#jazmineheadley

[blackwomenarepoppin]

So glad. This was so wrong on so many levels. Glad #JazmineHeadley is back with her son and charges dropped! 👏🏽 https://www.instagram.com/p/BrbKe_DFD7c/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1ad03zs3r91w

[radicalsocialworkgroup]

Radical Social Work Group Statement and Press Release

The Radical Social Work Group condemns the State sanctioned racist, sexist, & classist violence that was directed toward Jazmine Headley and her son Damone, a one-year old toddler, in the Dekalb Job Center December 7, 2018. The structural violence she and her son encountered was multifold:

Payment to Jazmine’s son’s daycare should’ve never been stopped. Jazmine was attempting to get a child care voucher renewed for her son because the daycare was no longer getting payment [1]. The City halting payment forced her to take the day (for many this means missing work and pay) to have to navigate bureaucracy and reinstitute voucher payments. This process is faulty and disrespects parents’ time! It was the first level of violence Jazmine and her son faced. Parents can’t make it without child care, which shouldn’t be considered a benefit, but a right! Average child care costs in NYC are between $1,300-$2,500 [2]—that’s too damn high for most New Yorkers, especially for Black young adults between 18-24 years old who face repressed exploitative wages, unemployment, underemployment, and racial discrimination in the job interview process [3].

Jazmine shouldn’t have had to wait for 4 hours with her son and never be assisted. The wait-time in itself was a violent act! It reflects a lack of regard and respect for folks that have low income or no income and is all to common in our field. It is a slap in the face and a threat to wellbeing, because if you leave then you can’t get access to what should be a basic right, especially if you already jumped through the hoops to meet eligibility.

The physical space, and lack of resources for clients, in the Dekalb Job Center was violent and not trauma-informed. Why weren’t there enough chairs available for a mother and child to sit together? The very least that a public agency can do is provide chairs when subjecting clients to unbearable wait-times. Jazmine sat on the floor for hours!! It is hazardous to have such under-resourced spaces for clients that could have multiple physical health challenges in addition to basic need for seating when with a child. It is a class issue as well—did the workers have seats? Supervisors? Does Steve Banks, the Human Resources Administration and Department of Social Services (HRA/DSS) have to ever worry about not having a seat? Again, it is symbolic of the total disregard for the families and communities—the human beings—who are going to the 30 Job Centers across the City to access the most basic resources. It is historical. It is racist, sexist, and classist.

Dekalb Job Center Security were aggressive and their presence created a physically and emotionally toxic environment. Security staff increased the volatility and toxicity of the wait area space in the job center. Instead of providing support or a resource when there weren’t chairs, they demanded that Jazmine get up and move. Who were they protecting? Who were they serving? Their escalated tactics turned an already institutionally violent situation into one where there could’ve been fatal. Who called the police on Jazmine and her son? Could that same HRA worker or security guard used a different strategy that affirmed Jazmin and her son’s humanity?

The NYPD violated Jazmine and her toddler’s human rights, along with vicariously traumatizing families in the Job Center, through brutal violent force. As the video clearly shows, Jazmine’s son, a toddler, was shaken violently from her grip. The NYPD brandished a tazer as well, which could’ve been fatal. If those NYPD officers were child care providers they would’ve been charged with child abuse and endangerment by the Administration for Children’s Services! However, in this circumstance it was State sanctioned violence! Jazmine was the one charged with 1) resisting arrest, 2) acting in a manner injurious to a child, 3) obstructing governmental administration, and 4) trespassing. It was an anti-Black, racist, sexist, & classist discriminatory attack on Jazmine and her son in an HRA office allegedly dedicated to fighting poverty, income inequality and providing families with essential resources. Her right as a mother to protect her son from harm was violated and actively repressed. It is historical. It is racist, sexist, and classist.

End discriminatory jailing and mass incarceration. Jazmine was jailed for 5 days at Rikers. She was the one with her rights violated, yet she was jailed and arrested. End discriminatory jailing. End mass incarceration.

As social workers, mandated reporters with a professional code of ethics, charged with protecting child welfare, what do we do when it’s the HRA and the NYPD violently causing harm to a mother and child?

Will the New York State Central Registry investigate abuse perpetrated by HRA security and NYPD that directly facilitated a hostile and violent environment that endangered the welfare of a child? How were the HRA staff and administration at the Dekalb Job Center complicit in this violence? What supervisor and staff observed the situation escalating and did nothing or encouraged the intervention of NYPD?

Will the NYPD officers that shook a 1-year old toddler, as they tried to rip him from his mother’s arms be held responsible for the violence, both physical and emotional, that they enacted? What will repair of this harm for the mother, for the child, for all the families that witnessed it?  

What We Want:

The investigation must incorporate parents who access job centers as leaders in the investigation, and compensate them well for their time.

Based on their recommendations, transform policies regarding child care voucher renewal, job center wait-room accommodations for parents with children, and staff-client ratios to reduce wait-time.

Replace security with trauma-informed staff in job centers that can provide culturally responsive services. Prioritize parents who have accessed job centers for these roles.

Footnotes 1. Gold, M. & Southall, A. (2018, December 11). Charges dropped against Brooklyn mother who had baby ripped from her arms by police. New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/11/nyregion/jazmine-headley-baby-video-nypd.html

2. Average cost of child care centers in NYC retrieved from https://www.nyu.edu/employees/life-wellness/family-care/child-care/young-children/child-care-centers.html.

3.  Pager, D. (2007). Marked: Race, crime and finding work in an era of mass incarceration. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

For more information contact [email protected]

[lionzkingsview-blog]

@shaunking ・・・ BREAKING: All charges have been dropped for #JazmineHeadley after she was assaulted, had her baby snatched from her, and was then sent to Rikers Island for 4 nights. She’s still at Rikers as her team works to get her released immediately. Thank you to @bklyndefender and @brooklyndaoffice for helping make this happen. “Continuing to pursue this case will not serve any purpose and I therefore moved today to dismiss it immediately in the interest of justice,” Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. -------------------------------------------------- Follow me also @therealremyredd #therealremyredd @colossill (The Black App) #BotherVex (BackUp) #blackinamerica #BlackLivesMatter #BlackHistory #blackhistorymonth #StephCurry #Lebron #Nas #Beyonce #Jayz #KimKardashian #cardib #WillSmith #jadapinkettsmith #nickiminaj #Worldstar #getthestrap #colinkaepernick #Hiphop #BoycottNFL #DanielClary #JusticeForDanyeJones #DeontayWilder https://www.instagram.com/p/BrQp4T3hi0L/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=nmgm6eyb1i96

[lionzkingsview-blog]

#Whiteprivilege was on full display when the criminal justice system delivered a gift ahead of the holidays to the woman dubbed “#PoolPatrolPaula” who assaulted a Black teenager and a cop in June. Stephanie Sebby-Strempel was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine after pleading guilty to assault and battery on Monday. The criminal justice system punishes African-Americans harsher than whites for committing similar crimes, as a 2017 study by the United States Sentencing Commission reminded us. Quite the opposite of Sebby-Strempel’s sentence, the criminal justice system mistreated Brenda Hardaway, a Black woman from Rochester, New York, who was 21 years old when she pleaded guilty in 2014 to assaulting an officer while resisting arrest. Like Hardaway, Sebby-Strempel injured two officers. But unlike Hardaway, who received a six-month jail sentence for causing an officer’s injury while he was placing her in handcuffs, Sebby-Strempel emerged relatively unscathed even though she pushed one detective into a wall, injuring his knee, and bit a second detective on the arm hard enough to break the skin. In many cases, African-American suspects are killed if they attack a police officer. And if they do survive, the suspect ends up beaten and bloodied. Sebby-Strempel’s sentencing came against the backdrop of news that Louisville police officers beat up a Black man during a traffic stop on Sunday for no apparent reason. Footage of the arrest was posted to the Facebook account of Tonniqua Wale. It shows three cops pulling a man out of his vehicle and slamming him to the pavement at a gas station. One of the cops punches him multiple times before he’s handcuffed. And a viral video posted on Friday captured New York City police officers violently dragging a Black woman across the floor of a food assistance center to pull her 1-year-old baby from her arms. Police arrested the mother, identified as 23-year-old #JazmineHeadley, for resisting arrest -------------------------------------------------- Follow me also @therealremyredd #therealremyredd @colossill (The Black App) #BotherVex (BackUp) #blackinamerica #BlackLivesMatter #Worldstar #getthestrap #colinkaepernick #Hiphop #BoycottNFL https://www.instagram.com/p/BrQiBCJhyBo/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=wf7g4memm3c1

[hiphopuniteddaily]

😳😰😰 This is so crazy. Who do you think is in the wrong here? I feel the mom’s pain💔💔 Personally I think some of those officers were WAY too aggressive, I’m sure they were trying to do their jobs and it’s a difficult situation but this wasn’t physically handled well in my opinion. Let me know what you think 💭 Were the officers just doing their jobs? This whole situation could have been handled better on both sides. VIEW FULL VIDEO ON IGTV 🎥 READ STORY BELOW 👇. STORY: A group of #NYPDofficers tried to rip a child from his mother’s arms at a #Brooklynfoodassistancecenter #Friday in a scene captured on video that first sparked outrage and now an investigation. The shocking footage shows a young mother identified by police as #JazmineHeadley, 23 sitting on the floor at a #SNAPcenter in #BoerumHill as a uniformed officer attempts to pry her 1-year old son from her arms, dragging her across the room in the process. Other officers also joined in trying to separate mother and son. “Oh my God, oh my God, look what they’re doing to us, look what they’re doing to her,” someone can be heard yelling as about three officers and at least one security guard surround the woman. “There’s a f—king baby in her hands!” someone else screams. At one point, the mother can be seen mouthing, “I’m begging you please,” as she lays flat on the ground. One #policeofficer points what appears to be a Taser at the protesting crowd as more cops arrive. #MonaeSinclair, who posted the video, wrote that the #mom sat down on the floor at the #275BergenSt. center because there were no chairs left, and she was confronted by a security guard. “The mom made the #securityguard feel dumb so she called the cops on her and this was the outcome,” Sinclair wrote in the video’s caption. “She had her baby in her hands the whole time. I’m so f–ing disgusted with the NYPD.” “#HRA peace officers brought the woman to the floor,” the #NYPD said. She was charged with #resistingarrest, #actinginamannerinjurioustoachild, #obstructinggovernmentaladministration and #criminaltrespassing. via newyorkpost https://www.instagram.com/p/BrQFP4VHcwH/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=frf2mqzo0gdg

[hiphopuniteddaily]

😳😳😰😰 This is so crazy. Who do you think is in the wrong here? I feel the mom’s pain💔💔 Personally I think some of those officers were WAY too aggressive, I’m sure they were trying to do their jobs and it’s a different situation but this wasn’t physically handled well in my opinion. Let me know what you think 💭 Were the officers just doing their jobs? This whole situation could have been handled better on both sides. READ STORY BELOW 👇. STORY: A group of #NYPDofficers tried to rip a child from his mother’s arms at a #Brooklynfoodassistancecenter #Friday in a scene captured on video that first sparked outrage and now an investigation. The shocking footage shows a young mother identified by police as #JazmineHeadley, 23 sitting on the floor at a #SNAPcenter in #BoerumHill as a uniformed officer attempts to pry her 1-year old son from her arms, dragging her across the room in the process. Other officers also joined in trying to separate mother and son. “Oh my God, oh my God, look what they’re doing to us, look what they’re doing to her,” someone can be heard yelling as about three officers and at least one security guard surround the woman. “There’s a f—king baby in her hands!” someone else screams. At one point, the mother can be seen mouthing, “I’m begging you please,” as she lays flat on the ground. One #policeofficer points what appears to be a Taser at the protesting crowd as more cops arrive. #MonaeSinclair, who posted the video, wrote that the #mom sat down on the floor at the #275BergenSt. center because there were no chairs left, and she was confronted by a security guard. “The mom made the #securityguard feel dumb so she called the cops on her and this was the outcome,” Sinclair wrote in the video’s caption. “She had her baby in her hands the whole time. I’m so f–ing disgusted with the NYPD.” “#HRA peace officers brought the woman to the floor,” the #NYPD said. She was charged with #resistingarrest, #actinginamannerinjurioustoachild, #obstructinggovernmentaladministration and #criminaltrespassing. via newyorkpost (at Brooklyn, New York) https://www.instagram.com/p/BrO1C2FHJI_/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=172a52eb9f9b7