Activists hold more peaceful rally

Black gun owners worried by policeman acquittal

MINNEAPOLIS, June 18, (Agencies): Minnesota activists held a second rally against police violence Saturday following 18 arrests during a night of protests after a policeman was acquitted over the shooting of a black motoriSt

Angry protestors had blocked a major highway in the state capital of St Paul early Saturday after Friday’s acquittal of Officer Jeronimo Yanez, 29, of all charges he faced in the shooting death of 32-year-old Philando Castile during a traffic stop.

Demonstrators held a smaller, more reflective rally and march Saturday evening “against injustice and to raise awareness that we will not stand for laws and policies that allow police to kill with impunity,” organizers wrote on the event’s Facebook page.

About 200 people turned out for that demonstration in Minneapolis — the state’s largest city that borders St Paul — according to the Star Tribune newspaper.

Castile’s death was part of a series of high-profile shootings of AfricanAmericans by police. Americans were stunned to see the video, livestreamed on Facebook, of his panicked girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, as blood spread on Castile’s shirt.

Yanez fired repeatedly at Castile, testifying later he though the man was reaching for a gun. Reynolds said he was reaching for his wallet.

The verdict had sparked outrage among many in the St Paul area. An estimated 1,500 people marched through the city, then poured onto interstate highway I-94, shutting it down.

When some marchers ignored repeated police orders to disperse, state and local officers arrested 18 of them shortly after midnight, a state police spokesman said.

secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, US newspapers reported on Saturday.

Clarke notified Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly on Friday of his decision, Craig Peterson, an adviser to Clarke, said in a statement, according to the Washington Post and other newspapers.

The Star Tribune said those arrested included two reporters for other Minnesota newspapers who were covering the march.

A police statement said the charges against the 18 included “being a pedestrian on the freeway.”

Meanwhile, Gerry Martin isn’t sure he will ever tell a police officer during a traffic stop that he has a concealedweapon permit — and possibly a weapon — on him.

The acquittal of a Minnesota officer in the death of a licensed gun owner who volunteered that he had a gun seconds before being fatally shot during a traffic stop adds to the worries of African-American gun owners about how they are treated by police and society.

Weapon

Acknowledging that they have a weapon, they said, can open them up to violence from police, who can then claim they feared for their lives simply because of the presence of a gun, even a legal one.

“As soon as you say, ‘I’m a concealed carry holder. This is my license,’ they automatically are reaching for their gun thinking you’re going to draw your gun on them, once again not realizing you’re a good guy,” said Martin, who lives in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

The verdict “tells African-Americans across the country that they can be killed by police officers with impunity, even when they are following the law,” said Rep. Cedric Richmond, a Louisiana Democrat who is chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus.

The verdict also tells blacks that “the Second Amendment does not apply to them” because Castile “was honest with the officer about having a weapon in the car, and there is no evidence that

“Sheriff Clarke is 100 percent committed to the success of President Trump and believes his skills could be better utilized to promote the president’s agenda in a more aggressive role,” the newspapers quoted Peterson as saying.

Neither the agency nor Clarke’s office immediately responded to requests for

A neighbor and grandchildren of absent homeowners are seen in front of a weather-damaged home in the Hyda Hills neighborhood in Bellevue, Neb, on June 17. A

severe weather front passed through the area the previous evening. (AP)

he attempted to or intended to use the weapon against the officer,” the Louisiana Democrat said.

Outside the courthouse, Castile’s mother said Yanez got away with murder. Her son was wearing a seatbelt and in a car with his girlfriend and her then4-year-old daughter when he was shot.

“I am so very, very, very ... disappointed in the system here in the state of Minnesota,” Valerie Castile said.

Licensed gun owner and open-carry advocate Rick Ector of Detroit said stereotypes can cloud the minds of some officers when dealing with black gun owners. Officers may have had previous encounters with people carrying guns illegally — especially young black men. And that experience can carry over, Ector said.

Once they find out that a black American has a gun permit, “they are not necessarily going to relax, but they now have an idea about your character,” Ector said.

Phillip Smith, head of the National African American Gun Association, said police need additional training to remind them that Second Amendment rights apply to black gun owners as much as anyone else.

Like several similar cases, Castile’s death was shared worldwide on social media. His girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, livestreamed the aftermath of the shooting on Facebook because, she said, she wanted to make sure the truth was known. But videos of black people dying at the hands of police have led to few convictions.

“I’m sure people of color are going to say, and rightfully so, what is the burden of proof for an officer to be” convicted? asked Dwayne Crawford, the executive director of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives.

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Clarke’s decision comes a month after he told radio station WISN in Milwaukee that he would leave his post as sheriff in June to join the Department of Homeland Security.

At the time, a spokeswoman for the agency said no announcement on Clarke had been made.

President Trump and Clarke met in Wisconsin on Tuesday and discussed other roles in which Clarke could help advance Trump’s agenda, the Washington Post reported, citing Peterson. (RTRS)

‘Slain officer was a hero’:

A corrections officer who was slain while transporting inmates was a hero who spent his career protecting other people, Georgia’s top prison official said at the man’s funeral.

Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday in central Georgia to remember Sgt Curtis Billue, one of two Georgia prison guards killed when two inmates escaped Tuesday from a prison transfer bus.

Law enforcement officers from around the state joined relatives and friends of Billue for his funeral at Wilkinson County High School in McIntyre. Billue was 58.

Billue’s casket was draped with an American flag, WSB-TV reported (http://2wsb.tv/2teEsDx ). He was remembered as a military veteran and devoted father of two sons. (AP)