Mental

 

Depression in children

(photo credit: INGIMAGE)

“Here in Israel, we are seeing more anxiety and stress since Oct. 7 among adolescents and teens than ever before,” says Yael Avraham, a social worker and manager in the trauma field at ELEM.

Israelis are a resilient people. Despite Oct. 7, sirens, terror attacks, harrowing red alerts with missiles flying overhead, and COVID isolation, which all took tolls on our well-being, somehow we are still going about our lives, fighting, and serving our country. We are even the fifth-“happiest” country of the 143 countries ranked in the World Happiness Report, a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

But for some people, happiness is a transient state that comes and goes; and for those in a never-ending battle with depression, the clouds seldom, if ever, dissipate. In writing this article, I found that our “happy” country has parents, doctors, and healthcare providers who refuse to go on record about the state of mental health in Israel.

As I write this, parents in Karnei Shomron are reeling from a teen suicide, one of several within several years, and are asking what they can do to assist their youth through the labyrinth of hormones, situational pain, and mental anguish that make youth want to give up and end their lives.

The mayor of Karnei Shomron, Yonatan Kuznitz, declined to comment, saying the feelings are too intense and raw.One Israeli doctor I interviewed refused to be quoted on the record, calling the mental health system “outrageous.”According to the World Health Organization (WHO), it is estimated that worldwide, 4.4% of 10- to 14 year olds, and 5.5% of 15 to 19 year olds experience an anxiety disorder. Depression is estimated to occur among 1.4% of adolescents aged 10-14 and 3.5% of 15 to 19 year olds, and suicide is the third-leading cause of death in older adolescents and young adults (15-29).

“Here in Israel, we are seeing more anxiety and stress since Oct. 7 among adolescents and teens than ever before,” says Yael Avraham, a social worker and manager in the trauma field at ELEM, Israel’s leading nonprofit organization dedicated to treating troubled and at-risk youth. “Our kids are more afraid. More parents are reaching out for therapy. Our clinic has become a full-time job.”

MENTAL ILLNESS requires constant self-care and positive choices. (credit: YOSSI ZAMIR/FLASH90)

If you add bullying and social media pressure that comes with a click of their cellphones, fragile, sensitive youth, particularly those with mental illness, face a greater risk of suicide, she says.It’s a story that many do not want to talk about, but one that must be told.

Many myths about mental illness must be addressed. These include the following:

Mental illness manifests only in adults.

This is not true. There is evidence that mental illness can surface even in very young children and throughout their teenage years. Many young people who have bipolar disorder (manic depression) are initially diagnosed with ADHD, according to psychiatrists I spoke to. The problem is, that when a child is medicated with stimulants like Ritalin, in some cases the drug can have dangerous effects and can even cause psychosis.

Mental illness is not like physical illness.

This is false. What many do not realize is that mental illness is a physical illness – the result of unbalanced brain chemistry, which can become exacerbated as hormones shift in a growing child or teen.

Mental illness is a direct result of bad parenting.

False. While behavioral symptoms can be triggered by events or family issues, the most predictive factor for mental illness is often a family history of mental illness. Is it triggered by nature or nurture? Most doctors believe that mental illness is a genetic hand-me-down, like diabetes, hypertension, or any other family trait that is transmitted from one generation to the next. While external conditions can trigger the illness, the genetic predisposition must be there. In Israel, where Jews marry mostly Jews, genetic conditions are likely to be expressed more consistently.

RABBI SHALOM HAMMER, a former educator, lecturer at the IDF, and hesder yeshiva teacher, established the organization Gila’s Way (www.gilasway.com) after his daughter Gila died by suicide several years ago. He began speaking about suicide prevention just three days after getting up from his daughter’s shiva, and helping others became his life’s mission. He was brought to Karnei Shomron the night after the fifth anniversary of Gila’s death to speak to the parents and grandparents of the town, who were naturally concerned.

“You can have mental illness without suicidal ideations, and you can have suicidal ideations without having mental illness, but often they are intertwined,” he says.

“Life took a 180-degree turn for me,” he explains. “I had to somehow make sense of Gila’s death in order to help others understand the complexities and possibly save lives.”

Record

The collective backlog for Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and IAI has risen by over 25%, compared with a 23% surge for all of 2023.

The Arrow 3 air defense system, used for the first time on November 9, 2023, to intercept a missile fired at Eilat by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.

(photo credit: MINISTRY OF DEFENSE)

Israel's defense industry, comprising of Elbit Systems, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI),  is set to reach a historic record in sales of weapons, according to a Thursday Wall Street Journal report.

The collective backlog for the three companies has risen by over 25%, according to the report, compared with a 23% surge for all of 2023.

Defense systems such as the Iron Dome and the Arrow missile, which have been proved on the battlefield in over a year of war have given rise to such sales among foreign actors, according to the report. 

 This was reiterated by a statement made to the publication by Slovakia's Defense Ministry who signed a €560 million deal to purchase the Barak MX Integrated Air Defense System, developed by IAI. 

Ice Cube - Check Yo Self (Remix) (Official Music Video)

R-One - Face

Sucking

 

Blacks throughout their struggle for freedom

One of the most significant problems confronting Black people and working people in the United States is income disparity. And it is only getting worse.

A recent study documented a steady siphoning of worker income during every period for the last 40 years with obscene amounts of money flowing to those at the top.

Wages for the bottom 90 percent of earners are being gobbled up by the top 10 percent of earners—with the top One Percent and top One-tenth of One Percent of earners reaping huge financial bonanzas, according to the Economic Policy Institute, which analyzed federal government data.

Since 1979, wages for the bottom 90 percent of American earners saw modest growth of 26 percent. The 10 percent saw wages grow between 51.8 percent to 75.1 percent.

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Racism and the age-old problem of economic injustice have persisted in the United States. Photo: Youtube.com

The top One Percent of earners are now paid 160.3 percent more than four decades ago, while the top One-tenth of One Percent have seen a ginormous 345.2 percent increase in wages. That gives today’s rich White men six times and 13 times the wage growth for the working class.

Guess who is at the bottom of the bottom 90 percent? According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, Black workers made the smallest earnings gains among racial and ethnic groups since the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008.

The widening wage gap has been relentless, including from 2009 to 2019. These years included economic recovery after the Great Recession: Wages for the bottom 90 percent rose 8.7 percent. Wages for the top One Percent of earners and top One-tenth of One Percent soared 20.4 percent and 30.3 percent, respectively.

In the current climate of booming stock markets and national pestilence, little attention is being paid to wage disparity and wage growth in general, much less to the plight of the Black working class who are falling further behind in their efforts to gain a living wage and economic parity.

As Black civil rights and mainstream leaders pressed President-elect Biden for substantive cabinet positions, they also called for advancing racial equality and addressing an alarming Black-White wealth gap.

Wage inequality has grown to obscene levels over the past 40 years and double digit Black unemployment has remained constant. Photo: Youtube.com

Rep. Don Beyer, the chair of the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee in a published report on the economic state of Black America in 2020, wrote, “Black Americans experience far worse economic conditions than Whites or the population as a whole.”

Historically, the unemployment rate for Black Americans has been twice the rate for Whites. That is the case today—6 percent unemployment for Black workers versus 3.1 percent for Whites, even in a strong economy the unemployment rate is 50 percent higher for Black Americans.

During the majority of the past 50 years, Blacks have experienced unemployment rates that, if experienced by the entire population, would be seen as recessionary.

Black workers have been disproportionally hurt by the overall decline in union membership and unions’ decreasing power. Typical Black households earn a fraction of White families’ earnings—just 59 cents for every dollar.

The gap between Black and White annual household incomes is about $29,000 per year. Black Americans are over twice as likely to live in poverty as Whites. Black children are three times as likely to live in poverty as White children. The median wealth of Black families ($17,000)—is less than one-tenth that of White families ($171,000).

Between 2013 and 2016, median net worth rose for all groups. Net worth for Whites still outpaced Black, Hispanic and ‘Others’ significantly in 2016. Graph: Federal Reserve.gov

The wealth gap between Black and White households increases with education. Much less than half (42 percent) of Black families own their homes, compared to almost three-quarters (73 percent) of White families. Home ownership is one way Americans have generally accumulated wealth.

The share of Blacks who are college graduates has more than doubled since 1990, from 11 percent to 25 percent—but still lags far behind Whites. Persistent segregation leads to disparities in the quality of secondary education and worse economic outcomes.

The incarceration rate for Black Americans is falling but is still nearly six times the rate for White Americans. Incarceration, obviously, hurts earnings and economic progress.

Wonder why you’re still broke? For Black Americans the economic game has long been rigged, starting with Emancipation. Writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, in his Atlantic article “The Case for Reparations,” coined the phrase “the quiet plunder.” He debunked the myth that wage disparity was caused by slavery and Jim Crow bred Black poverty.

In the 20th century, millions of Black families moved out of the South chasing higher wages in urban industry. But after a few decades, the factories closed, inner cities decayed, and a “complex tangle of pathology” emerged in single-parent households and soaring incarceration rates, he wrote.

“The reality is in the grand narrative of freedom and civil rights, the disadvantages that persist are much more nefarious, invisible precisely because people in power continuously innovated new forms of discrimination,” according to Calvin Schermerhorn, a history professor at Arizona State University’s School of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies. He is the author of “Unrequited Toil: A History of United States Slavery.”

Black people have played an insidious game of social and economic whack-a-mole: As soon as they fight to remove one barrier, a new one springs up, said Prof. Schermerhorn.

“The enduring barriers to Black economic equality are structural rather than individual,” Professor Schermerhorn explained. “Instead of alleviating them, the party in power is rolling back civil rights protections, reviving the War on Drugs, and expanding private prisons. Black aspirants to the American dream continue to face lending and real estate discrimination and ‘predatory inclusion’ in higher education. Escalators into the middle class have slowed and stalled, and the rung of the economic ladder one starts on is most likely where one will end up,” Mr. Schermerhorn wrote.

As evidenced by the Economic Policy Report, the adage that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer is real with Black people being the really poor.

There is an urgent need to repair Black worker power while increasing wage growth, said Naomi Zewde, assistant professor in the Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy at the City University of New York, during a detailed interview with The Final Call.

Black people are using education as a means to bridge this economic gap, she said. She noted the percentage of Black people getting a higher education has increased, not just going to college but also graduate school. “Forty-seven percent of Black college graduates enroll in a graduate degree program within 10 years, while only 36 percent of White people who graduated from college are involved in a graduate program within 10 years,” she pointed out.

Asst. Professor Zewde argued the time was right to keep pressing for changes, but radical redress is needed. “I think that a lot of what we’re doing is the right thing, calling attention to these issues,” she said. In terms of redress, she offered up a few ideas. “I think that advocacy of progressive policy is going to be important, like free college, canceling student loan debt, small business opportunities and grants through the Paycheck Protection Program. There was some initiative to get those dollars distributed, not just by the big banks, but also by community-based financial institutions. Capital must be provided to the Black business.”

She also advocated for “Baby Bonds.” The federal government would put a certain amount of money per year in an account for each newborn that the child can’t touch until age 18. “Baby Bonds could dramatically reduce racial wealth inequality for young adults,” she said.

Above all, she advocated for Marshall Plan type racial redress, which would place hard cash in the Black community, and address housing, education, business and economic empowerment.

The Silent

 

(Arraw.Medium.com) – Last year, over seven million people were victims of the silent crime of identity theft. The information explosion, easy credit and the inability of consumers to control who has access to their sensitive financial information has created an open season for identity thieves. Today, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America.

“In the African American community, we don’t complain, we don’t get a handle on it when it occurs and it ends up ruining people’s credit,” laments Soloman Harge, executive director of Consumer Protection Association in Cleveland, Ohio. “There are some basic steps that people can take to protect their personal information and reduce the risk of some thief stealing their identity.”

Identity theft is the use of a person’s identity to perform fraudulent financial transactions without the victim’s permission or knowledge. Identity thieves have been known to fraudulently obtain credit cards, steal money from existing accounts, open new accounts, apply for loans, rent apartments, obtain jobs and even file for bankruptcy without the victim knowing about it for months or even years.

The typical identity theft begins with the imposter obtaining the victim’s identifying financial information, such as social security number, birth date, credit card or account numbers. The thief obtains this information through a variety of methods, some low tech–such as rummaging through trash, stealing mail, eavesdropping on phone conversations and stealing information from the home or workplace. Some of the more sophisticated methods involve stealing records through the Internet, buying inside information from store or credit card company employees; or stealing credit reports by posing as a landlord, employer or someone else who may have a legitimate need for credit records.

The imposter, then, opens new accounts, ravages existing accounts, makes cash withdrawals or purchases merchandise in the victim’s name. They often provide a different address, claiming to have moved. Once the imposter completes their first transaction, they are well on their way to stealing thousands of dollars and ruining the credit and good name of the unwitting victim.

The Federal Trade Commission estimates that the average number of months between the time the identity theft occurred and was noticed by the victim is 14 months. Additionally, for the typical victim, it takes 600 hours to repair their damaged credit, with an average out-of-pocket cost of $1,000.

While there is no surefire method to guarantee that your identity will never be stolen, there are ways to minimize the risk. The most important concept is to manage your personal information wisely and cautiously. Below are some ways to help protect your identity:

– Review a copy of your credit report from each of the three major credit-reporting agencies at least once a year. You can get a free copy of your credit report annually from each of the three major credit bureaus by contacting www.annualcreditreport.com or (877) 322-8228.

– Do not give out personal identification information to people or companies that you do not know. Even then, understand why it is required and how it will be used. Give out your Social Security number only when absolutely necessary. Your SSN, along with your birth date are keys to obtaining your credit report. Use a shredder to dispose of paperwork that contains personally identifiable information and account numbers, such as credit card receipts, billing statements, cancelled checks, pre-approved credit offers and etc.

– Protect your mail from theft. Deposit outgoing mail in postal mailboxes, promptly remove mail from your mailbox and have your mail held if you are planning to be away from home for a period of time. Minimize the personal identification information and the number of credit cards that you carry with you. Create unique passwords and PINS for your accounts. Do not use your birth date, social security number or other personal matching information.

– At home and work, keep all items with your personal information in a safe place. Use a secure browser when shopping online. When submitting your purchase information, look for the “lock” icon on the browser’s status bar to be sure the information is secure during transmission.

Identity theft is a serious problem and will become even more so in our high-tech world. However, there are some measures that you can take to reduce your risk and the potential impact on your family’s financial plans. Two helpful websites are: www.consumer.gov/idtheft and www.idtheftcenter.org.

Contempt

 

Thank You

France had in the past contributed to "destabilising certain African countries such as Libya" which had "disastrous consequences" for the region's security.

"France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa's security and sovereignty," he said in a statement.

Senegal and Chad have reacted strongly to remarks by French President Emmanuel Macron about African countries being ungrateful over France's role in helping fight militant jihadist insurgencies.

On Monday, Macron said that Sahel states "forgot" to thank France for its role, amid the continuing withdrawal of French troops from West African countries.

He said no Sahelian nation would be a sovereign nation without France's intervention that prevented them from falling under the control of militants.

In response, Chad's Foreign Minister Abderaman Koulamallah said Macron comments had revealed his contempt for Africa.

"Chad expresses its deep concern following the remarks made recently by [the French president], which reflect a contemptuous attitude towards Africa and Africans," he said in a statement on national TV.

He said "French leaders must learn to respect the African people and recognise the value of their sacrifices".

Senegal's Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said France had in the past contributed to "destabilising certain African countries such as Libya" which had "disastrous consequences" for the region's security.

"France has neither the capacity nor the legitimacy to ensure Africa's security and sovereignty," he said in a statement.

Macron made his comments at an annual ambassadors' conference in Paris, saying France was reorganising its strategic interests in the region and rejected the idea that it had been forced to withdraw from Africa.

French troops were sent to Mali in 2013 in response to an Islamist insurgency. A year later the mission was extended to take in other countries in the region, including Niger and Burkina Faso.

"We were right [to deploy]. I think someone forgot to say thank you. It's ok it will come with time," Macron said on Monday.

"But I say this for all the African heads of state who have not had the courage in the face of public opinion to hold that view. None of them would be a sovereign country today if the French army hadn't deployed in the region."

Sonko said that in the case of Senegal's decision to ask French troops to leave, Macron's remarks were "totally wrong".

He said there had been no negotiation with France regarding the move to close its military bases in the country.

He said and the decision had stemmed from Senegal's "sole will as a free, independent and sovereign country".

Both Sonko and Koulamallah also cited the role of African soldiers towards the liberation of France in the world wars.

"Had African soldiers, sometimes forcibly mobilised, mistreated and ultimately betrayed, not been deployed during the Second World War to defend France, it would, perhaps still be German today," Sonko said.

Chad, Senegal and Ivory Coast have recently ended security agreements with France - while Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger told French troops to leave following coups.

France's influence in the region has been waning in recent years, amid accusations of neo-colonialism and exploitative relationships with their former colonies.

The junta-led governments in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso have moved closer to Russia after the French withdrawal from their countries.

On Monday, Chad's foreign minister said France's contribution in the country was limited to "its own strategic interests" even as Chad had grappled with instability and other issues during their 60- year partnership.

Chad ended its defence agreement with France in November, saying it was "time for Chad to assert its full sovereignty and redefine its strategic partnerships according to national priorities".

Inmate Dead

 

Attorney General Letitia James

Calls for justice ring out around the nation yet again as chilling bodycam video showing the brutal beating of 43-year-old Black male inmate, Robert Brooks, at the hands of New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision officers at Marcy Correctional Facility in Oneida County left viewers in a familiar state of rage and devastation.

Mr. Brooks, who was serving a 12-year sentence for assault since 2017, was moved to Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 9, 2024, from the nearby Mohawk Correctional Facility.

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Bodycam footage of correction officers beating a handcuffed man, Robert Brooks, 43, at the Marcy Correctional Facility. (AP Photo)

According to prison records, the transfer came after Mr. Brooks was assaulted twice by other inmates in Mohawk and was seemingly moved for his safety. However, shortly after he arrived at Marcy Correctional Facility, Mr. Brooks experienced a vicious encounter with correction officers and died soon after.

While his official cause of death is still pending, autopsy details reveal that Mr. Brooks suffered “multiple bruises of the face and extremities, fracture of the nasal bone, multiple soft tissue hemorrhage of the muscles of the anterior right and left sides of the neck, hemorrhage overlaying of the thyroid cartilage, hemorrhage of the genital area soft tissues, the penis and both testes,” according to court documents.

The documents also note that the medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on behalf of the Onondaga County Medical Examiner’s Office also reported, “concerns for asphyxia due to compression of the neck as cause of death, as well as the death being due to the actions of another.”

According to several media reports, the autopsy details come as part of court documents from a Temporary Extreme Risk Protection Order, filed by the New York State Police and New York Attorney General’s Office against David Kingsley, one of the corrections officers accused of assaulting Mr. Brooks at the facility.

The documents were filed in Jefferson County, where Mr. Kingsley lives and came as an attempt to remove all firearms from the officer’s home—deeming him as a possible harm to others and himself due to his alleged involvement in Mr. Brooks’ beating.

The autopsy was conducted on Dec. 11, but a complete autopsy report has yet to be released.

Corrections officers at Marcy Correctional Facility were scene beating inmate Robert Brooks, who died on Dec. 10, 2024.

The devasting body-worn video

The bodycam footage, recorded on Dec. 9, starts outside the Marcy Correctional Facility entrance. Mr. Brooks can be seen lying down with handcuffs on when officers lift him off the ground and begin carrying him by his arms and legs into the infirmary.

Once inside, officers restrained Mr. Brooks to the examination table, where they could then be seen committing a wide range of heinous acts against him. This includes some officers repeatedly punching and kicking Mr. Brooks in his face, neck, chest, torso, buttocks and genitals as other officers continue to restrain him to the table.

At one point during the attack, an officer can be seen attempting to stuff what appears to be a white cloth in Brooks’ mouth. The officers later yank Mr. Brooks off of the table, into the corner of the room where attacks continue. Officers later drag him back onto the table where they continued to assault and unclothe him.

By the end of the recordings, Brooks is seen lying motionless on the table in just his underwear.

This all occurred while Brooks’ hands were handcuffed behind his back.

Brook was later taken to Wynn Hospital in Utica, New York, where he was pronounced dead the following day, Dec. 10.

The corrections department has identified the 11 corrections officers involved as follows: Matthew Galliher, Anthony Farina, Nicholas Anzalone, David Kingsley, Nicholas Kieffer, Robert Kessler, Michael Fisher, Christopher Walrath, Michael Along, Shea Schoff and David Walters.

Kyle Dashnaw, a nurse, and two sergeants, Michael Mashaw and Glenn Trombley, were also identified as bystanding prison staff. All parties involved have been suspended without pay by the New York’s Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. One of the officers, Anthony Farina, has resigned.

In an interview conducted and streamed on Instagram by journalist, activist and former U.S. Green Party vice-presidential candidate Rosa Clemente with Elizabeth Mazur, the attorney representing Brooks’ family, the attorney stated,

“What you see on the video, those guys don’t look like this is the first time they’ve ever done that. Now we’re hearing these reports that there have been other complaints, other suits against these officers.”

“It sounds like this didn’t come out of nowhere, these officers were allowed to do this, the system was in some way, condoning it or allowing it. I think that’s also a question we want to answer and hope to pursue in civil litigation,” she added.

The Final Call reached out to Atty. Mazur for further comments but as of presstime, have not yet heard back.

According to New York Attorney General Letitia James, who released the footage to the public on Dec. 21, none of the 11 correction officers involved actually activated their body cameras during their encounter with Mr. Brooks.

This goes against the protocol for all officers to activate their body cameras when interacting with inmates. Instead, the videos obtained by AG James’ office were only recorded due to some of the officers’ body cameras being on standby mode—meaning recording with video, but without audio.

However, despite their lack of audio, the visual recordings of the brutal beating of Robert Brooks still spoke volumes to viewers.

 None of the correction officers involved activated their body cameras during their encounter with Mr. Brooks. 

Political calls for accountability

In a statement released by AG Letitia James on Dec. 21, along with her release of the bodycam footage, James said, “Law enforcement professionals must be held to the highest standards of accountability.”

In an effort to enforce said high standard of accountability, AG James’ Office of Special Investigation (OSI) opened an investigation to look into the use of force by officers that preceded Mr. Brooks’ death. At presstime, no charges have been filed against those involved and the OSI’s investigation is still ongoing.

Echoing AG James’ calls for accountability, New York Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Marcy Correctional Facility on Dec. 30 to demand answers and announce her plan for corrective action.

Gov. Hochul’s multipart plan includes directing the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) Commissioner Martuscello to appoint Shawangunk Correctional Facility Superintendent Bennie Thorpe as the new permanent Superintendent of Marcy Correctional Facility, expediting $400 million to install fixed cameras and distribute body-worn cameras in all DOCCS facilities, and adding DOCCS staff to the Office of Special Investigations.

During her visit to the facility, Governor Hochul stated, “Today, as I stood in the room where Robert Brooks was killed, I was once again heartbroken by this unnecessary loss of life and further sickened to think of the actions of depraved individuals with no regard for human life.”

She then added, “The system failed Mr. Brooks and I will not be satisfied until there has been significant culture change.”

In addition to her corrective action plan, Gov. Hochul has also ordered an immediate and full investigation into the death of Robert Brooks and further directed DOCCS Supervision Commissioner Martuscello to begin the termination process for the 14 individuals who were involved in the fatal attack.

The FBI and Justice Department are also now looking into the incident. Sarah Ruane, FBI Albany Public Affairs Specialist, released a statement saying, “The FBI Albany Field Office and the Department of Justice are reviewing the facts and circumstances during the death of Robert L. Brooks to determine the appropriate federal response. As this is an ongoing review, we are not able to comment further at this time.”

As of presstime, their review is still pending.

Robert Brooks received a vicious attack by Marcy Correctional officers and died soon after.

Public outrage across America

Since the release of the bodycam footage, public outrage has sparked across the nation.

Holding up signs reading and shouting calls for justice like “Black Lives Matter!” and “Justice for Robert Brooks!” protesters began gathering in New York to demand justice.

Protests, demonstrations and vigils have occurred in various locations throughout Manhattan and Albany, including in front of county jails and Gov. Hochul’s home.

Protests are expected to continue as the case develops further and expected charges are filed against the officers and others involved.

Angry, distraught and weary social activists, community members and celebrities, also took to social media platforms to react to the devasting news surrounding the brutal beating of Mr. Brooks.

Bernice King, lawyer and daughter of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., writing on X, posted in part, “… it is another devasting instance of dehumanization and death in a ‘justice’ system laden with injustice and despair.”

Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill also took to X, writing “… this what it is for black men in America if you get caught without them cameras around! If you been to jail [before] you seen this with your own eyes!” The 37-year-old rapper has been publicly open about his own personal challenges in the prison system.

With a similar sentiment as Meek Mill, Tamika Mallory, social justice activist, wrote on Instagram, “What happened to #RobertBrooks is NOT rare. Most people don’t die from their injuries, but beating, torture, RAPE, starvation, etc., happens ALL THE TIME in jails, detention centers and prisons across America.”

Mr. Brooks died Dec. 10, the day after cameras recorded him being beaten by corrections officers.

Although many voices have chimed in, they’re all calling for one thing—justice.

However, Student Minister Kenneth Muhammad of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Study Group of Rochester, New York, told The Final Call that the only true solution to bring about justice is the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

“The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan have reminded us of the nature of a system that we have been dealing with since our people were brought here,” he said.

“Some were calling for closing of the penitentiary, but if we don’t address the attitude out of which the culture comes from, then closing one penitentiary versus another penitentiary does not solve the problem,” he added.

Student Minister Kenneth pointed to The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s presentation of “The Muslim Program” as the only adequate call of action toward addressing the centuries-long problems of injustice plaguing Black people in America, as seen in the death of Robert Brooks.

President Jimmy

Jimmy Carter served as the 39th president of the United States. Photos: MGN Online

James Earl Carter Jr., the Georgia peanut farmer turned 39th president, turned Nobel Peace Prize winner will be remembered by many for criticizing U.S. foreign policy, having a UFO encounter, writing 33 books, renovating 4,300 homes and condemning Israeli actions in Palestine as apartheid.

He died December 29 at the age of 100 and funeral plans include events in Georgia and Washington, D.C., that began Jan. 4 and will conclude Jan. 9. His body will lie in repose at the Georgia State Capital and then flown to D.C. on January 7, where it will lie in state in the Rotunda of the United States Capitol, allowing the public to pay their respects.

“With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us. He saved, lifted, and changed the lives of people all across the globe,” said President Joe Biden in a released statement.

President Biden designated Jan. 9, a National Day of Mourning, and invited people worldwide to participate in the solemn commemoration.

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 President Carter had a humble beginning. He was born on October 1, 1924, to James Earl Carter Sr. and Lillian Gordy Carter. Their home, situated in the small south Georgia town of Plains, lacked electricity.

Former President Carter died December 29, 2024 at age 100.

He grew up during the Great Depression in the segregated Deep South, but Mr. Carter often played with Black children. These interactions influenced his thoughts on integration and were reflected in his political career.

He went to college and then the Navy. After the military, Mr. Carter focused on raising his family. He was married to Rosalynn Carter, who was by his side for 77 years. Together they focused on managing the family’s peanut farm.

He soon began his political career, securing a seat in the Georgia Senate in 1962. Although he failed to win the Democratic nomination for governor against segregationist Lester Maddox in 1966, Mr. Carter successfully campaigned for the same position four years later.

On September 18, 1973, then Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter filed a report with the National Investigations Committee on aerial phenomena that he saw a UFO four years earlier. Governor Carter explained that the experience led him to have more respect for others who have seen UFOs. 

“There were about 20 of us standing outside of a little restaurant, I believe, a high school lunchroom,” he told reporters. “And a kind of green light appeared in the western sky. This was right after sundown.

It got brighter and brighter. And then it eventually disappeared.” Other witnesses described it as “very bright, changing colors and about the size of the moon.”

Mr. Carter’s next stop was the White House with Rosalynn as his first lady. He vowed in his inaugural address to put universal rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy.

“Our moral sense dictates a clear-cut preference for those societies which share with us an abiding respect for individual human rights. We do not seek to intimidate, but it is clear that a world which others can dominate with impunity would be inhospitable to decency and a threat to the well-being of all people,” he said.

“I join in the hope that when my time as your president has ended, people might say this about our nation,” he said. “I would hope that the nations of the world might say that we had built a lasting peace, based not on weapons of war but on international policies which reflect our own most precious values.”

International peace was a foundation of Mr. Carter’s presidency. One of his most significant achievements as president was the Camp David Accords, reached after exhaustive negotiations between Egypt and Israel that peaked at the presidential retreat in Maryland. It was the first of many peace deals between the Zionist state and Arab countries that didn’t last.

Over time, Carter became dismayed with Israeli leadership, becoming deeply critical of what he saw as a failure to live up to obligations toward the Palestinians. He sparked controversy in 2006 by saying that Israel’s settlement policies on the West Bank were tantamount to the apartheid policies of South Africa.

In 2006, while promoting his book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” President Carter said, “It’s based on a minority of Israelis occupying, confiscating and colonizing land that belongs to the Palestinians,” he told The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith.

“When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank and connects 200 or so settlements (to) each other with a road and prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, in many cases even crossing the road—this perpetrates even worse instances of … apartheid than we witnessed in South Africa.”

While he was a beacon on international affairs, it was the takeover of the U.S. Embassy and 66 hostages in Iran on November 4, 1979, a year before the U.S. election, that began to erode President Carter’s support. The 444-day standoff transfixed the nation and gradually tanked President Carter’s hopes of a second term. He was defeated by Ronald Reagan.

He left office in 1980 and became an elder statesman. In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace Prize “for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.”

“The world has changed greatly since I left the White House,” he said in his acceptance speech. “Now there is only one superpower, with unprecedented military and economic strength.

The coming budget for American armaments will be greater than those of the next 15 nations combined, and there are troops from the United States in many countries throughout the world.

Our gross national economy exceeds that of the three countries that follow us, and our nation’s voice most often prevails as decisions are made concerning trade, humanitarian assistance, and the allocation of global wealth. This dominant status is unlikely to change in our lifetimes,” the former president said.

“To suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form of warmongering. The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly must be to exhaust every honorable recourse in the effort to save the peace. The world has had ample evidence that war begets only conditions that beget further war.”

President Cater became a best-selling author, worked with Habitat for Humanity to renovate homes and let people know his thoughts on America and the world.

In 2004 during an interview with The Independent on the first anniversary of the American and British invasion of Iraq, President Carter said the two leaders probably knew that many of the claims being made about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction were based on imperfect intelligence.

“There was no reason for us to become involved in Iraq recently,” he said. “That was a war based on lies and misinterpretations from London and from Washington, claiming falsely that Saddam Hussein was responsible for [the] 9/11 attacks, claiming falsely that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.

And I think that President Bush and Prime Minister Blair probably knew that many of the allegations were based on uncertain intelligence … a decision was made to go to war [then people said] ‘Let’s find a reason to do so.’”

In 2021, Brother Askia Muhammad, the late senior editor for The Final Call and former editor of Muhammad Speaks, wrote a column in The Washington Informer about President Carter. “Jimmy Carter was always a genuine, down-home, grime-under-the-fingernails kind of peanut farmer and patriot.

He was a good soul, I would say. But understand, he may have been innocent, pure of heart like a choir boy, but he occupied the seat of the character in Scripture referred to as ‘Pharaoh,’” Brother Askia Muhammad wrote in the column titled, “More Honors Due to President Jimmy Carter.”

“America is a land of torment for Black people and that continues no matter who is president. The president who sits in Pharaoh’s seat must perform many wicked and despicable acts, in the name of the United States of America.

It goes with the territory. The fact that Carter was a one-term president speaks highly of him when it comes to the wicked deeds he didn’t perform, … to get reelected,” he wrote.

— Nabeel Muhammad, Staff Writer