i am

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harlem, usa
same-gender-loving contemporary descendant of enslaved africans. community activist, feminist, health educator, independent filmmaker, mentor, playwright, poet & spiritual being. featured at, in & on africana.com, afrikan poetry theatre, angel herald, bejata dot com, bet tonight with tavis smiley, blacklight online, black noir, brooklyn moon cafe, gmhc's barbershop, klmo-fm, lgbt community services center, longmoor productions, nuyorican poets cafe, our corner, poz, pulse, rolling out new york, rush arts gallery, saint veronica's church, schomburg center for research in black culture, sexplorations, the citizen, the new york times, the soundz bar, the trenton times, the village voice, upn news, uzuri, venus, vibe, wbai-fm, wnyc-fm & wqht-fm. volunteered with adodi, bailey house, inc., black men's xchange-new york, colorofchange.org, drug policy alliance, east harlem tutorial program, imagenation film & music festival, presente.org, save darfur coalition, the enough project, the osborne association, the sledge group & your black world. worked on films with maurice jamal & heather murphy. writing student of phil bertelsen & ed bullins. mjt975@msn.com.

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

Washington State Overturns Death Penalty

the washington state supreme court, in a ruling october 11, unanimously overturned the state's death penalty. "the death penalty is invalid because it is imposed in an arbitrary and racially biased manner," the justices wrote.

this opinion relied on research from university of washington professor katherine beckett and lecturer heather evans. beckett and evans reported black defendants were four and a half times more likely to receive the death penalty - compared to similarly situated non-black defendants.

washington is the 20th state to abolish capital punishment. the state froze its death penalty under a 2014 moratorium by governor jay inslee. washington currently has eight people on death row whose sentences will be converted to life without parole following the court's historic decsiion.  

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