call it white angst? Well, what do you call it when you systematically deny children the right to education because theyre Black? Thats rage. What do you call it when Black people come out and vote and your response is not, Yes, democracy! Your response is, Thats illegal. Thats fraudulent. Weve got to shut it down. Weve got to strip them of their citizenship rights. Thats rage.

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Carol Anderson says white rage is a function of white supremacy and wont just go away - Vox.com

It was another exciting week in entertainment marketing that reminded us that even if we're still stuck inside, at least there's a lot of great film and television at our fingertips. I shudder to think what quarantine would be without our TVs.

We started with what looks to be the cinema mashup of the century, with two Monsterverse legends finally coming head to head. Next, there was plenty of crime to be fought and drugs to be smuggledand whether it be through the internet or the streets, it never seems to end well, does it? Furthering this point, we got to explore a fictionalized account of the all-too-real opioid crisis. The Brits got their moment to shine as we walked the streets in both Cold War and 1980s London. And if quarantine is beginning to feel a bit like Groundhog's Day, I know two teens who may have some advice. Finally, we got to meet our latest Disney heroine, and it looks like she's traded chasing princes to slaying dragons, and we're all for it.

As you can see, there was lots of exhilarating, fun and mysterious work to catch up on this week. Check out some of the latest trailers and posters.

Warner Bros.Trailer Agency: Wild CardPoster Agency: BOND

Two of the world's most famous monsters are finally meeting, and if this trailer is any indication, it's going to be one epic showdown. With great attention to pacing, this piece carefully sets the scene, making the eventual face-off between the two legendary figures all the more satisfying. Chris Classic's "Here We Go" is the perfect high-energy tune to serve as soundtrack to the bombastic action that's in store when these two go head to head. The tension is palpable in the equally epic poster as we see land meet sea. Godzilla vs. Kong will battle it out on March 26.

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From Godzilla vs. Kong to Raya and the Last Dragon, See This Week's Trailers and Posters - Muse by Clio