Stop and frisk is when police “temporarily” detain somebody and pat down their outer clothing when there are specific articulate facts leading a reasonable police officer to believe a person is armed and dangerous. It is not necessary for the officer to articulate or identify a specific crime they think is being committed, only that a set of factual circumstances exist that would lead a reasonable officer to have a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity is occurring. “Reasonable suspicion” is one step below “probable cause” and one step above a hunch.
A “frisk” by definition is a type of search that requires a “lawful stop”. It is best thought of as a separate act, but in practice, a suspect who refuses to answer questions in a stop may be providing the officer with sufficient justification to frisk. A frisk should not be for anything other than a dangerous weapon or contraband. However, if other evidence, like a suspected drug container, is felt, it can be seized by the officer under the “plain feel” doctrine. The test for “plain feel” is that the item’s contraband nature be “immediately apparent”.
Resource: uslegal.com
One of several problems with stop & frisk, is that most if not all Police demand name, address, question people of colour when in upper income communities and or assume gang affiliation least we talk about the percentage of Black Latino Asian or Caucasian men&women being stopped on a daily basis … is it a quota, a civil rights issue, a misuse or abuse of power ~ Nativergrl77
Prohibited seeking or imposing the death penalty on the basis of race. The act identified types of evidence that might be considered by the court when considering whether race was a basis for seeking or imposing the death penalty and established a process by which relevant evidence might be used to establish that race was a significant factor in seeking or imposing the death penalty. The defendant had the burden of proving that race was a significant factor in seeking or imposing the death penalty, and the state was allowed to offer evidence to rebut the claims or evidence of the defendant. If race was found to be a significant factor in the imposition of the death penalty, the death sentence would automatically be commuted to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.[1]
North Carolina General Assembly Repeal Attempts [edit]
Under pressure from a group of 43 district attorneys, who expressed opposition to the act citing the clog of the court system in the state, the North Carolina Senate passed a bill by a 27-14 vote on November 28, 2011, that would have effectively repealed the Racial Justice Act.[2]
However, on December 14, GovernorBev Perdue, a Democrat, vetoed the bill, saying that while she supports the death penalty, she felt it was “simply unacceptable for racial prejudice to play a role in the imposition of the death penalty in North Carolina.”[3] The state legislature did not have enough votes to override Perdue’s veto.
The North Carolina General Assembly passed a major revision of the law in 2012 authored by Rep. Paul Stam (R-Wake). The rewrite “severely restricts the use of statistics to only the county or judicial district where the crime occurred, instead of the entire state or region. It also says statistics alone are insufficient to prove bias, and that the race of the victim cannot be taken into account.” The bill was vetoed by Gov. Perdue, but this time, the legislature overrode the governor’s veto.[4]
The North Carolina General Assembly voted to effectively repeal the entire law in 2013 and Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, signed the repeal into law.[5]
On April 20, 2012, in the first case appealed under the Racial Justice Act, the then-Senior Resident Superior Court Judge in Cumberland County (Fayetteville), Judge Greg Weeks, threw out the death sentence of Marcus Raymond Robinson, automatically commuting his sentence to life without parole. Robinson contended that when he was sentenced to death in 1994, prosecutors deliberately kept blacks off the jury. Robinson’s lawyers cited a study from Michigan State University College of Law indicating that prosecutors across North Carolina improperly used their peremptory challenges to systemically exclude qualified black jurors from jury service.[6][7][8]
James Mercer Langston Hughes was born February 1, 1902, in Joplin, Missouri. His parents divorced when he was a young child, and his father moved to Mexico. He was raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen, when he moved to Lincoln, Illinois, to live with his mother and her husband, before the family eventually settled in Cleveland, Ohio. It was in Lincoln that Hughes began writing poetry. After graduating from high school, he spent a year in Mexico followed by a year at Columbia University in New York City. During this time, he held odd jobs such as assistant cook, launderer, and busboy. He also travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman. In November 1924, he moved to Washington, D. C. Hughes’s first book of poetry, The Weary Blues, (Knopf, 1926) was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1926. He finished his college education at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania three years later. In 1930 his first novel, Not Without Laughter, (Knopf, 1930) won the Harmon gold medal for literature.
Hughes, who claimed Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg, and Walt Whitman as his primary influences, is particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties. He wrote novels, short stories and plays, as well as poetry, and is also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in his book-length poem Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951). His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Unlike other notable black poets of the period—Claude McKay, Jean Toomer, and Countee Cullen—Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America. He wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself.
The critic Donald B. Gibson noted in the introduction to Modern Black Poets: A Collection of Critical Essays (Prentice Hall, 1973) that Hughes “differed from most of his predecessors among black poets . . . in that he addressed his poetry to the people, specifically to black people. During the twenties when most American poets were turning inward, writing obscure and esoteric poetry to an ever decreasing audience of readers, Hughes was turning outward, using language and themes, attitudes and ideas familiar to anyone who had the ability simply to read . . . Until the time of his death, he spread his message humorously—though always seriously—to audiences throughout the country, having read his poetry to more people (possibly) than any other American poet.”
Langston Hughes died of complications from prostate cancer in May 22, 1967, in New York City. In his memory, his residence at 20 East 127th Street in Harlem has been given landmark status by the New York City Preservation Commission, and East 127th Street has been renamed “Langston Hughes Place.”
In addition to leaving us a large body of poetic work, Hughes wrote eleven plays and countless works of prose, including the well-known “Simple” books: Simple Speaks His Mind, (Simon & Schuster, 1950); Simple Stakes a Claim, (Rinehart, 1957); Simple Takes a Wife, (Simon & Schuster, 1953); and Simple’s Uncle Sam (Hill and Wang, 1965). He edited the anthologies The Poetry of the Negro and The Book of Negro Folklore, wrote an acclaimed autobiography, The Big Sea (Knopf, 1940), and cowrote the play Mule Bone (HarperCollins, 1991) with Zora Neale Hurston.
Selected Bibliography
Poetry
Collected Poems of Langston Hughes (Knopf, 1994) The Panther and the Lash: Poems of Our Times (Knopf, 1967) Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz (Knopf, 1961) Montage of a Dream Deferred (Holt, 1951) One-Way Ticket (Knopf, 1949) Fields of Wonder (Knopf, 1947) Freedom’s Plow (Musette Publishers, 1943) Shakespeare in Harlem (Knopf, 1942) The Dream Keeper and Other Poems (Knopf, 1932) Scottsboro Limited (The Golden Stair Press, 1932) Dear Lovely Death (Troutbeck Press, 1931) Fine Clothes to the Jew (Knopf, 1927) The Weary Blues (Knopf, 1926)
Prose
Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechten, 1925-1964 (Knopf, 2001) The Arna Bontemps-Langston Hughes Letters (Dodd, Mead, 1980) Good Morning, Revolution: Uncollected Social Protest Writings by Langston Hughes (Hill, 1973) Simple’s Uncle Sam (Hill and Wang, 1965) Something in Common and Other Stories (Hill and Wang, 1963) Tambourines to Glory (John Day, 1958) Simple Stakes a Claim (Rinehart, 1957) I Wonder as I Wander (Rinehart, 1956) Laughing to Keep From Crying (Holt, 1952) Simple Takes a Wife (Simon & Schuster, 1953) Simple Speaks His Mind (Simon & Schuster, 1950) The Ways of White Folks (Knopf, 1934) Not Without Laughter (Knopf, 1930)
Drama
Collected Works of Langston Hughes, vol. 5: The Plays to 1942: Mulatto to The Sun Do Move (University of Missouri Press, 2000) The Political Plays of Langston Hughes (Southern Illinois University Press, 2000) Mule Bone (HarperCollins, 1991) Five Plays by Langston Hughes (Indiana University Press, 1963)
Poetry in Translation
Cuba Libre (Anderson & Ritchie, 1948) Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral (Indiana University Press, 1957)
Unhappy Birthday to the Amendment That Started the War on Women
I received a like & a few comments from someone from the extreme right, well, a breitbart team member. I have no respect for what breitbart represented.
I also have issues with FOX being considered a news program that is actually a Republican station, so any use of them as a resource is just not going to fly. When it comes to Election2012, I am definitely concerned about the folks that Ryan represents the fact that he not only follows, but also quotes Ayn Rand while quietly plotting out a plan to overturn roe V wade. The top of the ticket is an even scarier thought because Ryan like Romney along with other Republicans have planned NOT to give Americans the necessary information to make intelligent choices. Though folks are starting to tune in this – is the most important election Americans have had to participate in and Republicans are doing whatever they have to in order that left leaning folks right to vote is suppressed in election2012. I am, particularly concerned about a woman’s right to choose as Republican Governors took it upon themselves to pass unacceptable legislation ,screamed about their religious freedoms have been violated. While women all over the World watched in horror as a panel of men who not only refused to listen to Sandra fluke, they denied Eleanor Holmes Norton a seat at the table as well. I don’t know about you but I was pissed, scared and determined not to let a group of men turn back the clock in a fight for by women who suffered from a lack of Equality in all its forms, I mean are these men serious? do they think women are too stupid to make their own health care decisions or is there another reason for the sudden need to ban birth control possibly trash roe V wade. Maybe. I know Women’s suffrage was about a whole lot more than reproductive rights and we all must remember VAMA and the Equal pay Act are bills sitting waiting to become laws. While those in Congress, specifically republicans have decided, no business is good for their Elections there is a lot of Republican talk out there about birth control and abortion, which should scare Women. As VP Joe Biden stated in the debate, roe V wade is only as safe as the Supreme Court justices allowed to sit on the court are objective. The Hyde amendment was a knee jerk reaction from a man or group of men who believed that had the right to invade a Woman’s personal space, life and their right to choose. Unfortunately, in the end it became a law. We all know 98% of women use birth control. I know plenty girls (women) who have had abortions at 18, some are now married , have kids doing quite well thank you… went to college have good jobs and some are in that 47% because they are single parents . As a person of colour and mom, I am more than scared to be governed by Romney/Ryan … imagine that finger wagging Gov. Brewer did ; only it will be Romney/Ryan after having eliminated all social programs warning all of us brown, black ,mixed and whites folks considered a part of that low life 47%. So, as we gasp at most if not at all of what Conservatives are saying we hear so-called Republican, Trump and the rest of the new Republicans the notion that the time has come for the Rich to Rule America is in full effect this very moment.
I grew up thinking America was a good place to live for everyone but given the push from the “have it all” but it’s not enough seem to be trying to buy Election2012 Votes, we must all stay the course, fight back with our votes to fight the mission to turn back the clock or change our democracy. I have some serious doubts, especially with what I am reading on your blog – Republicans have taken a big risk and trashed 47% ,do not forget this includes Vets, teachers, firefighters police …City County and State workers have been cut, slashed and burned by the GOP.
I know the write up was negative … Though it might be a good opportunity to trade information, find out exactly why ideology rates higher than the greater good … well, at least ask.
Unhappy Birthday to the Amendment That Started the War on Women
… birth control become controversial?” In some ways, we can thank former Rep. Henry Hyde (R.-Ill.) for setting us on this path. The attacks on contraceptive coverage can be traced back to an amendment of his that turns 36 years old today. The Hyde Amendment…
By Jessica Arons | Monday, October 1, 2012
Introduction: 30 Years is Long Enough, by Jessica Arons
Part One: Hyde Amendment History, by Marlene Gerber Fried
Part Two: Dignity and Justice for Some?, by Sarah Horsley
Part Three: Does the Hyde Amendment Violate Human Rights?, by Patty Skuster and Jamie D. Brooks
Part Four: Expanding Reproductive Choice, by Susan Jenkins
Part Five: The Future of Hyde, by Toni M. Bond Leonard
by uslegal.com
Be a Seed for Change 
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