In Georgia, fears of Russia aggression amplified by Ukraine war
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NEAR THE GEORGIAN-SOUTH OSSETIAN BOUNDARY — The two Russian soldiers ducked to the ground on top of the steep Georgian hills in the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, hoping to elude monitors from the European Union watching their steps through binoculars just hundreds of yards away.
Seconds before, the soldiers, rifles slung over their shoulders, appeared to be passing heavy rocks between one another as they built what the Georgian government and the EU observers said was a blatantly illegal border construction.
This reporter accompanied the EU monitors on a patrol alongside the boundary on Saturday, getting a glimpse at how Russian troops operate in a region they have occupied since invading in 2008.
“I see them,” I said, looking through the binoculars at one of our stops.
“They can see you too,” Marek Szczygieł, head of the EU’s monitoring mission, answered.
Earlier that day, the EU monitors had called the Russian-backed authorities to alert them that an American journalist was accompanying the patrol.
The phone call, through a deconfliction hotline, was meant to avoid increasing tensions in an area that has only grown more strained with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
“The events of the past several months have shown the world the Kremlin’s aggression and brutality. I know the women and men of Georgia did not need reminding of that,” Karen Donfried, assistant secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, said during an international women’s conference on peace and security, held in Tbilisi last week.
“As we see Putin attempting yet again, to further undermine a neighbor’s independence, the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine, with Georgia and with other countries facing the costs of the Kremlin’s aggression.”
Yet for many Georgian officials, the words of support from U.S. and European officials can ring hollow.
Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili traveled to Washington in April pressing for more U.S. support but left without securing a face-to-face with President Biden.
A planned meeting with Vice President Harris was canceled after the vice president tested positive for COVID-19.
Another blow came last week. The European Commission announced that while it would recommend Ukraine for candidacy to the 32-nation bloc, it would provide only “perspective” EU member status to Georgia. The commission called for Georgia to carry out concrete reforms on a dozen priorities before it can be considered for candidate status.
“The door is wide open,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during a press conference. “It is up to Georgia now to take the necessary steps to move forward.”
Zourabichvili reacted with disappointment “and a little bit of anger,” saying the EU should weigh heavily how their decision is interpreted by Russia.
“We understand the warning [from the EU]” about the need for reform, she said, before adding, “They also need to understand the current threats from our neighbor and how [Russia] might understand this differently.”
Nearly 700 Russian troops are stationed along the boundary of the breakaway region of South Ossetia. Nineteen military bases operate there under the authority of Russia’s Federal Security Service, the security agency that succeeded the Soviet Union’s KGB.
Their job is to establish a nearly 250-mile border. Physical tactics include laying down razor-wire fencing, digging up dirt trenches with tractors or staking signposts forbidding passage.
The Georgian police who maintain security in the area have little power to stop these efforts.
In one area, the Russians erected a three-story guard tower covered in camouflage netting and separated from the Georgian-controlled side by more razor-wire fencing.
“Our assessment is that this kind of infrastructure that they deploy here is representing the same standard that can be seen on the border between Russia and NATO countries,” explained Szczygieł, the head of the EU mission. “This is quite a high level of sophistication, and they do not give the impression of being here just temporarily.”
They also intimidate, antagonize and drive out local residents to further establish control.
In one area, razor-wire fencing has split a local village in two and runs through the backyard of an elderly woman’s residence. The European monitors said she’s afraid to go into her garden for fear that the Russian patrol guards will detain her for crossing their arbitrary border.
The Russians have at least seven Georgian citizens detained in prison in Tskhinvali, the so-called capital of South Ossetia. All could receive years-long sentences.
Szczygieł said they are seeing an increased number of detentions this year, reflecting more intensive Russian patrols and an “assertive posture,” he said.
The EU monitoring mission operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to document Moscow’s attempts to harden the boundary, sending ground reports four times a year to Geneva.
The reports are received in a conflict resolution format co-chaired by the United Nations, EU, Russia, Georgia, representatives from the breakaway territories, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the U.S.
Szczygieł said that the constant and routine presence of monitors, in trucks and clothing bearing the EU flag, signal to the local residents that Europe is paying attention.
The mission regularly hosts European officials and lawmakers, taking them on patrol and briefing them on the latest security assessment.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the mission in July 2021, at the boundary with Russian-occupied Abkhazia, in the northwest of Georgia.
Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio), co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, visited the boundary in June 2021.
Szczygieł describes the current situation along these boundary lines as “relatively stable, but still with high potential of security incidents.”
In the days leading up to and following the invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, Szczygieł said there was some tension and more intensive patrolling patterns on the side of the Russians. The EU mission observed that the Russians redeployed “a significant part of their military assets from both breakaway regions to Ukraine.”
Donfried, in her remarks in Tbilisi, said that the U.S. “will continue to work with our Georgian partners to strengthen Georgia’s defensive capabilities and resilience to various forms of malign Russian influence” and called for an “end to Russia’s continuing occupation of parts of Georgia.”
Szczygieł warns against viewing this situation as a “frozen conflict.”
“Russian intentions are clear, to separate those two breakaway regions from the rest of Georgia,” he said, adding that control of South Ossetia would position Russian troops only 200 yards from the main highway that runs across the country from east to west, and only 25 miles to Tbilisi.
“This is a kind of situation that is not developing in the positive direction,” Szczygieł said.
Source: TEST FEED1
NYC Mayor Adams wants to end gun violence — will the Supreme Court prevent him?
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has made ending the rising tide of gun violence a top priority. He describes it as “the civil rights battle of our lifetime” and explains that guns are “destroying the anatomy of our cities and our communities.” The mayor has met with President Joe Biden, appointed a “gun violence prevention czar,” issued a 15-page Blueprint to End Gun Violence and targeted guns on New York City streets.
But his efforts could be completely derailed at the end of this month when the Supreme Court is expected to strike down New York state’s concealed carry law in the case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. Bruen.
The law plays a critical role in reducing gun violence, deaths and injuries. It prohibits the concealed carry of a firearm without a permit. A showing of special need is required to obtain the permit.
Six other states have similar laws. Together with New York’s law, they protect more than 80 million citizens. One study shows these states have 13 percent fewer gun homicides than the states that do not limit concealed carry — a difference that saved thousands of lives in a decade. States such as Texas, Tennessee, Alabama, West Virginia and Arkansas have previously had such laws.
Until 2008, when the Supreme Court issued its 5-to-4 decision in Heller, the court had never found that the U.S. Constitution creates a right to own a firearm. That did not mean people could not own or use guns. It simply meant there was nothing in the Constitution that prevented Congress or the states from regulating their use. Heller changed that. It limited congressional regulation by recognizing a right to own a firearm in one’s home for self-defense. Two years later, the court found that right was incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and therefore limited state regulation as well.
Now, despite the heart-breaking surge of gun violence in this country, the NRA affiliate New York State Rifle & Pistol Association argues that “gun rights” should be dramatically expanded to include the concealed carry of a firearm outside the home. Gun rights groups want to preclude Congress and the states from enacting laws like the New York law.
The NRA’s position was rejected by the trial court and the court of appeals. But if the oral argument before the Supreme Court is any indication, New York’s law may not survive, and gun violence, deaths and injuries may increase still further.
The gun rights petitioners argued that in “a country with the Second Amendment as a fundamental right, simply having more firearms cannot be a problem and there can’t be a government interest just to put a cap on the number of firearms.” According to this reasoning, citizens should be allowed to carry a concealed weapon in any location open to the general public, including in cities, like New York, that have large numbers of police officers.
Several justices seemed to agree. Take Justice Samuel Alito. He asked how it is consistent with “the core right of self-defense” — which the court has never recognized outside the home — to prevent citizens who “have to commute home by subway, maybe by bus” in New York City from carrying a concealed firearm. Alito asserted, without citing any evidence, that “there are a lot of armed people on the streets of New York and in the subways late at night right now” — and he appears to favor a ruling that could multiply that exponentially.
Chief Justice John Roberts said there are places “in a densely populated city where it’s more likely that you’re going to need a gun for self-defense” no matter how “many policemen are assigned.” Justice Brett Kavanaugh asked, “why isn’t it good enough to say: I live in a violent area, and I want to be able to defend myself?”
At one point, Kavanaugh remarked “the baseline is always the right established in the text” of the Constitution, “the historical practice can justify certain kinds of regulations,” and the courts should not be making “a policy judgment.” But he and the others who seemed sympathetic to the NRA’s approach did not even mention the actual text or follow the historical practice. Their questions echoed the NRA by assuming the conclusion that the Constitution creates a right to carry a concealed firearm.
The Second Amendment does not say that. It does not even mention the concealed carry of a firearm, let alone provide a right to carry a concealed weapon without the showing of special need required by New York: “A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” Bearing arms is not the same as concealing them on your person.
The “historical practice” also shows there has never been a constitutional right to concealed carry. In Justice Clarence Thomas’s words: “Traditionally,” states have “prohibit[ed] the carrying of weapons in a concealed manner” and those laws “neither prohibit nor broadly frustrate any individual from generally exercising his right to bear arms.” The Heller decision agreed, explaining “the right secured by the Second Amendment … was not a right to keep and carry any weapon whatsoever in any manner whatsoever and for whatsoever purpose.” The court then gave examples of historical limitations on the “right,” and the very first one was “the majority of the 19th-century courts to address the question held that prohibitions on carrying concealed weapons were lawful under the Second Amendment or state analogues.” The court pointed to this as one of the “variety of tools” the District of Columbia could use to “combat” gun violence.
The Second Amendment itself says its purpose is to protect “the security of a free State.” Textualists like Alito, Roberts and Kavanaugh should respect that direction and permit New York to determine for itself what gun safety laws and regulations are necessary for its “security,” including the concealed carry law. They should reject the sophistry in Heller that while, “it is true that the term ‘State’ elsewhere in the Constitution refers to individual States,” in the Second Amendment it means something entirely different — a “polity.” And even if it means a “polity,” the New York law should stand to protect the security of the polity.
Alito’s suggestion that riders of New York City’s subways and buses should be able to choose to carry concealed firearms would be a disaster for law-abiding residents who use public transportation and for the police. Hellersaid “nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on … laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings.” Subways and buses, like airplanes, should not be excluded from that list.
Roberts’ and Kavanaugh’s apparent willingness to allow concealed carry city-wide would have an even worse impact on law-abiding residents and the police. At a time when the horrific gun violence has led even the Senate to take its first tentative steps in a long time to promote gun safety, will the court consider the consequences of the NRA’s efforts to multiply the number of firearms and make it impossible for Congress and the states to regulate them?
Michael J. Dell, a New York City resident, was a founding director of Americans for Firearm Injury Reduction in Medicine. He co-authored an amicus brief for the American Medical Association, the Medical Society of the State of New York, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in support of New York’s concealed carry law.
Source: TEST FEED1
Two former Missouri frat brothers charged in hazing incident
A grand jury indicted two former fraternity members at the University of Missouri in connection with a hazing incident last fall that left a student blind and with permanent brain damage.
The grand jury in Boone County, Mo., charged Ryan Delanty and Thomas Shultz with a felony charge of hazing and a misdemeanor charge of supplying alcohol to a person under 21. Shultz is also charged with tampering with physical evidence.
Daniel Santulli, who was at a pledge for Missouri’s Phi Gamma Delta fraternity chapter, was found unresponsive at the chapter’s house on the night of Oct. 19 and was admitted to the hospital with suspected alcohol poisoning.
That evening, Delanty had allegedly given Santulli a bottle of vodka and told him to drink it, and another member who was charged with misdemeanors earlier this month allegedly gave Santulli beer from a funnel and tube, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Santulli had a blood alcohol level of .468 and ended up with his face on the floor after partially sliding off a couch, according to the outlet. He was later hospitalized and placed on a ventilator.
“Danny has suffered massive brain damage,” David Bianchi, Santulli’s attorney, told The Hill. “He is blind, cannot speak or communicate in any way, cannot walk and will require 24-hour care for the rest of his life.”
The family has filed civil lawsuits against other members of the fraternity, according to the Post-Dispatch.
“This is a good start, but there are at least a dozen other fraternity officers and members whose conduct was just as bad, and they need to be charged with felony hazing as well,” Bianchi told The Hill. “Hopefully, those indictments are coming.”
The university announced last month that 13 students had received proposed disciplinary sanctions in connection with the incident, but the school did not specify the punishments. Mizzou also said it was conducting a review of campus behavior.
“In our conversation with student leaders, they are 100% with us in making our campus even safer for everyone, but there is continued work to do,” University of Missouri President Mun Choi said in last month’s statement.
The school said it withdrew the chapter’s status as a student organization and closed its house following the incident.
Source: TEST FEED1
Biden praises newly unionized Apple workers
President Biden on Monday praised workers at an Apple store near Baltimore that voted to form the first American union at the Silicon Valley tech giant.
“I’m proud of them,” Biden told reporters.
“You know, workers have a right to determine under what conditions they’re gonna work or not,” he continued. “And I think the thing that everybody kind of misunderstands about unions, they tend to be, especially in the trades, the best workers in the world.”
A majority of the 100 workers at Apple’s Towson, Md., location voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, according to a National Labor Relations Board count conducted Saturday.
The landslide win at the Apple store follows a series of wins for labor at previously unorganized companies, including Amazon and Starbucks, in recent months.
Biden, who has described himself as at the most pro-union president ever, has celebrated those wins.
Apple workers in New York and Atlanta have also begun pushing for unionization, although workers at the latter recently withdrew their request for an election, with the union saying that those workers were experiencing retaliation from management.
Source: TEST FEED1
Pence bemoans Biden’s economic agenda in calling for 'change in direction'
Former Vice President Mike Pence on Monday called for a “change in direction” to reverse the economic woes facing the country, led mostly by soaring costs for food and gasoline.
Pence, speaking to the University Club of Chicago, bemoaned President Biden’s economic agenda, which he argued squandered a strong foundation left behind by the Trump administration.
“Inflation is rampant. Gas and food prices are rising. Real wages are falling. And the stock market is plummeting. Grocery stores from time to time are empty, and that confidence and pride that were once synonymous with the American people in recent years has been replaced with fear and a national anxiety,” Pence said.
The former vice president reiterated a popular right-leaning notion that Biden push back against the “radical left” of the Democratic Party or risk defeat in November’s midterm elections.
“I have every confidence that unless this administration changes course and their allies in Congress change course dramatically, the American people are going to change leadership, and change leadership very soon,” Pence said.
The former vice president focused extensively on gas prices, which hit an average of $5 per gallon last week, according to AAA. Biden has “no idea” how to bring down gas prices, Pence said, arguing the president’s decision to release oil from the strategic petroleum reserve did not bring down prices but made the country vulnerable to a future national security emergency.
Pence laid out his own economic vision in the speech, pointing to lower taxes, fair trade deals and investing in domestic energy production as measures to lower costs and foster growth.
The economy has repeatedly proven to be a point of vulnerability for Biden and Democrats heading into November’s midterms, with a number of competing economic factors spurring fears of a recession. Biden and his team have in recent days said repeatedly a recession is not inevitable.
Pence was last in the spotlight last Thursday when the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol focused a hearing on the pressure campaign from Trump and his allies to get Pence to reject the 2020 election results, and the threats against Pence that resulted.
The former vice president has not weighed in on the hearings, and he did not speak to reporters during Monday’s appearance in Chicago.
Pence is widely seen as laying the groundwork to launch a presidential campaign for the 2024 GOP nomination. He has been a regular at Republican events in New Hampshire, South Carolina, Iowa, and in recent days he has held events alongside the governors of Arizona and Ohio.
His speeches routinely contrast the record of the Biden administration with the “Trump-Pence administration,” seeking to tie himself to the successes of the last administration while distancing himself from some of the more controversial and chaotic aspects of his old boss’s term.
Pence has said Trump was “wrong” to suggest the vice president could overturn the 2020 election results on Jan. 6, 2021, when scores of pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol. And Pence has said there is “no room” in the GOP for “Putin apologists,” a veiled swipe at Trump and some of his allies who have spoken warmly of the Russian president or glossed over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Pence highlighted the last administration’s tax cuts, its investment in energy production, its support for school choice and tax credits for investing in low-income communities as he made the case for the Republican economic agenda.
Source: TEST FEED1
Ben Stiller visits Zelensky as UN goodwill ambassador
Hollywood actor and director Ben Stiller met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday as a global goodwill ambassador to the United Nations Nations High Commission for Refugees (NHCR).
Stiller, who was appointed to the position in 2018, met with Zelensky after visiting the occupied settlements of the Kyiv region, the Ukrainian President’s office said in a press release. The “Zoolander” actor was joined by Karolina Lindholm Billing, a UNHCR Representative in Ukraine.
The 56-year-old also visited Poland the previous day.
Stiller and Zelensky discussed “the needs of temporarily displaced persons in Ukraine, as well as those in Poland.”
They visited destroyed residential areas in Irpin, as well as talked to residents who survived the invasion, which Zelensky emphasized was one of the many examples of Russia’s violation of human rights.
“It’s one thing to see this destruction on TV or on social networks. Another thing is to see it all with your own eyes,” Stiller said. “That’s a lot more shocking.”
“What you saw in Irpin is definitely dreadful,” Zelensky responded. “But it is even worse to just imagine what is happening in the settlements that are still under temporary occupation in the east.”
The group also “discussed ways of further cooperation of the Ukrainian authorities with UNHCR.”
Source: TEST FEED1
Black patients more likely to be diagnosed with late stage lung cancer, regardless of income, education level
Story at a glance
- Lung cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in America, and disproportionately impacts vulnerable communities.
- Looking at data collected between 2004 and 2016, researchers assessed late-stage diagnosis rates among different racial/ethnic populations.
- After adjusting for insurance type, treatment facility type, and other factors, Black individuals were more likely than their white counterparts to be diagnosed with the disease.
Black Americans living in areas with the highest income and education levels were still more likely than white patients in the lowest education and income areas to have advanced-stage lung cancer, underscoring the impact of structural racism on health outcomes, according to a new study published Monday.
“Strikingly, for Black [patients], higher income did not necessarily translate to better outcomes compared with white [patients],” said co-author Tomi F. Akinyemiju of Duke University School of Medicine in a statement.
“This highlights the urgent need for targeted efforts to ensure equitable access to smoking cessation and lung cancer screening, and additional research into other factors that drive lung cancer aggressiveness in Black [populations].”
Adjusting for income and education, researchers assessed demographic data from the 2004-2016 National Cancer Database of all patients diagnosed with any stage of non-small cell lung cancer during that time frame.
Lung cancer accounts for almost a quarter of all U.S. cancer deaths each year and, independent of skin cancer, is the second most common form of the disease behind prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women, according to the American Cancer Society.
For advanced stages of lung cancer, some estimates put a 5-year survival rate at less than 10 percent.
Although research indicates rates of lung cancer mortality have fallen in recent years due in part to smoking cessation campaigns and early detection strategies, racial and socioeconomic disparities in those diagnosed with advanced lung cancer persist.
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More than 1.3 million patients were included in the final sample and of those, 50 percent of non-Hispanic Black patients resided in the lowest income quartile compared with 17 percent of non-Hispanic white patients.
Similarly, around one-fifth of white patients lived in a region with a higher proportion of adults lacking a high school education, while over 40 percent of Black patients lived in these areas.
Data showed Black Americans living in an area with a lower education level were 12 percent more likely to receive an advance-stage diagnosis than those in high education areas. Those in the lowest income quartile were 13 percent more likely to receive this diagnosis compared with high-income patients.
Factors such as redlining, housing discrimination, and exclusionary zoning implemented throughout American history contribute to the negative health outcomes seen in these environments, said Erica T. Warner in an accompanying editorial.
“These factors, combined with the lack of a comprehensive social safety net to support marginalized populations living in under-resourced neighborhoods, underlie the findings of this study,” Warner wrote.
Study findings were also consistent after adjusting for cancer treatment facility and insurance type, but were not observed among uninsured patients. Researchers were unable to determine patients’ smoking status and history due to a lack of available data.
Because racial differences in cancer outcomes persist independent of socioeconomic factors, authors stress the importance of additional strategies to mitigate these disparities beyond equalizing socioeconomic status.
“Implementing policies to eliminate structural racism in the United States will be necessary to reduce racial gaps in [socioeconomic status] and address other fundamental causes of racial differences in cancer outcomes among low-[socioeconomic status] and racial minority groups,” they wrote.
Disparities in lung cancer screening rates could also play a role in the gaps observed, as earlier detection can help prevent worse long-term outcomes.
“A clear and concerted effort is needed to increase the early detection of [non-small cell lung cancer]. We know where the highest need is, and we must meet people where they are,”said Warner. “As implementation of lung cancer screening advances, it must be done with equity in mind.”
Source: TEST FEED1
GOP primary candidates faceoff in race to take on Spanberger in Virginia
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Six Republicans are facing off in the GOP primary for Virginia’s 7th Congressional District on Tuesday, hoping to take on incumbent Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger in November.
The crowded primary includes state Sen. Bryce Reeves, Army combat veteran Derrick Anderson, Prince William County Sheriff’s Deputy Yesli Vega, teacher Gina Ciarcia, Spotsylvania County Supervisor David Ross, and Stafford County Board Chair Crystal Vanuch.
The district, which is located in Northern Virginia and includes Prince William, Stafford, and Spotsylvania counties, is seen as a microcosm of the country and provides insight into the issues voters are most focused on.
While the nonpartisan Cook Political Report has rated the district as a “toss-up,” its move to include more constituents from Northern Virginia due to redistricting is a hopeful sign for Democrats. However, Republicans in Virginia and at the national level view the seat as a prime pickup opportunity.
Watch the video above for more.
Source: TEST FEED1
Killer Mike says rap lyrics shouldn't be used as criminal evidence amid case against Young Thug, Gunna
Rapper and activist Killer Mike says that rap lyrics shouldn’t be used as criminal evidence in court cases, amid the high-profile detainments of Atlanta-based rappers Young Thug and Gunna.
In an interview with ABC News published on Saturday, Killer Mike, whose real name is Michael Render, said that Young Thug used his rapping career to escape his troubled upbringing on the streets of Atlanta, the city where Render grew up as well.
“[Young Thug] came out of a very desperate situation,” Render, half of the hit duo Run the Jewels, told ABC News. “The side of town he comes from — Cleveland Avenue, southeast Atlanta — has been wrought with poverty forever … he managed to escape the streets using rap lyrics, and he’s managed to help people change their lives.”
“Young Thug — that’s a character that Jeffery Williams created … but Jeffery Williams is a father,” Render added, using Young Thug’s legal name. “He’s a human being that’s capable of love, care and compassion.”
Young Thug and Gunna, whose real name is Sergio Kitchens, were among the more than two dozen individuals charged with racketeering by authorities last month, with prosecutors alleging that Williams founded a street gang and promoted its lifestyle through music and social media posts.
The indictment unsealed against them in Fulton County, Ga., includes lyrics from both artists’ music.
“These lyrics are no more than braggadocio rap lyrics,” Render told ABC. “It is no more than Killer Mike saying I’m a killer on the mic.”
Both rappers have been denied bail and are set to appear in court in January, ABC noted.
“For now, I don’t have my freedom. But I am innocent. I am being falsely accused and will never stop fighting to clear my name!” the “Pushin P” Kitchens said in a statement, adding, “Nothing will stop me from chasing my dreams, I won’t stop being a good person, even if some unnamed and unknown accusers want the world to see me as a bad person.”
Render, who won a Grammy award with acclaimed hip-hop duo OutKast, said that hip-hop is a form of art, noting that authorities targeting Black art in criminal cases is a part of dehumanizing Black people in the U.S, according to ABC News.
Render said, “Hip hop is not respected as an art because Black people in this country are not recognized as full human beings. If we allow the courts to prosecute these men based on characters they created and stories of pretend that they tell in rhyme then next, they’ll be at your door.”
Source: TEST FEED1