Thandisizwe Chimurenga

Thandisizwe Chimurenga is an award-winning, freelance journalist based in Los Angeles, California. She is a staff writer for MintPress News, Daily Kos and co-hosts a weekly, morning drive-time public affairs/news show on the Pacifica Radio network. She is the author of No Doubt: The Murder(s) of Oscar Grant and Reparations … Not Yet: A Case for Reparations and Why We Must Wait; she is also a contributor to several social justice anthologies.

Papa John’s CEO Resigns after Claiming NFL Protests Hurt Pizza Sales

Papa John’s is the official pizza of the NFL. But it seems that some NFL players, in kneeling to protest law enforcement’s racially targeted brutality, were not doing their part to boost pizza sales for the company. Such was the position taken by Papa John’s founder and soon-to-be-former CEO.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga
The Real Reason Why the NFL Banned National Anthem Protests

JEFFERSONTOWN, KENTUCKY -- John Schnatter, founder and CEO of Papa John’s Pizza, will be stepping down from that position once the New Year arrives. Numerous media reports say the move is in relation to Schnatter’s comments earlier this fall regarding NFL players protesting of the national anthem. Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin

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From Greensboro 1979 to Charlottesville 2017: Police Absent In Face Of White Supremacist Violence

A comprehensive, 219-page independent review led by a former U.S. Attorney concluded that law enforcement had “failed to ‘stand up’ to protect human life” during the August “Unite the Right” rally held at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga
White nationalist demonstrators use shields as they guard the entrance to Lee Park in Charlottesville, Va., Aug. 12, 2017. (AP/Steve Helber)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA – Some among Virginia’s highest levels of law enforcement have stepped down this year amid a small cloud of controversy. Col. W. Steven Flaherty, superintendent of the Virginia State Police,  announced his retirement December 19 after 42 years with the agency. Charlottesville Police Chief of two years, Al Thomas, announced

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Rikers Island Guards Throw Shade at Colin Kaepernick’s Visit to Notorious Jail

It would seem that a place like Rikers Island could use its famous visitor’s message of hope. But Colin Kaepernick’s recent visit didn’t sit well with Rikers correctional officers. They complained that someone of Kaepernick’s “ilk” sends the wrong message to the jail’s 11,000 inmates.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga
Colin Kaepernick attends the 2017 ACLU SoCal's Bill of Rights Dinner at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel on Sunday, Dec. 3, 2017, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK -- Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback-turned-activist Colin Kaepernick visited inmates held at New York’s Rikers Island on Thursday, December 14 “to share a message of hope and inspiration,” according to New York City Department of Corrections spokesman Peter Thorne. Eric Phillips, a spokesman for the mayor’s office, said Kaepernick

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Not My Job: Police Assert Workers’ Rights to not Wear Body-Cams

With the movement to outfit police officers with body-cams advancing, many departments have encountered pushback from their members. On some forces, resistance has centered on the issue of workers’ rights and a demand that body-cams be collectively bargained as a term of employment.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga
A Philadelphia police officer demonstrates a body-worn camera used as part of a pilot project in Philadelphia. (AP/Matt Rourke)

CHICAGO – As of this week, more than 7,000 of Chicago’s police officers are wearing body cameras while on patrol. According to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago has the largest number of officers outfitted with the cameras and the department accomplished the task one year ahead of its projected schedule. That could be good news for a city wracked

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Law Enforcement “Bill of Rights” Adds Bricks to Blue Wall of Silence

The Law Enforcement “Bill of Rights” operates, in many cases, in opposition to the Constitution’s Bill of Rights, by sharply limiting accountability and transparency when it comes to police brutality and other misconduct.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga
APTOPIX NYPD Officers Shot

LOS ANGELES -- Most of us living in the United States were familiar with the Bill of Rights - the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution - by the time we left high school. Those rights -- such as freedom of speech, religion, the press, and to assemble -- are guarantees granted to each and every individual within the U.S. Unfortunately most of

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Prosecuted Then, Prioritized Now: LA Brings Social Equity to Marijuana Sellers

For decades, the War on Drugs has operated disproportionately to undercut the economic and citizenship status of U.S. minorities. In giving priority to that war’s victims when it comes to applying for licenses to sell now-legalized marijuana, the LA City Council is helping to right a long-standing wrong.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga

LOS ANGELES – Beginning in January in Los Angeles, individuals who are low-income and/or have had a conviction for a marijuana-related offense will enjoy priority status when it comes to applying for a license to legally sell the herb. Cultivators or manufacturers will also have such status, thanks to the Los Angeles City Council.  On Wednesday

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Black Lives and the Tragic Impact of the Cash-Money Bail System

In effect, the system operates — irrespective of guilt or innocence — as a forfeiture for those who can least afford it, while sparing the well-off.

Thandisizwe Chimurenga
By Thandisizwe Chimurenga
Inmates from Sacramento County await processing after arriving at the Deuel Vocational Institution in Tracy, Calif. (AP Photo)

LOS ANGELES -- The current efforts against the cash-money bail system in the United States can look to the Movement for Black Lives as their spark. Over the last year, that movement has brought into the public consciousness the costs -- financial and human -- of that system, as well as the existence of more humane alternatives to it. In Los

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