This story originally appeared in LV Daily, Little Village’s Monday-Friday email newsletter. Sign up to have it delivered for free to your inbox. The City of Cedar Rapids will pay $10,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a resident who claimed the selection process for a city board that reviews police conduct was prejudiced against […]
Black Lives Matter
Posted inCentral Iowa, Central Iowa Community/News, Community/News, Uncategorized
Dana James: In the two years since George Floyd’s murder, Iowa lawmakers have prioritized order over reform
George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis police on May 25, 2020 scarred my soul. Watching video of callous white police officers murdering a Black man on a Midwestern street provoked despair and unparalleled anger. But the ensuing groundswell of protesters that summer felt cathartic. Unpopular opinion: While many Iowans fretted over the ensuing chaos during the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Protesters banned from Iowa Capitol reach settlement with the state in First Amendment lawsuit
The Iowa Department of Public Safety and Iowa State Patrol (ISP) will no longer attempt to ban protesters from the Iowa State Capitol for participating in protests, as it did last year, under the terms of a settlement approved by a federal judge on Tuesday. The state of Iowa will also pay $5,000 each to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘No major changes’ needed to SROs, CRPD says, despite data showing racial disparities in student arrests
Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman told school board members on Monday the department realizes its officers in Cedar Rapids schools have been arresting Black students at a disproportionately high rate, but said he still supports the school resource officer program “100 percent.” The Cedar Rapids Community School District has been re-examining its use of […]
Posted inCommunity/News
CRCSD to ‘act with urgency’ on racial disparities in how students are treated by school police officers
The Cedar Rapids Community School District (CRCSD) is reexamining its use of school resource officers after recent data showed Black students are six times more likely than white students to have a complaint filed against them. The data, which spans five school years from 2015 to 2020, is from the state’s Department of Human Rights […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa Legislature passes bill that increases penalties for some protest-related offenses, protects drivers who hit protesters from lawsuits
The Iowa Legislature has passed a bill that increases penalties for people engaged in protest, increases qualified immunity for police officers and shields drivers who strike protesters from civil lawsuits. SF 342, the so-called “Back the Blue” bill, passed the Republican-led Senate on a party-line vote on Monday, and passed the House on Tuesday with […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘Come off the sidelines’: Cedar Rapids rally addresses what it means to be an effective ally in the fight for social justice
People gathered at Greene Square Park in Cedar Rapids on Saturday afternoon to listen to speakers urge white allies to elevate the voices of Black people and other people of color, and discussed what it means to be an effective ally in the movement for racial justice. The “Calling All Allies: A Rally to Unite” […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Student arrested for allegedly pushing state trooper’s arm during protest of ‘racist bills’ at State Capitol
An 18-year-old high school senior was arrested at the Iowa State Capitol after allegedly tapping a state trooper on the arm during a peaceful protest on Thursday. Josephine Mulvihill was part of a group of Black Lives Matter supporters from around the state protesting a series of bills that would grant expanded immunity to law […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Jury acquits Des Moines Register reporter arrested while covering a protest last spring
A Polk County jury took less than two hours on Wednesday to acquit Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Sahouri of the two misdemeanor charges she was facing. The charges resulted from Sahouri’s May 2020 arrest by a Des Moines Police Department officer while she covering a Black Lives Matter protest. Sahouri had been charged with […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Revolution and Beatitudes of Black Liberation: A video essay by Stacey Walker
Produced by Little Village in partnership with Witching Hour and Englert Wavelength Below is an excerpt from Walker’s essay, published in Little Village’s February 2021 issue. What is Black Liberation? What does it mean to be free? Black people have been fighting for liberation since we arrived on the shores of what would come to […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Cedar Rapids establishes the second police review board in Iowa
The Cedar Rapids City Council gave final approval on Tuesday to the establishment of an independent citizen review board that will oversee the Cedar Rapids Police Department. The board will be responsible for reviewing police data and policies, implementing a program of community outreach and be part of future police chief candidate selection committees. The […]
Posted inCommunity/News
‘It is a milestone day’: Cedar Rapids City Council unanimously approves police review board during first vote
The Cedar Rapids City Council unanimously advanced an ordinance that puts the city one step closer to establishing an independent citizen review board for the Cedar Rapids Police Department. Tuesday’s vote was the first of three required to enact the ordinance. If approved in February, Cedar Rapids will be the second city in the state […]
