Social Justice
Celebrities shed new light to Cyntoia Brown’s case
Cyntoia Brown was convicted in 2006 for the murder of 43-year-old real estate agent John Allen, who picked her up for sex.
Cyntoia Brown was convicted in 2006 for the murder of 43-year-old John Allen, who picked her up for sex.
Her story
The then 16-year-old says she was forced into sex work by her boyfriend, a pimp who went by the name “Kut Throat” who serially raped and physically abused her.
The john who hired Brown that fateful night was a Nashville real estate agent. He took her home, showed her his massive gun collection, and headed to the bedroom.
“He grabbed me in-between my legs — he just grabbed it real hard,” Brown told the court.
Brown said she panicked when Allen turned around, leaning as if he was getting something from under the bed. Thinking she was about to die, Brown took out the .40-caliber handgun Kutthroat had given her and shot Allen in the head.
Cyntoia Brown’s case
The then teenager would be tried as an adult. And since she robbed Allen of his wallet and guns from the house, prosecutors said the attack was premeditated.
Cyntoia has always maintained that she acted in self-defense but her admission did not hold in the court of her peers. Ultimately, she was convicted of murder and aggravated robbery being sentenced to life in prison. She is currently serving her time at Tennessee’s Prison for Women with a chance for parole at 67.
Why is the Cytonia Brown case being resurfaced?
For a decade, Brown’s lawyer Charles Boone has been pugnacious, adamantly vocal that his client was a victim of sex trafficking. He appealed the case on the grounds of ineffective initial counsel and the Eight Amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.
Cyntoia Brown’s case documentary
Brown’s case would first get attention in a compelling 2011 PBS documentary directed by filmmaker Dan Birman.
Years of trauma
The documentary would shed light on years of abuse and trauma Brown endured, first starting as a baby when her mother testified in court she consumed alcohol while pregnant with Cyntoia. Cyntoia would later show telltale signs of fetal alcohol syndrome, which slows brain development.
Cynotia not only faced trauma but dealt with a history of mental illness as her birth mother tried to commit suicide, and her grandmother and grandfather both died as a result of suicide. If that isn’t enough, Brown’s mother and grandmother were both victims of rape.
Adoption
Brown would eventually be adopted by a family in Clarksville, Tenn., as a result of the woes her mother faced with drug addiction and other issues.
Cyntoia dropped out of elementary school and ran away to Nashville. By the age of 16, Cyntoia Brown was living in a motel with a pimp named “Kut Throat”, who raped and abused her, while forcing her to become a prostitute.
“This is a young girl who’s at the tail end of three generations of violence against women,” Birman told Fox 17 News. “She had no chance.”
Cyntoia Brown’s case law
The documentary was so powerful that it changed Tennessee’s laws for children like Brown in 2011.
Now, anyone 18 or younger can’t be charged with prostitution. But despite its impact, Brown still sits in jail after a traumatic childhood that led to the fatal incident.
Cytonia Brown’s case today
Brown’s advocates told the Times that she has been a model inmate, earning a G.E.D. and an associate degree over her thirteen years behind bars. Brown, now 28, is also reportedly aiming for a Bachelor of Arts by next year.
On social media, new attention has shed light on Cyntoia Brown’s case with celebrities such as Kim Karadashian, Rihanna, and T.I. rallying to get Brown out of jail, calling what happened “a grave injustice”.
#FreeCyntoiaBrown
In a twitter post, Kim Kardashian stated she going to see if her lawyers can do anything to help with the case.
The system has failed. It’s heart breaking to see a young girl sex trafficked then when she has the courage to fight back is jailed for life! We have to do better & do what’s right. I’ve called my attorneys yesterday to see what can be done to fix this. #FreeCyntoiaBrown pic.twitter.com/73y26mLp7u
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) November 21, 2017
The hashtag #FreeCyntoiaBrown has also been picking up momentum on Twitter.
New hope
Charles Boone, the lawyer in Nashville who took Brown’s case pro-bono, told the New York Times, they were appreciative of number of celebrities who joined their plight and Cyntoia was thrilled by the fact people really cared.
While Cyntoia’s case happened a decade ago, it sheds light on the treatment of juveniles in the criminal justice system.
Charles Boone, is hopeful a new appeal will go through, having the court, legislature, or ultimately the governor considering her case and shorten her sentence.
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Politics
Lil Scrappy, Big Freedia, Mia X, Cookie Nasty, and more artists partner with Hip Hop Caucus for a Political Rap Cypher
Released just under one week before the most important presidential election of our time, these rappers focused on issue advocacy and dropped powerful bars on the importance of voting, voting rights and democracy, civil rights, economic justice, and environmental justice – all issues that affect people of color the most and some of the pressing issues and deciding factors in this year’s election.
Some of hip hop’s most influential voices, Lil Scrappy, Big Freedia Mia X, Lee Merritt, Cookie Nasty, and Trae Crockett have joined musical forces to partner with Hip Hop Caucus to release a powerful political cypher as a final push to encourage people to head to polls and vote.
Hip Hop political cypher
Released just under one week before the most important presidential election of our time, these rappers focused on issue advocacy and dropped powerful bars on the importance of voting, voting rights and democracy, civil rights, economic justice, and environmental justice – all issues that affect people of color the most and some of the pressing issues and deciding factors in this year’s election.
The power of voting
Hip Hop Caucus is no stranger to leveraging the power of music, celebrity, and activism, launching their Respect My Vote! Campaign and Tour earlier this year, which included activists to reach and educate communities of color about political and social issues, and mobilize people to vote for the change they want to see on November 5.
The message is clear that we cannot afford not to cast our ballots this election, with Mia X stating, “Say it with my chest, imma step for my rights, 10 toes down …my choice, my freedoms my voice, my votes and “if you don’t vote you don’t matter”.
Watch the cypher
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Health & Wellness
Amber Nicole Thurman died from delayed care due to Georgia’s abortion laws, says family
Thurman died after waiting 20 hours in pain for a hospital to treat a rare complication from taking an abortion pill, she had to obtain in North Carolina.
Amber Nicole Thurman was a vibrant, healthy 28-year-old Georgia woman who tragically died due to abortion laws and medical neglect, her family says.
Amber Nicole Thurman’s life could have been preventable
According to reports, Thurman died after waiting 20 hours in pain for a hospital to treat a rare complication from taking an abortion pill that she had to obtain in North Carolina. She needed a routine procedure, a dilation and curettage (D&C), to clear residual tissue from her uterus.
Did abortion laws cause problems for the mother?
But she reportedly couldn’t get the help she needed. New abortion laws in Georgia made conducting this essential medical procedure a felony unless in an emergency situation.
Georgia’s LIFE Act took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade in 2022 and banned abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, effectively prohibiting abortions beyond around six weeks of pregnancy, and criminalized performing one with limited exceptions.
Thurman had sought help at a local hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia. Even as Thurman developed sepsis, her family says doctors at the hospital did not evacuate the remaining fetal tissue in her uterus with the (D&C). Unfortunately, she later died on the operating table, reports ProPublica.
After Thurman’s death, a Fulton County Superior Court judge struck down the law, stating the law violates Georgia’s Constitution, reports NewsWeek.
ProPublica reported that Georgia’s maternal mortality committee also found that Thurman’s death was completely preventable. When her family learned this, they were devastated once again and their grief intensified affirming that Amber should not have died.
GoFundMe
As Thurman’s family struggles to cope with their grief and anger, they are striving to care for Amber’s son the way she wanted and have started a GoFundMe.
“The funds through this site will support Amber’s son for his immediate needs and for his future. This includes mental health and grief counseling for him and Amber’s family,” the GoFundMe reads.
According to the family, the funds will also support the family’s fight for justice for Amber and women’s rights over their own bodies.
“Amber was a devoted mother to her 6-year-old son and had dreams of becoming a nurse while she worked as a medical assistant. Amber hoped to provide a bright future for herself and her son, but that was stolen from her, and we cannot stand by as this happens to more women.”
Visit the GoFundMe to donate and for more information.
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Unheard Voices Magazine is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
Social Justice
Exonerated ‘Central Park Five’ sue Trump for defamation after debate comments
The lawsuit stems from Trump’s remarks during the presidential debate last month.
The five men from the infamous Central Park case who call themselves the Exonerated Five have filed a defamation lawsuit against Donald Trump.
The lawsuit stems from his remarks during the presidential debate last month.
Exonerated Five lawsuit against Donald Trump
During the Sept. 10 debate in Pennsylvania, Trump said the five men, Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise, pleaded guilty when they were tried in connection with the assault and rape of a woman who had been running in Central Park on April 19, 1989, and that the victim had died.
During the debate he said: “They admitted, they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty, then they pled we’re not guilty.”
At the time of the trials, each men had actually pleaded not guilty, and the victim of the attack survived.
According to the complaint, Trump’s statements are “demonstrably false,” adding that “Plaintiffs never pled guilty to any crime and were subsequently cleared of all wrongdoing. Further the victims of the Central Park assaults were not killed.”
The complaint further added that the men, now in their 50s, have “suffered injuries as a result of Defendant Trump’s false and defamatory statements.”
Falsely accused
The Exonerated Five, who were just teenagers when they were indicted, had always maintained their innocence throughout their separate trials and incarceration.
Each were charged with the assault of the female jogger, as well as other assaults and robberies in Central Park.
They five spent years in prison before they were exonerated in 2002 after DNA evidence linked another man, a serial rapist, to the crime. The city agreed in a legal settlement to pay the exonerated men $41 million.
This happened during a time of heightened racial tensions coupled with the case dominating headlines. Trump, then a real estate mogul, had taken out large ads in newspapers referencing the case calling for New York to bring back the death penalty.
The defamation suit was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The complaint noted that Salaam, a New York City Council member representing District 9, was at the debate and in the room when Trump made the statements.
In the lawsuit the men did not specify damages and asked for a trial to determine the amount.
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Unheard Voices Magazine is a news reporting platform covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research.
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