The 1799 gradual abolition law declared that children born after July 4, 1799 to enslaved mothers in New York would be born free, but would have to provide free services to their mothers’ masters until they reached 25 if female and 28 if male.

history.nycourts.gov

Two years ago this week, my son Jaxon went on a blind date – and never came home. I can’t begin to describe how it feels to experience a mother’s worst fear, as it is a nightmare that will never end. The police closed Jaxon’s case in spite of several concerning and conflicting details. We still don’t know the truth about what happened to our son. 

That awful night we texted Jaxon at 11 pm and he responded that he would come home. But the next morning, on March 2, 2020, our vibrant, hardworking, gay, Asian American son was found naked and dead in the bed of a 41-year-old white male who he did not know. The San Francisco Medical Examiner conducted the autopsy and, without any substantive investigation, declared Jaxon’s death an accidental drug overdose from GHB, also commonly known as the date-rape drug. The Assistant Medical Examiner justified the lack of investigation by saying only, “the gay community uses GHB.” If Jaxon was heterosexual, both the SFPD and the SF OCME would have fully investigated the circumstances of our son’s death.

Your help is needed to get justice. Sign our petition to demand that the San Francisco Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (SF OCME) and the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) reopen Jaxon’s case

We have so many open questions related to his death. The 41-year-old white man, in whose bed Jaxon died, stated that he and Jaxon went to bed at 2 am and he heard Jaxon snoring at 6:30 am. But he only called 911 an hour later after he claimed to have showered and cleaned his apartment first. If Jaxon was given GHB right before he went to bed, why would an overdose have taken five hours to kill him? While Jaxon was dying from a GHB overdose, why did that person take so long to call 911? Why were no other witnesses questioned? 

We’ve also been directly told that there was a report of another (non-fatal) overdose at that man’s apartment in the week prior to Jaxon’s. Why hasn’t that overdose victim been questioned? 

We’ve spent the last two years devastated, paralyzed, and grieving Jaxon’s death and repeatedly asking for answers to our questions. We want the truth about what happened to Jaxon that night and why he never came home.

Our 20-year-old son’s death deserves the same investigation given to any human being, regardless of gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. 

Sincerely, Angie Aquino-Sales

Kylie Murdock

Executive Coordinator

@kyliemmurdock

Jim Kessler

Executive Vice President for Policy

@ThirdWayKessler

Takeaways

• The rate of murders in the US has gone up at an alarming rate. But, despite a media narrative to the contrary, this is a problem that afflicts Republican-run cities and states as much or more than the Democratic bastions.
• In 2020, per capita murder rates were 40% higher in states won by Donald Trump than those won by Joe Biden.
•  8 of the 10 states with the highest murder rates in 2020 voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election this century.

Every news outlet from FOX to CNN to The New York Times to local newspapers has a story with attention-grabbing headlines like “US cities hit all-time murder records.” Fox News and Republicans have jumped on this and framed it as a “Democrat” problem. They blame it on Democrat’s “soft-on-crime” approach and have even referred to a New York District Attorney’s approach as “hug-a-thug.” Many news stories outside of Fox have also purported that police reform is responsible for this rise in murder and have pointed to cities like New York and Los Angeles.

There is a measure of truth to these stories. The US saw an alarming 30% increase in murder in 2020. While 2021 data is not yet complete, murder was on the rise again this past year.  Some “blue” cities, like Chicago, Baltimore, and Philadelphia, have seen real and persistent increases in homicides. These cities—along with others like Los Angeles, New York, and Minneapolis—are also in places with wall-to-wall media coverage and national media interest.

But there is a large piece of the homicide story that is missing and calls into question the veracity of the right-wing obsession over homicides in Democratic cities: murder rates are far higher in Trump-voting red states than Biden-voting blue states. And sometimes, murder rates are highest in cities with Republican mayors.

For the complete article … go to the source listed below

Source: ThirdWay.org

Study: Republicans lead most States with high Murder Rates