WINNER OF SIX SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS FOR 2022
Celebrating 58 Years - Vol. 58, No. 16 • February 2 - 8, 2023
Capture the Moment
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Jason Lewis Identified as Karon Blake’s Alleged Killer Lewis Charged with Second-Degree Murder, Denied Bond Sam P.K. Collins WI Staff Writer
5 After outrage post the fatal shooting of 13-year-old Karon Blake, his alleged killer Jason Michael Lewis, a D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation employee, turned himself in and has been charged with second-degree murder. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
ASALH Highlights Black Resistance for African Americans Past and Present
More than three weeks after Karon Blake’s death, the D.C. government employee accused of killing him has been identified and charged with second-degree murder while armed. On the morning of Tuesday, Jan. 30, Jason Michael Lewis, a D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation employee, turned himself in to authorities. An arrest affidavit obtained by The Informer said Lewis, 41, intended to inflict bodily harm when he allegedly shot and killed Karon, 13, on the morning of Jan. 7. During Lewis’ arraignment on Tuesday afternoon, his attorney Lee Smith unsuccessfully attempted to secure Lewis’
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For Many, the Devastating Tyre Nichols Video Shows Policing in America Cannot be Reformed
Barrington M. Salmon WI Contributing Writer For social justice advocates and educators like Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney, the benefit of the long view is invaluable. As a student at Ohio State University and a member of the Black Studies Movement in 1973, Dulaney, national president of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), said he focused on law enforcement, eventually writing the book “Black Police in America.” Published in 1996, the book looks closely at policing in America up to that point and offers a series of solutions. “I was looking at what we’d done. I said we need more Black people in police departments,” Dulaney, recalled with a wry chuckle. “I wrote a whole book about it. Black people thought that if we have Black police officers, and if they lived in our communities, they would protect 5 “Black Resistance,” is the 2023 theme for the Association
for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH).
ASALH Page 48 (Courtesy Photo/ ASALH)
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer The devastating video of Memphis police officers rehearsing their excuse for their deadly use of force even as Tyre Nichols' lifeless body lay just steps away, painted a horrifying, if not entirely clear, portrait of five cops who murdered a man for no apparent reason and then conspired to destroy his reputation. The actions of Demetrius Haley, Tadarrius Bean, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills, Jr., and Justin Smith have left many convinced that policing in America cannot be reformed. “One of the most devastating things to occur in this earthly existence is for one’s life to end in such a brutal and helpless way and to have the world watch, share and analyze the video of you taking your
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