Rico Morales, newest Alley Communications Board Member, resident in Phillips Community for 31 years, renter in permanent supportive housing.
In a recent conversation with Rico Morales at Pow Wow Grounds between an existing board member and Rico, they talked about why Rico joined the Alley Communications Board in February. Here’s some of what he had to say: “I was invited to join the Alley Board, the invitation felt like an opportunity to be celebrated rather than tolerated. My participation, presence, and very existence will make new pathways to dismantling White Supremacy.”
Rico went on to describe what he thought were the most important stories to be amplified in the alley:
BIPOC stories
Stories of recovery
Restoration or restorative justice stories
Stories of success
There are exciting contributions that Rico is already making to the Alley Board like his passion for bringing in new voices, his energy and good ideas. One of the specific improvements Rico is working on with Alley Communications is introducing a QR code to the pages of the alley. As Rico says, “We are living in a one-click world. We need a QR code that can give people the one-click opportunity to contribute to the paper’s content, make a donation, or get in touch with the people who help to put the paper together.… Read the rest “Big Gratitude to Rico Morales, New Alley Board Member!”
Black women’s lives matter. Shouldn’t be necessary to say but consider. Rodney King, George Floyd and Tyre Nichols are names no one is likely to ever forget. Not so, the likes of Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland and scores more who are just as dead at the hand of ruthlessly racist so-called law enforcement.
Don’t think so? Consider. St. Paul citizen Nekeya Moody, in 2020, died after Ramsey County deputies responded to a 911 call reporting her as having a panic attack. In a subsequent lawsuit her mother said it was due to excessive force and indifference to her medical needs. The medical examiner cited excited delirium, an excuse Minneapolis police tried with the murder of George Floyd but the American Medical Association debunks as unheard of outside cops trying to get off the hook. That same year, a half-dozen Louisville Metro Police officers forced their way into Breonna Taylor’s home, investigating drug dealing ten miles away, and shot the unarmed woman dead. This in response to her boyfriend firing a single shot at what he thought were intruders. They fired 32 rounds. In 2015, Sandra Bland of Naperville, Illinois was pulled over in Waller County, Texas for a traffic stop and, when she refused to be bullied and cowed by State Trooper Brian Encinia, was assaulted and hauled off to jail where she supposedly hung herself, something no one in his or right mind believes, especially since she’d exclaimed, “I can’t wait to go to court.”… Read the rest “Something I Said: Black Women’s Lives Matter”
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Something I Said: Black Women’s Lives Matter
By DWIGHT HOBBES
Black women’s lives matter. Shouldn’t be necessary to say but consider. Rodney King, George Floyd and Tyre Nichols are names no one is likely to ever forget. Not so, the likes of Breonna Taylor, Sandra Bland and scores more who are just as dead at the hand of ruthlessly racist so-called law enforcement.
Don’t think so? Consider. St. Paul citizen Nekeya Moody, in 2020, died after Ramsey County deputies responded to a 911 call reporting her as having a panic attack. In a subsequent lawsuit her mother said it was due to excessive force and indifference to her medical needs. The medical examiner cited excited delirium, an excuse Minneapolis police tried with the murder of George Floyd but the American Medical Association debunks as unheard of outside cops trying to get off the hook. That same year, a half-dozen Louisville Metro Police officers forced their way into Breonna Taylor’s home, investigating drug dealing ten miles away, and shot the unarmed woman dead. This in response to her boyfriend firing a single shot at what he thought were intruders. They fired 32 rounds. In 2015, Sandra Bland of Naperville, Illinois was pulled over in Waller County, Texas for a traffic stop and, when she refused to be bullied and cowed by State Trooper Brian Encinia, was assaulted and hauled off to jail where she supposedly hung herself, something no one in his or right mind believes, especially since she’d exclaimed, “I can’t wait to go to court.”… Read the rest “Something I Said: Black Women’s Lives Matter”