Juneteenth ...We Will Never Forget...

Abu Ruyaa

Juneteenth, also known as Juneteenth Independence Day or Freedom Day, is an American holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865, announcement of the abolition of slavery in the U.S. state of Texas, and more generally the emancipation of enslaved African Americans throughout the former Confederate States of America. Texas was the most remote of the slave states, and the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863, was not enforced there until after the Confederacy collapsed. The name of the observance is a portmanteau of "June" and "nineteenth", the date of its celebration.^[1]^[2] Juneteenth is recognized as a state holiday or special day of observance in 46 states.^[3]

Observance is primarily in local celebrations. Traditions include public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and reading of works by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou.^[4] Celebrations include rodeos, street fairs, cookouts, family reunions, park parties, historical reenactments, or Miss Juneteenth contests.^[5] The Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles, of Coahuila, Mexico also celebrate Juneteenth.^[6]

^{Full article: ^{https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juneteenth}}

Comment by Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص on June 20, 2019 at 11:22am: Abu Ruyaa

32 mins ·

Rev. Raphael G. Warnock, Ph.D.

Comment by Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص on June 20, 2019 at 11:31am: The Central Park jogger case was a criminal case based on the assault and rape of Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old, white woman who was jogging in the park, and attacks on eight other persons in the North Woods of Manhattan's Central Park on the night of April 19, 1989. Meili, an investment banker, was so injured that she was in a coma for 12 days. At the time of the trial of the first defendants in June 1990, The New York Times described the attack on her as "one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980s".^[1]

Attacks in Central Park that night were allegedly committed by around 30 teenagers, and police attempted to apprehend suspects. Meili was not found until 1:30 am, after which the police hunt intensified. Among other suspects, all youths of color, four African American teenagers and two Hispanic American teenagers were taken into custody. After lengthy interrogations, these six teenagers were indicted on May 10 on charges of assault, robbery, riot, rape, sexual abuse, and attempted murder relating to the attack on Meili and an unrelated man, John Loughlin. The sixth defendant was scheduled to be tried last. He made a plea deal in January 1991 related to the assault of Loughlin only and received a lesser sentence.

Prosecution of the first five defendants in the case was based primarily on confessions which they had made during police interrogations, which in some cases had proceeded for hours without parents or counsel present. They each later withdrew these confessions, pleaded not guilty, and refused plea deals. None of the suspects' DNA matched the DNA from two semen samples found on and close to the victim, which both belonged to the same unidentified man, a fact stated by an FBI witness in the first of the two trials. There was no substantive physical evidence connecting the five teenagers to the rape scene, but each was convicted in 1990 of assault and other charges by juries in two separate trials. Subsequently known as the Central Park Five, they received sentences ranging from 5 to 15 years. Four of the defendants appealed their convictions, but these were affirmed by appellate courts. Four defendants served 6-7 years each; one, tried and sentenced as an adult, served 13 years in adult prison. Five other defendants had earlier pleaded guilty to charges related to crimes against the other eight victims that night and received lesser sentences.

In 2001, Matias Reyes, a convicted murderer and serial rapist who was serving life in prison, confessed to officials that he had raped the female jogger. His DNA matched the two samples found on and near the rape victim, and there was other confirmatory evidence. He said he committed the rape alone.^[2] Reyes was not prosecuted for raping Meili, because the statute of limitations had passed. After an investigation by his office, in 2002 Robert Morgenthau, District Attorney for New York County, recommended that the convictions of the five men, related both to charges for the assault and rape of Meili and other charges, be vacated. The court vacated their convictions in 2002, and the state withdrew all charges against the men.

In 2003, the five exonerated men sued New York City for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination, and emotional distress. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city refused to settle the suits for a decade, because the city's lawyers believed that the city could win a court case. After Bill de Blasio was elected as mayor, the city settled in 2014 with the five plaintiffs for $41 million. The five men also filed suit against New York State for an additional $52 million in damages in the New York Court of Claims; this was settled in 2016 for a total of $3.9 million.

Full article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_jogger_case