National

Angry Activists in Cleveland: Justice for Blacks in America Will Never Happen

Published

11 years ago

June 5, 2015

Michael Brelo listens to the judge read his verdict May 23, in Cleveland. Brelo, a patrolman charged in the shooting deaths of two unarmed suspects during a 137-shot barrage of gunfire was acquitted in a case that helped prompt the U.S. Department of Justice determine the city police department had a history of using excessive force and violating civil rights.

By Richard B. Muhammad and Charlene Muhammad
Special to the NNPA from The Final Call

(FinalCall.com) – Protests were largely peaceful, calls for calm were plentiful and pleas for the city of Cleveland to be a model for dealing with deadly Black-police encounters and tense police-community relations were prominent.

But besides those voices was also a seething anger, outrage not quenched by promises of reform as some felt the time to give America’s systems a chance is over.

The United States will never give justice to Black people and, the activists bitterly added, this is not a country where Blacks can live with Whites in peace.Judge John P. O’Donnell’s acquittal of Officer Michael Brelo on involuntary manslaughter and felonious assault charges in the deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams in November 2012, was the final straw, these activists said.

Their voices may not reflect a majority of opinions but do reflect a strong sentiment and growing disgust as Blacks lose their lives to police officers and nothing is done about it.

Officer Brelo stood on the hood of the car driven by Mr. Russell and fired 15 shots into the windshield. His shots punctuated a 137-shot police barrage into the car carrying the two Black, unarmed suspects. There were so many deadly shots, the judge ruled that it was impossible to say Officer Brelo’s shots took the lives of the victims. Thirteen officers fired into the car.

“The blood of these brothers and sisters are crying out and we are seeing how people are wasting their blood and they’re acting like we have no value. I believe in my heart we are at a point of civil war and revolution and the young generation that’s coming up is going to take the reins on that,” said Mariah Crenshaw, a Cleveland activist.

Cleveland also awaits the outcome of investigations into the fatal police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, gunned down in seconds by an officer who pulled into the park where the Black boy was playing with a toy gun.

“My fear is that Cleveland, Cuyahoga County, just told us Tamir Rice will not receive justice either,” Ms. Crenshaw said.

County Common Pleas Court Judge John O’Donnell points to mannequins marked with the gunshot wounds that the two motorists suffered; May 23 in Cleveland. Michael Brelo, a patrolman charged in the shooting deaths of two unarmed suspects during a 137-shot barrage of gunfire was acquitted in a case that helped prompt the U.S. Department of Justice determine the city police department had a history of using excessive force and violating civil rights.

John Boyd, another Cleveland activist, feels all of the cops involved in the 137-bullet barrage should have been indicted for murder. The couple had committed no crime. Their car backfired and cops thought shots had been fired, officials said. The officers were dead wrong. A high speed chase followed and the bullet-riddled bodies and car were the result. Officer Brelo fired his automatic weapon 49 times and at least the last 15 shots came after he reloaded and climbed onto the hood of the car. Other officers had already ceased firing.

Better training, so-called reforms and body cameras won’t solve police killings of Blacks despite what pundits, politicians and hopeful others say, declared the activists. They blame institutional racism and weak Black leadership in the city.

Rep. Marcia L. Fudge, who represents Cleveland and is an established leader, seemed fed up herself. “The decision of Judge John P. O’Donnell to acquit Officer Michael Brelo is a stunning setback on the road to justice for Timothy Russell, Malissa Williams and the people of Cleveland. The verdict is another chilling reminder of a broken relationship between the Cleveland Police Department and the community it serves. Today we have been told—yet again—our lives have no value,” the House Democrat said in a statement.

“By any measure, the firing of more than a hundred rounds of ammunition by the Cleveland Police Department toward two unarmed citizens was extreme, excessive, and unnecessary. The same can be said about Officer Brelo’s individual actions. My heart goes out to the families of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams, and to the entire city of Cleveland,” the congresswoman added.

A history of police violence?

Still the words of Mayor Frank Johnson, Police Chief Calvin Williams and even basketball star LeBron James of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers for channeling pain into positive activity and restraint rang hollow with activists and those fed up with loss of Black lives and no accountability.Rep. Fudge pointed out a scathing U.S. Department of Justice review of the Cleveland Police Dept. released last December and vowed to work with city officials for change.

An Associated Press report May 25 said the Justice Dept. had forged a deal with the Cleveland Police Dept., which has long had problems. That anonymous report came on Memorial Day, two days after the judge’s decision.

The city reached a settlement with the federal government over a pattern of excessive force and civil rights violations by the police department, a senior federal law enforcement official said. The official was not authorized to speak publicly of the settlement ahead of the official announcement, expected later in the week, and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 2012 high-speed chase prompted an 18-month Justice Department investigation. The DOJ report required the city to work with community leaders and other officials to devise a plan to reform the police department.

The settlement must be approved by a judge and overseen by an independent monitor. The specifics of the settlement, first reported by The New York Times, were not available May 25.

The Justice Department’s report spared no one in the police chain of command. The worst examples of excessive force involved patrol officers who endangered lives by shooting at suspects and cars, hit people over the head with guns and used stun guns on handcuffed suspects.

The Justice Department said officers were poorly trained and some didn’t know how to implement use-of-force policies. The report also said officers are ill-equipped.

The agency said supervisors encouraged some of the bad behavior and often did little to investigate it. Some told the Justice Department that they often wrote their reports to make an officer look as good as possible, the federal agency said. The department found that only six officers had been suspended for improper use of force over a three-year period.

Demonstrators pause at the entrance to the Cuyahoga County Justice Center as police stand guard during a protest against the acquittal of Michael Brelo, a patrolman charged in the shooting deaths of two unarmed suspects, May 23, in Cleveland. Brelo was acquitted in a case involving a 137-shot barrage of gunfire that helped prompt the U.S. Department of Justice determine the city police department had a history of using excessive force and violating civil rights.

The investigation was the second time in recent years the Justice Department has taken the Cleveland police to task over the use of force. But unlike in 2004, when the agency left it up to local police to clean up their act, federal authorities intervened this time by way of a consent decree.

Two other high-profile police-involved deaths still hang over the city: Tamir Rice the boy holding a pellet gun fatally shot by a rookie patrolman and Tanisha Anderson, a mentally ill woman in distress who died after officers took her to the ground and handcuffed her.

Last year, the Justice Dept. report described the police department as poorly trained and reckless.

Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine called the killings of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams a “systemic failure” on the part of the police.

Failure of Black elected officials?

“The majority of the city is 60-65 percent Blacks. We have a Black mayor, a majority Black city council, and our political representatives are a part of the problem and not the solution,” John Boyd charged.

Black politicians are too busy trying to appease Whites and show they’re not giving preferential treatment to Blacks, rather than leading and rebuild the fabric of the Black community, he said.

Mr. Boyd added, Black politicians act like it’s okay for Whites to advocate for their people but not for Blacks to advocate for Blacks. He disagrees with that.

“Separating from America is definitely on the board as an option and some people are talking about it, because it’s never going to change,” Mr. Boyd said.

The Brelo acquittal sends a clear message that the system of White supremacy is intact, the activists said.

“We’re the ones who seem to think that things have changed,” another Black veteran activist said.

The verdict should be a confirmation, not a surprise or even a question, he added..

“We’re at a point now where America, White supremacy, Europeans have let it be known that African people are an overstocked item that has expired a long time ago and there is no use,” he said.

Judge O’Donnell declared he would not sacrifice Mr. Brelo to an angry public if the evidence proved otherwise. But not only should the officer have been convicted, he should have been fired, Cleveland activists told The Final Call.

She criticized Judge O’Donnell’s analysis and conclusion that Officer Brelo acted appropriately and attributing the chaos to Mr. Russell.

It’s a travesty to justice, the law and the Black community, she said.

“If I was taking a bar exam and I started off my analysis that way, I would fail that bar exam. The chaos started from the Cleveland Police Department when they had 62 patrol cars chasing this one vehicle and Officer Brelo being probably the fifth car in that chase, knowing he was breaking procedure in what created the chaos,” Ms. Crenshaw, a former law student said.

If Officer Brelo hadn’t violated policy and contributed to the chaos, the couple wouldn’t have been put in the position to have been killed, so he is not immune to accountability for their deaths, she said.

The prosecutor has also left no leeway to prosecute any other officers involved in the chase and shooting, said Ms. Crenshaw. “If you couldn’t prove that Brelo’s bullets killed Timothy and Malissa, you sure can’t prove that the other 12 contributed to their deaths,” she said.

Shortly after the news broke she said she turned away from television, sickened by news coverage and the Cleveland administration.

“I’m angry because the media and the administration have pushed on us peaceful protest and there is no such thing, because a peaceful protest means you want to see me and not hear me and a protest means you will hear my voice,” she said.

She’s outdone with Cleveland, its leadership and absence of justice.

“I’m not inciting violence but do I think that freeways should be shut down and businesses should be shut down and economics should be shut down? Yes. I most certainly do because that’s a protest. Do I think that voices should be raised for the firing of all 13 police officers and they are no longer able to work in this community? Yes. I think those voices should be raised and raised high,” Ms. Crenshaw said.

Adding insult to injury, nine White Cleveland cops filed a federal racial discrimination lawsuit against the city, claiming they are racially discriminated against when they shoot Blacks.

The officers (8 White and one Hispanic) alleged they were denied overtime pay and subject to boring menial tasks while placed on administrative leave and then restricted duty for firing their weapons during the encounter which took the lives of Mr. Russell and Ms. Williams.

“It does not surprise me that they would have the temerity to do something like that. They always seem to want to try to take advantage of the laws that prevent and preclude them from their mistreatment of us and try to flip it back on us and call it reverse discrimination,” said Mr. Boyd.

Racism is “ alive and well in Cleveland, Ohio and it’s endemic in the police force and it always has been. There’s nothing but a bunch of racist White cops in the city of Cleveland and unfortunately, the African American cops, the only difference in my estimation is that White cops think White first and then cops,” Mr. Boyd added.

“Black cops have been maneuvered into a position of feeling some sense of false loyalty to being a cop in a brotherhood and they think blue first and cop second. They never see Black,” he said.

Mr. Boyd believes the officers could win their ludicrous discrimination lawsuit because people tend to forget American values are for Whites—not for Blacks.

“There was no way that cracker judge was going to find that other murderous cracker guilty of killing those two Black people. That was not going to happen,” he said.

Mr. Boyd refused to attend protests after the verdict where media cameras delighted in showing people holding hands with red, black and green flags while singing Kumbaya.

“I’m not going to do it and preach peace because that is not what my experience has been,” he said, echoing the sentiments of many.

“I’ve said that I would not be disappointed if they burned this damn town down to the ground, because it’s just a damned shame that they have no value and no respect for Black lives,” Mr. Boyd said.

Up Next

Baltimore Pastors Plan Solutions for City Violence

Don't Miss

Samaria Rice on Loving and Losing Her Son, Tamir

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Comments

BlackPressUSA

Latinas Deserve Equal Pay. Unions Help Make It Happen.

Published

1 day ago

October 8, 2026

Fred Redmond

By Fred Redmond

Everywhere you look, everything costs too much. Families are stretching every paycheck to cover soaring grocery bills. Too many are struggling to make rent. Child care, health care and gas bills continue to strain household budgets. Working people are doing everything right, yet too many are still falling behind.

For Latina workers, this crisis is compounded by a persistent and unjust pay gap. That’s why we observe Latina Equal Pay Day on Oct. 8 this year. It brings attention to the fact that among full-time, year-round workers, Latinas earned just 60 cents in 2025 for every dollar earned by white men. That wage gap isn’t just a statistic—it means smaller paychecks, fewer opportunities to build wealth, less financial security and harder choices about how to provide for their families.

Latinas deserve equal pay for equal work. Full stop. Anything less hurts working families and weakens our economy. A union contract can help level the playing field.

The evidence is clear. Hispanic workers overall receive a large wage boost from union membership, with a 16.4% wage premium compared with nonunion Latino workers. Latinas in a union earn about $15,288 more per year than Latinas who are not in a union. Most importantly, union contracts also help narrow the gender pay gap: Women working full time in union jobs earn 86.2 cents for every dollar earned by men who are union members—a significantly smaller gap than among nonunion workers.

Negotiated contracts replace arbitrary decisions with clear wage scales, transparent pay systems and enforceable workplace standards. Instead of leaving pay to bias or favoritism, union contracts establish fair standards that workers can enforce.

A report from the Economic Policy Institute finds that strengthening workers’ rights to organize and increasing union density would significantly reduce racial wage gaps while strengthening our economy and our democracy. Communities with higher union membership invest more in public education, are more likely to expand access to health care and provide stronger unemployment protections when people lose their jobs.

Our labor movement has always understood that civil rights and workers’ rights are inseparable. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. recognized that truth when he stood with striking sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee. Today, we carry that legacy forward by fighting for workplaces where every worker is respected, protected and paid fairly.

Latina Equal Pay Day should not simply remind us how far we still have to go. It should remind us that we already know how to make progress. Progress happens when workers organize. It happens when we bargain together. And it happens when we stand in solidarity with one another. That’s why we must elect leaders who will fight to protect workers’ rights, strengthen unions and defend our democracy.

We must recommit ourselves to building an economy where every worker is valued, every paycheck reflects the dignity of work and every Latina receives the equal pay she has long deserved. Because when Latinas are paid fairly, every family can afford to build a better future.

Fred Redmond, the highest-ranking African American labor official in history, is the secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, the nation’s largest labor federation representing 65 unions and nearly 15 million workers.

Art

Houston’s ‘call Me Mother’ Exhibit Opens Today, Spotlighting Black Maternal Health

AFRICAN-AMERICAN NEWS AND ISSUES – DALLAS — The Health Museum in Houston today opens “The Call Me Mother Experience,” an exhibition spotlighting Black maternal health through art and personal storytelling. Curated by Houston’s first Black poet laureate, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton, the project originated from her own poem written during a miscarriage.

Published

3 days ago

October 7, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Image Credit: African American News & Issues

HOUSTON — A new exhibition opening Sunday, Oct. 4, at The Health Museum is bringing Black maternal health into public view through art and personal storytelling.

The Call Me Mother Experience will be on display through Feb. 28, 2027. The museum lists a preview reception today from 3 to 5 p.m. at 1515 Hermann Drive, with tickets priced at $5 for members and $15 for nonmembers.

A personal story becomes a community conversation

According to the museum, founder, curator and lead artist Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton developed the project from a poem she wrote during a miscarriage. The installation combines films, recorded interviews, visual artwork and contributions created with community members.

Mouton, Houston’s first Black poet laureate, discussed the exhibition and her connection to its subject in an Oct. 1 appearance on KPRC’s Houston Life. The station described the project as addressing the unequal burden of pregnancy-related illness and death faced by Black women in Harris County.

An announcement distributed by the Call Me Mother Experience says the initiative will also reach community locations and faith-based organizations across Greater Houston. Those additional settings are intended to extend the conversation beyond a museum visit.

What visitors can expect

The museum says reception guests can explore the exhibit, hear the curator and meet participating artists. Reception admission includes general museum entry; refreshments are available while supplies last.

The featured image accompanying this article is an original illustrative concept, not a photograph of the exhibition or its artwork.

Sources and visitor information:The Health Museum exhibition listing; preview reception details and tickets; KPRC Houston Life; organizer announcement.

The post Houston’s ‘Call Me Mother’ Exhibit Opens Today, Spotlighting Black Maternal Health appeared first on African American News and Issues.

Based on reporting by African-American News and Issues – Dallas.

Black Press

Should You Have to Pay to Hear the Gospel?

ST. LOUIS AMERICAN — Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell of Atlanta’s 2819 CHURCH and Tim Timberlake of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, are at the center of a social media debate. The controversy stems from ticket prices for their “Street Preachers” podcast tour, with general admission tickets reportedly costing around $60 and VIP options up to $200.

Published

3 days ago

October 7, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

A sold-out podcast tour featuring Pastors Philip Anthony Mitchell, left, and Tim Timberlake has sparked debate over the boundary between spreading the Gospel and selling an experience. Critics question whether ministers should charge admission to hear the Gospel, with tickets including a $200 VIP package. — Photo courtesy of Street Preachers Podcast

For generations, the Black church has passed the offering plate to keep the lights on, pay the preacher, help the poor and carry the Gospel beyond its walls. But what happens when the preacher leaves the sanctuary, takes a popular Christian podcast on tour — and charges admission?

That question has placed Pastor Philip Anthony Mitchell, founder and lead pastor of Atlanta’s fast-growing 2819 CHURCH, at the center of a heated social media debate.

Mitchell and Tim Timberlake, senior pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, host “Street Preachers,” which its official website describes as a “raw, unfiltered podcast” committed to spreading the Gospel.

‘A brood of vipers’

The controversy began after ticket prices for the podcast’s 2026 tour circulated online. General admission tickets reportedly cost about $60 before fees, with premium options, including a VIP meet-and-greet package, priced at $200. Critics questioned whether ministers should charge people to hear the Gospel.

Others defended the pastors, arguing that Christian events require venues, transportation, security, equipment and staff.

Mitchell answered critics from the pulpit last month, calling them “a brood of vipers.” He said the podcast is a separate, personal project and that neither his church nor Timberlake’s is bankrolling it.

“Now we have decided to go on a tour to take the gospel to cities, and because that’s not funded by 2819, and it’s not funded by Celebration Church, Tim and I gotta do that with our own pockets,” Mitchell said. “It’s why there is tickets. We have to pay for venues and security and productions and staff from our own pockets.”

Mitchell called some critics “ignorant” and said they did not know that a child was healed through faith during one of the events.

“And you want to complain about a 60 ticket?” he said. “So hate on!”

Worship service vs. media event

Mitchell maintains that “Street Preachers” is an independently produced podcast tour, not a worship service, and that ticket revenue helps cover production costs.

Yet the presence of pastors, Scripture and Gospel language makes the distinction less clear to some believers.

The official tour website lists all eight 2026 stops as sold out. Promotional material announcing additional dates promised, “Better ticket options. Same Gospel. Same move of God.”

Corporate prayer gathering

The language gets to the heart of the dispute. Some Christians argue that no one should be kept outside because they cannot afford a ticket. Others say the Gospel remains free even when people pay for the venue and experience surrounding its presentation.

The paid podcast tour, however, is not Mitchell’s only large-scale gathering. On Oct. 10, 2819 CHURCH will host “ACCESS — That Powerful Hour of Prayer” at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Admission is free.

2819 CHURCH has said 80,000 free tickets were claimed before registration reopened.

The contrast raises another question: What makes one Gospel-centered event a ministry supported by donors and another a production supported by customers?

Unfiltered preaching, youth appeal

Mitchell’s congregation, composed largely of young Black adults, grew from fewer than 200 weekly worshippers in 2023 to about 6,000, according to the church. Some worshippers arrive before sunrise to secure a place inside.

His appeal rests partly in an intense, vulnerable and raw preaching style.

“I’m preaching without watering that down, without filtering out things that we think might be too controversial,” Mitchell told The Associated Press.

That visibility has also brought scrutiny of his theology, associations, travel, security and the businesses surrounding his ministry.

But the controversy reaches beyond Mitchell and Timberlake. Christian music concerts charge admission. Seminaries charge tuition. Religious publishers sell Bibles, books and devotionals. Churches pay musicians, media teams and guest preachers. Money becomes particularly uncomfortable, however, when an event is presented simultaneously as ministry and entertainment.

Ministry vs. entertainment

Supporters should not assume every dollar collected becomes personal profit. Critics, however, question whether lower-cost seats, sponsored tickets or free admission for people who cannot pay should be part of a Gospel-centered event.

The Black church always has required resources for ministry. It also has carried a sacred responsibility to make room for people with little or nothing to give.

The sold-out “Street Preachers” tour shows people are willing to pay to attend. The free ACCESS gathering offers a different model. The challenge is preserving that open door as Christian ministry increasingly adopts the machinery — and economics — of popular entertainment.

The post Should you have to pay to hear the Gospel? appeared first on St. Louis American.

Based on reporting by St. Louis American.

Black Press

NCCU Ramping up for the 89th Ultimate Homecoming Experience

NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY – CAMPUS ECHO — N.C. Central University is preparing for its 89th Ultimate Homecoming Experience, a week-long celebration. Thousands of students, family, friends, and alumni are expected to gather on campus for festivities including the Homecoming Countdown, parade, Miss and Mister NCCU Coronation, concerts, and the football game.

Published

3 days ago

October 7, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

NCCU's gospel choir, WPI performs at the 2025 Ultimate Homecoming gospel concert. — Photo by Morgan McNeil.

This Saturday N.C. Central University will kick off its 89th Ultimate Homecoming Experience — a week-long celebration bringing thousands of students, family, friends and alumni to campus.

This year’s festivities include the Homecoming Countdown, parade, Miss and Mister NCCU Coronation, concerts and the football game.

The number of visitors to the football game on Saturday, Oct. 10 is expected to reach at least 10,000 — O’Kelly Riddick Stadium’s capacity, with NCCU’s recent enrollment increase of more than 10,000 students.

The Eagles will face William & Mary after playing against the Campbell University’s Fighting Camels on Oct 3.

Students are already expressing excitement for the upcoming festivities.

“I’m excited for homecoming because I can meet alumni and go outside and party with my fellow eagles,” Digital Filmmaking junior Rhese Gardner said. “I’m also really looking forward to the Greek Bowl because there’s a lot going on.”

He added that even though he’s disappointed this semester’s Oil Spill was canceled, he’s still excited for the other events like the parade and concerts.

Here is a list of the week’s on-campus events:

Oct. 3 – Homecoming Countdown

Oct. 4 – Gospel Concert

Oct. 5 – Coronation of Miss and Mister NCCU

Oct. 6 – 10:40 Break

Oct. 6 – Homecoming Experience Showcase

Oct. 7 – Fried Chicken Wednesday

Oct. 7 – Festival Block Party

Oct. 7 – Late Night Breakfast

Oct. 8 – Back to the Nest Young Alumni Mixer

Oct. 8 – Old School Greek Stroll Off

Oct. 8 – Hip-Hop Concert

Oct. 9 – Step Show

Oct. 10 – Football Game

The post NCCU ramping up for the 89th Ultimate Homecoming Experience first appeared on Campus Echo Online.

Based on reporting by North Carolina Central University – Campus Echo.

Black Press

Botham Jean’s Killer Granted Parole 7 Years After His Murder

MICHIGAN CHRONICLE — Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger has been granted parole, seven years after her conviction for murdering Botham Jean inside his Dallas apartment. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved her release on October 1, seven years to the day after her murder conviction. Guyger was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to 10 years in prison for Jean’s 2018 death.

Published

3 days ago

October 7, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Botham Jean’s Killer Granted Parole 7 Years After His Murder

Former Dallas police officerAmber Guyger has been granted parole seven years after she was convicted of murdering her neighbor,Botham Jean, inside his Dallas apartment.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved Guyger’s release Thursday (October 1), seven years to the day after Guyger was convicted of Jean’s murder, according to NBC News.

In 2019, a jury convicted Guyger of murder and she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for Jean’s 2018 death. Her conviction and 10-year sentence were upheld on appeal in 2022.

Geyger’s first parole request was denied in 2024, NBC Dallas-Fort Worth reported.

The Dallas Police Department fired her after the shooting. During her trial, Guyger testified that she mistakenly entered Jean’s apartment after returning home from work, believing it was her own apartment one floor below.

She said she saw Jean inside and fired her weapon because she believed he was an intruder, according to NBC News.

Jean was a 26-year-old Black man from St. Lucia who worked as an accountant. He was inside his home eating ice cream when Guyger entered and shot him, NBC DFW reported.

The parole board cited Guyger’s prison record in approving her release. According to NBC DFW, officials said she did not have a documented pattern of violent or assaultive arrests or convictions, maintained a satisfactory adjustment while incarcerated, and completed programs intended to help her obtain and maintain employment.

Jean’s family opposed the parole decision and had asked that Guyger serve her full 10-year sentence, according to NBC DFW.

Civil rights attorney Lee Merritt, who represents the family, told NBC DFW that the decision was deeply disappointing.

“They stood up again and again to ask that the full sentence be served,” Merritt said.

The Dallas Police Department told NBC DFW that the parole decision was outside its authority and that the department had no role in determining whether Guyger would be released. The department said its thoughts remained with Jean’s family and others affected by his death.

Guyger’s conviction and 10-year sentence were upheld on appeal in 2022.

A civil jury ordered Guyger to pay Jean’s family $98.6 million in damages in 2024, according to NBC DFW.

Guyger’s release date has not been announced. NBC News reported that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will determine when she is released.

The Black Information Network is your source for Black News! Get the latest news 24/7 on The Black Information Network. Listen now on the iHeartRadio app or click HEREto tune in live.

Based on reporting by Michigan Chronicle.

Black History

Morehouse School of Medicine Fall Convocation Has Strong Ties to Nashville

TENNESSEE TRIBUNE — Morehouse School of Medicine recently held its 42nd Fall Convocation and White Coat and Pinning Ceremony, which highlighted strong connections to Nashville. Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice, in her 12th year as president and CEO, leads the institution, which welcomed 355 new students.

Published

3 days ago

October 7, 2026

BlackPressUSA Newswire

Morehouse School of Medicine held its 42nd Fall Convocation and White Coat and Pinning Ceremony on September 18, and it featured strong ties to Nashville. Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice is completing her 12th year as president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). The school boasts 355 students seeking degrees and certificates in the medical field.

“This entering class represents the future of medicine, science, public health and health care leadership,” said Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, and FACOG. “As these students begin their journeys at Morehouse School of Medicine, they join a community grounded in excellence, service and our shared commitment to advancing health equity. We look forward to supporting their development as leaders who will transform the health and well-being of the communities they serve.”

Infectious diseases physician and scientist Dr. Barney S. Graham, MD, and PhD, served as the keynote speaker. He serves as the director of the David Satcher Global Health Equity Institute, professor of Medicine and Microbiology, Biochemistry and Immunology at Morehouse School of Medicine. He is an inventor of vaccines and monoclonal antibodies approved for human use to prevent or treat RSV, COVID-19 and Ebola. He joined MSM in 2022. He served in various positions at Vanderbilt University for 21 years.

Dr. Graham told the audience to “Embrace the Unseen” and focused on three points: Do the Best You can with what’s in front of you, Do what makes you come alive and Do the right thing even when no one is looking. He added, “Anything you do to improve mental and physical wellness and promote disease prevention will reduce health disparity by reducing the resources needed for treatment.”

His remarks commanded a roaring applause from the audience, which included his wife, Dr. Cynthia Turner Graham, and the former First Lady of Tennessee State University, Mrs. Edwina Hefner, a close friend to the family.

Based on reporting by Tennessee Tribune.