Your unfiltered news center. ®
The world you see depends upon the news you get. ®
Powered By: BlackRadioNetwork.com | MinorityNewsService.net | MinorityNews.net
August 2022
Today's Date: July 2, 2024
SCOTUS Ruling in Rahimi Case Upholds Protections for Domestic Violence Survivors, BWJP Experts Celebrate
• Martina Navratilova, Riley Gaines, Donna de Varona, Jennifer Sey Join Female Athletes For Rally in Washington, DC to "Take Back • Produced by Renegade Film Productions/Chameleon Multimedia, Obscure Urban Legend ‘Sweaty Larry’ to Be Invoked for Fi • Survey of Nation's Mayors Highlights City Efforts to Support LGBTQ+ Residents
• Black-Owned Pharmacy Startup in St. Louis Combines Services of Walgreens and Amazon to Address Pharmacy Desert Crisis
• Media Advisory: Arvest Bank Awards $15,000 CARE Award to University District Development Corp.
• World's Largest Swimming Lesson™ (#WLSL2024) Kicks Off First Day of Summer with Global Event Teaching Kids and Parents How • Freedmen’s Town Community Investment Initiative Launches
• Media Advisory: Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Sandra Thompson Visits Affordable Apartment Complex in Dallas
• Lifezone Metals Announces Voting Results from its 2024 Annual General Meeting
• PARAMOUNT GLOBAL, NICKELODEON AND DCMP FORM MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP TO MAKE BRANDS' GLOBALLY BELOVED KIDS' PROGRAMMING ACCESSIBLE • Shop, Sip, and Support Social Justice Programs at Five Keys Furniture Annex in Stockton, California, on Saturday, June 22nd from • Chinatown Storytelling Centre Opens New Exhibit: Neighbours: From Pender to Hastings
• Melmark Receives $30M Gift to Fuel Services for Individuals with Autism, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
• REI Systems Awarded $6M Contract from U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for its Grants Management Solution
• Carín León's Socios Music Forms Global Partnership with Virgin Music Group and Island Records
• Travel Industry Professional Women Gather for Third Annual Women in Travel THRIVE at HSMAI Day of Impact 2024
• Susan G. Komen® Warns of Dire Impact from Braidwood Management, Inc. et al. v. Xavier Becerra et al. Ruling That Will Force • The V Foundation for Cancer Research Announces 2024 Recipients for A Grant of Her Own: The Women Scientists Innovation Award for • Maximus Named a Top Washington-Area Workplace by The Washington Post
NEW RACIAL PROFILING REVEALED
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Florida Civil Rights Association has asked US Attorney General
Eric Holder to direct the US Department of Justice to launch an immediate federal civil rights
investigation against the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) and
the Orange County, Florida Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) for targeting African American and Hispanic owned
barbershops in a series of warrantless drug raids conducted under the pretext (police ruse) of
administrative licensing inspections.
The tactics used by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation
(DBPR) and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office (OCSO) has casted a dark cloud over how
administrative licensing inspections are being used illegally to conduct criminal investigations
without obtaining a warrant. “This cannot be ignored,” said Florida Civil Rights Association
President, J Willie David, III.
The four paged complaint alleges that a DBPR regulatory supervisor and three DBPR
regulatory investigators, along with an OCSO sergeant, corporal, 4 narcotics agents, 2 plainclothes
deputies, a K-9 and 6 uniformed deputies violated the United States Constitution and federal law on
or about August 21, 2010, September 17, 2010, and October 8, 2010 by (1) racially profiling
barbers, their businesses and customers, because they were African Americans and Hispanics; (2)
entered the businesses under a pretext (police ruse) of administrative inspections; (3) conducted
intrusive, unjustifiable and extended searches unrelated to unlicensed activities; (4) searched
barbers and customers pockets, removed drivers licenses and other items, conducted background
checks; (5) handcuffed, detained, searched and arrested barbers and their customers; (6) carried
guns, rushing through the barbershops, using a battering ram to break down doors to search for
criminal activity of drugs; (7) unplugged business surveillance cameras during the warrantless raid;
(8) used a K-9 to search outside and inside barbers and customers vehicles; (9) towed barbers and
customer vehicles; (10) narcotics agents or plainclothes deputies kept the barbers under surveillance
by posing as customers on different days before the warrantless raid; (11) deputies answered the
business phones, telling customers that the barbers were busy and being arrested; (12) they used
insulting remarks to humiliate the barbers; and (13) uniformed deputies returned a week later to
conduct a “follow-up” walk through of the barbershops searching in back rooms just to intimidate
and cause fear.
The complaint also alleged that DBPR investigators and OCSO deputies demonstrated a
racially discriminatory pattern or practice in its inspections, detentions, searches, seizures, and
arrests involving African Americans and Hispanics barbers, barbershops businesses and
customers in Orange County, Florida.
The Florida Civil Rights Association is also requesting the Justice Department to
withhold federal funds given to the OCSO and the DBPR until these discriminatory practices are
and addressed and corrected, stated David.
The Florida Civil Rights Association intends to pursue justice to the fullest extent for the
barbers, including demanding DBPR adopt new policies prohibiting the use of licensing inspections
with other government entities as a pretext for conducting warrantless inspections or collecting
criminal evidence, David said.
The Florida Civil Rights Association has provided Governor Charlie Crist and Governor-
Elect Rick Scott with copies of the federal complaint filed with US Attorney General Holder. David
stated, It is time to close this illegal loophole used by law enforcement to get around obtaining a
warrant.
DBPR and OCSO warrantless raids on minority owned barbershops have certainly outraged
the African American and Hispanic communities. The Florida Civil Rights Association will also
look for ways to help rebuild trust between the community and law enforcement where divorce
between the two is not an option, David said.
LIVE VIDEO EVERY SATURDAY
LIVE BROADCASTS
Sounds Make the News ®
Atlanta - WAOK-Urban
Berkley / San Francisco - KPFA-Progressive
Chicago - WVON-Urban
Los Angeles - KJLH - Urban
New York - WKDM-Mandarin Chinese
New York - WADO-Spanish
New York - WBAI - Progressive
Washington - WOL-Urban
