More than 700,000 Haitian immigrants and Dominicans of Haitian descent living in the Dominican Republic are at risk of deportation. In an effort to curb what Dominican officials call “overcrowding” following the 2010 Haitian earthquake, the government is forcing Haitian migrants to file paperwork and provide birth certificates or other forms of identification to prove their residency, and if they’re unable to, they will be sent back to Haiti.
However, the government can accept—or deny—an individual’s ID at its discretion. The deadline to file the paperwork is today, leaving hundreds of thousands at risk of being sent back to Haiti, though many at risk were born in the Dominican and have never been to Haiti.
Read more about it here.
The woman who was the alleged catalyst for a fight that broke out at a McKinney, Texas, pool party week before last is denying her role in the incident. A video went viral earlier this month showing a police officer violently handcuffing and detaining Black teens at a pool party. The police were originally responding to a fight between Black teens and Tracey Carver, who reportedly made racist comments to the students.
However, Carver, who has since been suspended from her job at Bank of America, told the Dallas Morning News that she didn’t make any racist slurs and that she was trying to break up a fight between her friend and one of the teens. She claims that she was forced to temporarily move to California because she was receiving threats.
Read more about it here.
Mere days after the McKinney pool party incident went viral, a similar scene unfolded at a Fairfield, Ohio, pool. Pregnant 33-year-old Krystal Dixon arrived at a community pool with her children, nieces and nephew, but the family was allegedly asked to leave because one of the younger boys wasn’t wearing swim trunks. Dixon left to pick up a swimsuit for the boy, but when she returned, pool staff demanded that she leave because the older kids weren’t following pool rules.
Dixon says that as the family was leaving, police officers confronted them and demanded to see her ID, which she didn’t have. He allegedly grabs her arm, and when the young teens come to her aid, they begin pepper spraying them and arresting them. Surveillance video shows one police officer grabbing a 12-year-old girl by her neck and pushing her against a squad car. She reportedly suffered from a fractured jaw and broken ribs. Police officers are denying that they used excessive force.
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Ebola cases in West Africa have been on the decline in recent months, but the World Health Organization announced last week that there has been an inexplicable spike in recent weeks. Health officials say that during the first week of July, 16 cases were reported in Guinea and 15 were reported in Sierra Leone. They are unsure of the source of the outbreak.
Read more about it here.
Over the weekend, an Ohio County prosecutor released a 224-page report detailing the events surrounding the killing of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who was fatally shot by Officer Timothy Loehmann last November while holding a toy gun. Though investigators didn’t speak to officers, witnesses said that Loehmann told them shortly after the shooting that he “had no choice,” even though surveillance video shows Loehmann shooting Rice within two seconds of arriving at the scene. Witnesses also said that Loehmann didn’t give Rice a warning before firing his gun.
Read more about it here.
The family of 19-year-old Renisha McBride has reached an undisclosed settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit against 56-year-old Theodore Wafer. McBride was fatally shot by Wafer in 2013 after knocking on his door seeking help after she got into a car accident. Wafer is currently serving 17 years in prison.
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San Antonio elected its first Black mayor over the weekend. Ivy Taylor, who has served as interim mayor since Julian Castro resigned last year, beat Leticia Van de Putte in a close race. She has vowed to protect the city’s diverse neighborhoods from gentrification and improve economic development among citizens.
Read more about it here.
Civil rights activists and legal experts are urging a New York appeals court to unseal the records from the Eric Garner grand jury. In December, the Staten Island grand jury declined to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who put Garner in an illegal fatal chokehold last year, but the testimony and evidence presented to jurors remains sealed. Yesterday, an appeals court listened to oral arguments from national civil rights groups and a representative from the Office of the New York City Public Advocate on why it is necessary to unseal the records.
Read more about it here.
We’re still more than a year away from the 2016 presidential election, but the race is heating up. Republican billionaire Donald Trump announced his bid earlier this week, and he has expressed interest in having Oprah Winfrey as his running mate (really). Jeb Bush, son of George W.R. Bush and brother of George W. Bush, announced that he was running on Monday. Though there is no clear frontrunner among Republicans, Hillary Clinton still appears to be the clear leader among Democrats.
Read more about it here.
During her presidential trip to Europe, the First Lady announced the first leg of her new initiative, Let Girls Learn, which aims to increase access to education to young women worldwide. Earlier this week, Michelle Obama announced a $200 million partnership with the United Kingdom. The funds will go to support girls’ educations in “countries affected by conflict and crisis.”
Read more about it here.
