The report, “Regressive Policing Under President Trump,” released June 30, updates the ACLU’s Seven States Safety Campaign, tracking municipal police and county sheriff’s departments in Tennessee, Massachusetts, New York, Arizona, Mississippi, Minnesota and Kentucky—states where earlier civil rights investigations by the Department of Justice (DOJ) had already found patterns of police abuse.

Last May, the ACLU and local partners filed coordinated public records requests across the seven states for use-of-force reports and related documents. The ACLU received more than 600 records, though many agencies delayed or withheld documents required under state law.

In a statement, Dr. Jenn Rolnick Borchetta, deputy director of policing at the ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project, said their “preliminary review of these records suggests that many of the same problems identified by the DOJ persisted at the exact moment the federal government was using those claims to justify walking away.”

Since then, she added, the Trump administration “has been actively encouraging the same types of aggressive policing tactics that the DOJ has found to be dangerous and unconstitutional.

If the federal government refuses to protect people’s constitutional rights, we deserve transparency about whether the known police misconduct in our communities is being taken seriously.”

ACLU’s preliminary review found excessive force remains a problem—including improper escalation against people in mental health crises, misuse of Tasers, and internal reviews that may fail to catch improper force—and that racial discrimination identified in the DOJ investigations has persisted.

The report cites specific cases in each jurisdiction that it says mirror the misconduct the DOJ originally documented:

In Louisville, the ACLU says an officer punched a handcuffed man twice in the face after he spit at him—the kind of disproportionate retaliatory force DOJ had flagged earlier.

In Minneapolis, the report described an officer who pinned a woman’s neck with a knee for roughly five minutes during a low-level call instead of de-escalating, and another who used a Taser twice on a man holding grilling tongs, continuing after he’d already been stunned once and dropped the object.

In Rankin County, Mississippi, the report says deputies used a Taser on a restrained, unarmed man in the county jail after he refused to make his bed—and that a supervisory review found “no issue” with using a Taser on an unarmed detainee who didn’t exit a cell opening on command.

In Mount Vernon, New York, state arrest data and the ACLU’s review both show Black residents disproportionately affected, and that most people who had a weapon or Taser drawn on them weren’t armed.

The DOJ had found Mount Vernon, strip-searched nearly everyone arrested, including two women, ages 65 and 75, over a suspected drug transaction that turned up no contraband. The ACLU’s request for strip-search logs since 2023 came back nearly blank.

In Worcester, Massachusetts, the report says the department’s public policies still contain no guidance on preventing or disciplining officer sexual misconduct, despite a 2025 pledge to address the DOJ’s findings.

The city also withheld use-of-force records citing a Massachusetts domestic-violence privacy statute the ACLU says has been applied more broadly than similar laws elsewhere.

In Memphis, which declined to enter a consent decree, the city formed a voluntary reform task force that the report says has since gone quiet. The city denied the ACLU’s records request outright, on invalid legal grounds, and did not comply until the ACLU and Stand for Children Tennessee sued in February.

The report also cites that a federal task force deployed to Memphis after the DOJ withdrew its findings has engaged in racially biased, aggressive traffic stops in majority-Black neighborhoods (ProPublica, Nov. 3, 2025).

“In Memphis, we’ve seen firsthand what happens when there are questions about police conduct but not enough transparency and accountability to answer them,” said Cardell Orrin, executive director of Stand for Children Tennessee.

“At a time when increased state and federal law enforcement activity is raising new concerns about people’s rights and safety, public access to local police records is more important than ever,” Mr. Orrin said.

“People deserve to know whether the misconduct identified by the DOJ is continuing and whether law enforcement agencies are taking meaningful steps to change their practices and protect the rights of the communities they serve,” he added.

Reneé Hall, president of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and former chief of the Dallas Police Department, said the report highlights a regression from the racial reckoning the country underwent in 2020,

When departments nationwide embraced the idea that change was needed, building on 21st-century policing reforms under President Barack Obama. “And that was kind of the foundation that reform was based out of,” Ms. Hall said.

She said that after killing of George Floyd in 2020, police departments “all over the world, almost,” discussed the need for change and what it meant for officers and communities. “What we see today is actually the total opposite of that. Not by all police agencies,” she said.

“The report highlights the unchecked and unfettered ability for those individuals from the federal government to operate in a manner that is disruptive and antithetical to what we put in place for many years around police reform.

It’s actually being rolled back and we’re seeing that in their tactics and in the investigative process,” she said. She added that she hopes Homeland Security’s current leadership holds officers accountable and runs investigations more properly and with dignity.

Ms. Hall, who also served as deputy chief of the Detroit Police Department, traced the patterns in the report back further, to the beginning of policing, created out of slave patrols, then matriculating through the Jim Crow, the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s, permeating from its inception. 

“There are challenges each and every day.  There’s a culture of law enforcement that does not just go away because you say that you’re going to do something different,” she told The Final Call.

Asked how she weighed the DOJ’s claim that the problems were already fixed against her own decades in the field, Ms. Hall replied, “I would say that statement is disingenuous.”

She also argued that use-of-force numbers alone don’t tell the full story. “I respect that we have numbers on a page and a paper, but I think it has to go a tad bit further,” she said.

Departments should be asked what they did after an incident, she said, pointing to Memphis, where the police chief handled a fatal use-of-force incident “textbook” and “better than most people have ever handled any of these tragic incidents,” yet still gets backlash.

Hall argued that critics focus on the officers involved without examining what the chief did afterward—the training and accountability she required to prevent it happening again. “I think there has to be a little bit of follow up,” she said.

Ms. Hall said meaningful accountability requires layered systems—body cameras, early-warning systems tracking whether an officer is “a habitual offender of use of force,” and follow-up on what action results.

She said community oversight builds trust but stopped short of endorsing civilian boards with disciplinary power, saying agencies discipline more strictly than the oversight boards she’s observed.

Hamid Khan, an organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, placed the ACLU’s findings in a longer history of oversight failures in Los Angeles, citing the Los Angeles Police Commission and independent investigations launched after the Watts uprising and the Rodney King beating. “Every time it’s been such an expose of these oversights,and the failures,” he said.

In his illuminating book, “A Torchlight for America,” written in 1993, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, addressed the problems with policing in the U.S.

“Our 14-year-olds and 18-year-olds are killed in police stations and the police offer lies to explain their deaths, such as they hanged themselves with their own shoestrings and other such foolishness.

All too often, the Justice Department of the U.S. government is weak in pursuing the truth about what the Black community believes are wrongful deaths at the hands of law enforcement,” Minister Farrakhan wrote

“They fear our youth. They fear the gangs because prior to the gangs, the police were the only gang in town. Often, the police are running or compromising with the dope business, the prostitution business and the criminal element in the society.

Many officials do not desire to see young Blacks organized, fearing that they may join together and one day do unto law enforcement what the law enforcement officers have been doing unto us.

This is not to say that all police are corrupt. But when we see so many incidences of police corruption, such as the Rodney King case and others, then the entire law enforcement system loses our trust,” Minister Farrakhan continued.

Mr. Khan pointed to a federal consent decree imposed on the LAPD after the Rampart scandal (1998-2000), which he said required dash cameras in patrol cars as a reform measure. “We found out that out of the 300 patrol cars that they installed dash cams, the cops broke antennas on 95 of them, all in the South Bureau,” he said.

According to Britannica.com, in the scandal, “more than 70 officers were implicated in misconduct, including unprovoked beatings and shootings, planting and covering up evidence, stealing and dealing drugs, and perjury.”

Mr. Khan argued that reform proposals, while worth documenting, don’t reach the core issue. “It is the intent to cause harm. And that’s what the police have been doing, because that’s exactly what their function has been,” he said, also tracing modern policing back to slave patrols enforcing property law.

“So, policing in this country is more of a counterinsurgency operation than anything else. And it is by design—it is intentionally done,” Mr. Khan told The Final Call.

His organizing work, he said, aims at ending rather than reforming the current model of policing, since oversight bodies have repeatedly failed and new investigations tend to follow, not prevent, high-profile incidents.

Chief Hall also reflected on the Black community’s relationship with law enforcement, saying many people shy away because of its history.

She referenced a sentiment that surfaced in 2020, when Black officers faced suggestions, they were “not Black enough” for serving in law enforcement, and argued that change has to come from within the profession as much as from outside pressure.

“If we could change it from the outside, it would already be changed,” said Ms. Hall.

The essence of reports such as these demonstrate what the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad has taught.

In The Muslim Program, in “What The Muslims Want,” Point Number 6, it says in part: “We want an immediate end to the police brutality and mob attacks against the so-called Negro throughout the United States.”

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The 84-page report issued jointly July 15 by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union also says men and women held at Camp East Montana, located at the U.S. Army’s Fort Bliss in El Paso, recounted being denied necessary medical care, forced to live in filthy conditions and fed inedible meals. Detainees also said they were prevented from contacting their lawyers or family members.

Of the 71 detainees contacted over a five-month period, 64—about 90% of those interviewed— said they had either personally been assaulted by the staff or had seen others physically abused, according to the report.

“ICE’s Camp East Montana is a human rights disaster,” said Angélica César, a fellow at Human Rights Watch and the ACLU who was a lead researcher for the report. “The U.S. government should shut it down, conduct independent investigations into all abuses and deaths in custody, and put an end to mass deportations and mandatory immigration detention.”

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement saying reports of inhumane conditions at its desert tent camp were “categorically false,” that no detainees are being beaten or abused, and that “ICE takes seriously the health and safety of all those detained in our custody.”

The new accounts of violence and substandard living conditions inside Camp East Montana are consistent with earlier reports by The Associated Press and others. At least three detainees held at the facility since it opened in August have died, including a 55-year-old Cuban migrant who was handcuffed and stopped breathing earlier this year after being held down by guards.

A local medical examiner later ruled that death a homicide and a federal report issued last month said evidence in the case was “missing or destroyed.” That report by the Government Accountability Office found mismanagement by the Department of Homeland Security had created unsafe conditions that contributed to detainee deaths and suffering even as millions of wasted tax dollars enriched contractors.

In March, ICE replaced Acquisition Logistics, LLC, the prime contractor that had been awarded a deal last year worth up to $1.3 billion to build and manage the camp, which was originally intended to hold up to 5,000 people. The Virginia company had no prior experience running an ICE detention facility, had never won a federal contract worth more than $16 million and lacked a functioning website.

The change came as an internal ICE review documented 49 deficiencies, which it defines as violations of detention standards or policies, in areas including the use of force and restraints, security and medical care.

Despite the change in contractors, interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch and the ACLU as recently as last month found serious problems at the camp have persisted.

Detainees recounted degrading and inhumane living conditions that included bathrooms covered in feces, flooded housing units and no access to soap or other basic hygiene supplies, according to the report. They also reported being held indoors for weeks without meaningful access to recreation, sunlight or fresh air.

People also described receiving spoiled food and inconsistent meal schedules, with delays of up to 12 hours between meals. The report recounts detainees saying that guards beat detainees in response to hunger strikes, requests for medical attention and complaints regarding detention conditions.

Several people said that guards imposed collective punishment, striking or assaulting multiple people after accusing one detainee of violating rules, according to the report.

Researchers found that staff pressured and coerced those held there into abandoning immigration claims and accepting removal to third countries if they could not be sent back to their own country. The detainees said they were threatened with violence, criminal prosecution, and indefinite detention if they refused deportation.

In some cases, the report concluded, the circumstances of ICE detention could amount to enforced disappearances, a potential violation of international human rights law.

Human Rights Watch and the ACLU called on the Trump administration to close Camp East Montana and to allow independent investigations into deaths in custody, excessive force, medical neglect and enforced disappearances.

“The abuses documented at Fort Bliss are the predictable outcome of the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda, its brutal expansion of immigration detention, and the erosion of federal oversight mechanisms,” said César, the lead researcher. “People at Camp East Montana are human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and protected from harm.” (AP)

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His family and their attorney, Ben Crump, met with Jackson County, Miss., District Attorney Angel Myers McIlrath and members of her staff on July 15. The DA shared that once the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office completes its investigation, she would present the case to a grand jury, Atty.

Crump said in a news conference following the meeting. “We also agreed that we will have a mutual inspection of the cellphone with our experts and their experts,” Atty. Crump said. Former law enforcement experts are aiding independent investigation, he added.

A complete picture of what happened that day has yet to emerge. Atty. Crump said the meeting focused largely on the legal process, and the DA did not provide the family with information about the investigation.

Nolan traveled from Ocean Springs, Miss., where he grew up, to Horn Island with friends. He was pictured on a boat with three young White men, who returned to the mainland without him.

Jackson County Sheriff John Ledbetter has said investigators believe Nolan may have chosen to remain on the island and planned to return with someone else. His family questions that account, as his phone remained on the boat after it left the island.

“Every morning they wake up and there‘s a hole in their heart, and they are trying to say what happened to my son. Obviously, they feel strongly that he would not have just stayed behind.

He wouldn‘t have left his cellphone, and so we‘re trying to get to those answers,” Atty. Crump said. He previously shared that messages appeared to have been deleted from the phone.

At the news conference, Atty. Crump said the legal team received dozens of calls a day from people who were on Horn Island that day or know people who were there.

“The hope is that when this is presented to the grand jury, all relevant witnesses and evidence will be presented to them, so that we can have a fair and impartial investigation into the death of Nolan Wells,” he said. “Our lived experiences tell us that we must question everything, everybody‘s role, law enforcement‘s role. That is the lived experience of us as Black people in America.”

The family and legal team were awaiting results from an independent autopsy performed by a forensic pathologist in Washington, D.C. The official cause and manner of death have not yet been released.

Nolan’s family, friends, coaches, teammates and community celebrated his life on July 20 at a homegoing service. Former NFL quarterback and activist Colin Kaepernick paid for the independent autopsy, while producer, actor and filmmaker Tyler Perry paid Nolan’s funeral expenses, according to Atty. Crump.

—Anisah Muhammad, Staff Writer

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“We are now entering the second stage of this movement, the stage of negotiation,” Professor Sir Hilary Beckles, chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Commission, declared during a media briefing at the University of London that was live streamed. There is a growing sentiment among Caribbean nations that “Europe owes us!”

The four-day mission to Britain from July 13-16, marked the commission’s second official visit as a collective body. It comes after a series of major international developments that supporters say have shifted reparations from a moral appeal to a growing legal and diplomatic movement.

In March, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a landmark Ghana-led resolution declaring the Trans-Atlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans and chattel slavery the “gravest crime against humanity.” The measure passed 123-0, though the United Kingdom was among 52 nations that abstained.

The vote represented another milestone in what Caribbean leaders describe as a growing international consensus that slavery and colonialism require legal remedies, not simply historical acknowledgment. Caribbean leaders say the resolution strengthens the commission’s position that reparations have moved beyond moral appeals into the realm of international law and diplomacy.

Sir Beckles, an internationally recognized historian, said the movement has moved decisively beyond symbolic gestures. “We have had an avalanche of apologies—governments, corporations, institutions, churches, and families that were directly enriched are offering apologies,” he stated. “Now those apologies must become programs of reparatory justice.”

The CRC delegation included Dorbrene O’Marde, chairman of the Antigua and Barbuda Reparations Support Commission; Eric Phillips, chairman of the Guyana Reparations Committee;

Professor Verene Shepherd, vice chair of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination; Ambassador David Comissiong, Barbados’ ambassador to CARICOM, and Dr. Ron Daniels, convenor of the U.S. National African Reparations Commission.

The London mission followed the June 2026 High-Level Consultative Conference on Reparations in Accra, Ghana, which brought together governments, legal scholars, international organizations, and civil society leaders to develop a unified strategy for advancing reparatory justice throughout Africa and the African diaspora.

Earlier in July, CARICOM Heads of Government approved the revised “CARICOM Ten-Point Plan for Reparatory Justice: A Manifesto for the Coming Enlightenment,” strengthening its legal arguments and emphasizing the disproportionate impact of slavery and colonialism on women and girls.

Armed with the revised reparations framework and strengthened by recent international developments, commission leaders arrived in London expecting former colonial powers to engage the issue directly. Instead, Britain’s decision to abstain from the United Nations vote underscored the political challenges that remain.

Members of the CARICOM Reparations Commission expressed disappointment that Britain abstained from the United Nations vote. “We are calling for a dialogue of decency,” Sir Beckles said. “For us, this is a moral and ethical matter.”

As the CARICOM Reparations Commission outlined its priorities, members emphasized that reparatory justice extends well beyond financial compensation. They argued that unfinished decolonization remains one of the Caribbean’s greatest reparatory issues. Nearly 20 British, French, Dutch and American territories throughout the region remain under colonial administration.

“Reparations is a legal remedy,” Sir Beckles argued. “The first component of repair has to be the recovery of nationhood, national sovereignty, and self-determination.”

Supporters and advocates of reparatory justice say the movement has reached a turning point. Following years of apologies from universities, churches, financial institutions and corporations that profited from slavery.

Caribbean leaders insist the next phase must involve direct negotiations with European governments over legal responsibility and concrete programs of repair. For the commission, acknowledgment without meaningful action leaves the legacy of slavery largely untouched.

Ambassador Comissiong said Caribbean leaders sought reparations as part of independence negotiations decades ago, but Britain rejected those appeals. “We are determined,” he said, “that the colonies that still exist today will pursue reparations and decolonization together, ensuring that compensation for centuries of colonial exploitation becomes part of their journey to full independence.”

The delegation also met with senior leaders of the Church of England, which has acknowledged that it profited from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and has begun exploring reparatory measures. “The Church of England, in doing what it did, sent a very positive signal to the rest of British society and to the British government in particular,” Sir Beckles said.

Commission members reaffirmed that repatriation remains a longstanding demand, particularly among Rastafari communities. “We believe that the governments that participated in the kidnapping and theft of African people should come to the table to negotiate how those who wish to return home may do so and be resettled,” Eric Phillips said.

The divine perspective

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, National Representative of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad, raised the question of what the UK and other European countries owe to Black people they held in bondage and continue to colonize.

In a message he delivered August 5, 2017, titled “Reparations: What Does The U.K. And Europe Owe Us?” Minister Farrakhan said, “The subject matter that you desired for me to address is, ‘Reparations: What Does the United Kingdom and Europe Owe to Us?’

And by ‘us,’ we mean the sons and daughters of Africa that are in the Caribbean, or from the Caribbean; the sons and daughters of Africa from the continent of Africa, and those from Africa—the sons and daughters of Africa—in European capitals.”

Minister Farrakhan also stated, “What does the United Kingdom and Europe owe to those whom they formerly enslaved and colonized?  Well, if the Biblical law of justice is applied, ‘a life for a life’: 

Tens of millions of us have been destroyed in the Middle Passage of the Transatlantic Slave Trade; tens of millions of us have been destroyed on the African continent. 

If Europe were to pay for the lives of Black and Brown and Red and Yellow people who have lost their lives under colonialism and slavery, I don’t think too many Europeans, White Europeans, would be left if that law were applied,” he said.

“And then when you think of what Europe gained from our enslavement: When I was last in London—they don’t allow me to come there now; but, when I was last there, what a beautiful capital city London was, London is, as the capital of the British Empire.  What a beautiful city Paris is, and Amsterdam and Berlin, and Rome and Palermo. 

But all those capitals, all the stones in the streets, all the beautiful buildings that your artists and craftsmen have built, were built on the backs of those whom your ancestors enslaved and colonized,” Minister Farrakhan continued.  

Student Minister David Muhammad is the Nation of Islam Student Minister for Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean. He is also chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Board of Directors of the National Library and Information Systems Authority. He told The Final Call that in his view, the CRC’s 10-point plan aligns with the Nation of Islam’s historic demands for freedom, justice and equality.

The CRC’s 10-point plan includes: a full and formal apology; an indigenous peoples development program; repatriation and resettlement; restitution of cultural heritage and cultural reconnection; remedying the public health crisis; capacity-building and development through education and training;

Compensation for gender-based violence and assault on family; psychological rehabilitation; the right to sovereignty and development: technology, innovation and entrepreneurship and debt cancellation, monetary compensation and decolonization.

The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad introduced The Muslim Program which includes, “What the Muslims Want,” and “What the Muslims Believe,” which is published on the inside back page of  The Final Call.

The Muslim Program calls for land sufficient to establish an independent territory where Black people can build their own economic base, educational institutions and businesses within a Nation of our own

In “What the Muslims Want,” in Point Number 4 it states: “We want our people in America whose parents or grandparents were descendants from slaves, to be allowed to establish a separate state or territory of their own—either on this continent or elsewhere.

We believe that our former slave masters are obligated to provide such land and that the area must be fertile and minerally rich. We believe that our former slave masters are obligated to maintain and supply our needs in this separate territory for the next 20 to 25 years—until we are able to produce and supply our own needs.

“Since we cannot get along with them in peace and equality, after giving them 400 years of our sweat and blood and receiving in return some of the worst treatment human beings have ever experienced, we believe our contributions to this land and the suffering forced upon us by white America, justifies our demand for complete separation in a state or territory of our own.”

Student Minister David Muhammad emphasized that the Nation of Islam teachings are rooted in self-determination, self-help, and the responsibility to “do for self.”

He referenced the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s 2004 Saviours’ Day address titled, “Reparations: What Does America and Europe Owe? What Does Allah (God) Promise?”

He said the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan made clear that while governments bear responsibility for repairing the damage caused by slavery and colonialism, Black people also have a responsibility to participate in their own restoration.

While insisting that governments and institutions enriched by slavery have a moral and legal obligation to repair the damage they caused, the Nation of Islam has consistently taught that Black people must simultaneously rebuild themselves through faith, education, economic development and self-determination.

“What do you owe?  You owe us everything,” Minister Farrakhan said in his 2017 message.  “But of course, you can’t pay with all your lives; you can’t pay with the ill-gotten wealth that you have, and what you have stored away for the ‘rainy day’—but you must pay. 

So reparatory justice is the cry of all of the Caribbean; it’s the cry of Africa, it’s the cry of Asia.  It’s the cry of those who are the sons and daughters of those who paid with their lives, and with their slave labor and their colonial labor,” he said.

Building a broader movement

While Caribbean leaders focused on negotiations with Europe, reparations advocates in the United States discussed expanding representation in the growing international movement.  The London mission also highlighted efforts to unite reparations movements across the African diaspora.

Dr. Ron Daniels, convenor of the National African Reparations Commission (NARC), addressed representation for the African diaspora in the United States, noting that the revised framework seeks to include stateless people within the Global African partnership on reparations.

“We are delighted that our relationship with the CARICOM Reparations Commission has resulted in an increased awareness of the need to provide a formula for stateless people like we in the United States to be represented,” Dr. Daniels stated.

The Commission also welcomed Martinique as the newest associate member of CARICOM and expressed its commitment to integrating all Caribbean territories, including French, Dutch, and British colonies, into the reparation’s framework.

Professor Verene Shepherd, who also serves as vice chair of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, emphasized the importance of Article 15 of the International Convention in monitoring territories that remain under colonial administration and ensuring that decolonization remains an international priority.

Looking ahead, Sir Beckles noted that King Charles III has previously acknowledged that reparations are “a conversation whose time has come.” Commission leaders said they expect reparatory justice, sovereignty and decolonization to figure prominently when Commonwealth leaders gather in Antigua and Barbuda later this year.

For Sir Hillary Beckles, reparatory justice is ultimately about completing a process that should have begun generations ago.

“Were I the king,” he said, “I would arrive in Antigua and Barbuda and say … ‘The time has come to let the people go … to usher in the decolonization process … to break the chains of imperial governance.”

Final Call staff contributed to this report.

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Services were held at Hosanna Family Worship Center in Pope, Mississippi, 30 miles outside of town where the son of Vel’lesiya Wiley and Daveon Williams Jr. was shot inside a car, in the parking lot of Walmart for an alleged shoplifting incident. (See The Final Call Vol. 45 No. 38)

“We still don’t know how many officers were out there, how many shots were fired and where they were standing when they pulled that trigger,” said Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family, at a June 22 press conference calling for justice and transparency, a week after Kohen was killed.

As of Final Call press time, the officer is still unnamed but has reportedly been placed on administrative leave.

Many attendees wore blue in tribute to Kohen, representing his favorite TV character, “Bluey.” Nestled inside the casket, a little stuffed version of Bluey lay next to his body, a piercing reminder of a life lost at such a young age.

Student Coordinator Abdul Shahid Muhammad of the Nation of Islam’s Holly Springs Study Group, Student Minister Demetric Muhammad and Student Protocol Coordinator Bridge Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 Whitehaven Study Group, and Student Secretary Asika Muhammad of Mosque No. 55 also traveled to the funeral services along with F.O.I and M.G.T. and G.C.C. (men and women of the Nation of Islam) from Holly Springs and Memphis.

At the family’s request, the services were closed to media cameras, as major news outlets camped out in the sweltering 90-degree Mississippi heat outside the church.

During the funeral, Memphis-based Attorney Van Turner of Turner Feild PLLC, who is also working on the case, sent greetings on behalf Atty. Crump, who was unable to attend, but returned for a press conference held July 1 to announce the findings of an independent autopsy.

In his brief remarks, Atty. Turner, who is also a civil rights advocate and former Shelby County Tennessee Commissioner, emphasized that there was nothing in Walmart of such value, “no matter how expensive,” that is “worth the precious life of Kohen,” and vowed to continue to fight for justice and transparency.

Author, publisher and community activist Richart Taylor shared with The Final Call that it was “the way that the community showed their displeasure, their righteous indignation about the murder of a 1-year-old baby,” that compelled him to travel close to 800 miles from Goldsboro, North Carolina, to attend the funeral in support of the family and the call for justice.

As tensions continue to simmer beneath the surface, there have been several protests, vigils and heated town council meetings since the shooting. Retail giant Walmart, where the shooting took place and has been the site of at least two protests, has closed several times. Heavy law enforcement presence during one of the closures fired tear-gas on the protesters.

According to Atty. Crump’s subsequent July 1 press conference at the Senatobia Church of Christ, which was carried live by multiple media outlets, the independent autopsy seems to contradict the Sheriff’s Office report which stated that the officer “fired at an oncoming vehicle.”

According to the forensic pathologist’s report, “the entrance gunshot wound is located on the right side of the chest and the exit on the left side.” The report went on to describe additional characteristics that defined the entry and exit points, concluding that “this is also consistent with the gunshot wound on the body when shot through a side window as an intermediary target.”

“You can’t get that shot from the front. Why would you shoot into a vehicle from the side when you’re clearly not in harm’s way?” questioned Atty. Crump.

The family still has not seen the video footage and in a June 16 press conference in Senatobia, Commissioner Sean Tindell of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety indicated that nothing would be released until the official investigation by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation has been completed, which could take months.

Patrick “Lumumba” Alexander, of the Black Liberation Movement, one of the primary voices making the clarion call that brought the initial attention to the case, shared his sentiments with The Final Call at Kohen Wiley’s funeral, addressing what he sees as “reaching the boiling point.”

“It’s gonna take the manhood in our communities. It’s gonna take the unifying of our community, to deal with this systemic racism that we’ve been dealing with. It has come to a head where it has come to claim one of our babies. So, it’s our responsibility, our innate responsibility, as Black people to gain the moral character, to be able to stand up for our own humanity.

“So, we there, we there, we at that point. It (has) got to end and Kohen is our Emmett Till moment. The universe has allowed us to come back to this point. And we (are) having our own Emmett Till moment,” he concluded.

Others agreed.

“This has to be turned into actionable items,” Student Coordinator Abdul Shahid Muhammad said. “What Black America and Black Mississippi, at this point, has been feeling and experiencing has to be transferred into something that’s concrete to change the harsh realities under which we live. It’s okay to come together and to acknowledge what we’ve acknowledged today. That’s what we do,” he continued.

“I am reminded of the fact that this nation has always sought to keep the nationalistic elements of our people away from a messianic voice that could unify and electrify the masses of our people,” Student Coordinator Muhammad noted.

“The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan is the messianic message that our people need, which is the Teachings of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad in the world. Our charge right now is to make, emphasis on the word ‘make,’ our communities a safe and decent place to live. That entails us getting up and going to work together,” he said.

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The archdiocese said its Office for Child Abuse Investigations and Review received an allegation that Father Pfleger allegedly sexually abused a minor more than 30 years ago. Father Pfleger denied the allegation in a written statement.

“On Thursday, July 9th, I received a call from the Vicar for Priests saying a woman who said she went to school at St. Sabina made an accusation that she was sexually abused by me at some time between 1993-1995. First, this is an absolute lie. For 51 years of my ministry I have been threatened, slandered, and attacked.

I was suspended twice because of my calling out of racism and suspended for unfounded accusations. My background has been investigated from high school, college, graduate school, and all the years of my ministry and all accusations were determined to be unfounded,” continued Father Pfleger’s statement, which was posted on his Facebook page,

“I have been publicly attacked due to my public positions against gun violence, my opposition against the inhumane policies and practices of Donald Trump, and even because of my friendship with Minister Farrakhan,” the statement continued.

Father Pfleger also stated, “Let me be clear, sexual abuse is wrong, and I realize that the Catholic Church has a long history of not dealing with accusations and has spend a number of years putting strong policies in place.

But I have said countless times I believe the current policy is wrong and unfair to the accused priest.” He stated the removal of a priest before an investigation or conversation with the accused does away with the existence of the “presumption of innocence.”

During the July 17 gathering an news conference at the Auburn Gresham church, Felicia Chase, chairperson of the St. Sabina Family Parish Council, read a letter calling for independent experts in the review process, greater transparency and protections for the dignity of both accusers and the accused.

“We have concluded that the policy itself requires serious examination and meaningful reform,” Ms. Chase said as parishioners responded with applause and shouts of “Amen.”

“Justice cannot exist if fairness is extended to only one side of the process,” she added.

The Archdiocese of Chicago said it is “committed to following the same thorough and impartial process with everyone so accused.” In a letter to the parish, Cardinal Blase Cupich said the process is intended to ensure fairness to everyone involved.

Supporters said the policy can damage the reputation of an accused priest before investigators determine whether an allegation is credible.

“It allows for falsehood and lies to be weaponized by Father Pfleger’s haters,” said former Illinois state Sen. Jacqueline Collins, whose remarks drew a standing ovation.

“He’s remaining unbending in his stance that he is innocent,” said Rickey Harris, a longtime St. Sabina parishioner.

Supporters said this is not the first time Father Pfleger has faced such an allegation. They said previous allegations, including those investigated in 2021 and 2022, did not result in findings against him. They also questioned the decision to remove him before an initial review of the latest allegation.

Demetric Brown, another supporter, spoke about Father Pfleger’s relationship with the neighborhood. “He is genuine. He’s real, and he loves us, and he loves the community,” Mr. Brown said.

Father Pfleger did not attend the gathering, but his statement was read.

“I will not stand by and allow my name, my ministry and the church I pastor to be slandered or defamed,” the statement continued. Members of the audience responded with shouts of agreement.

The parish council’s letter was hand delivered to the archdiocese by Cory Williams, Father Pfleger’s assistant for nearly 27 years. Mr. Williams, who has known the priest since childhood, spoke about his personal experience with him. “I’ve never seen anything that would give me pause or wonder about his innocence,” Mr. Williams said in an interview with a local TV station.

Parishioners also said the investigation has diverted attention from poverty, homelessness, violence and other problems affecting the community.

In his closing message to the parish from a letter dated July 13, Father Pfleger said he did not want the investigation to consume the congregation.

“I want you to know that I do not intend to let this drag on and drain this church family. … This battle is the Lord’s!” he wrote.

The post St. Sabina parishioners defend Father Pfleger, demand investigation reforms appeared first on Final Call News.

CEMOTAP is a nearly 40-year-old organization that is currently restructuring its leadership with interim co-chairpersons, but still continuing the spirit of activism and bringing relatable and important discussions to the community and to their organization.

Many of the young adults attended for the first time to hear Student Min. Dr. Wesley Muhammad, who is an author and also a member of the Nation of Islam Research Group.

He is the author of many books, including “Understanding The Assault on the Black Man, Black Manhood, and Black Masculinity,” and “The Pot Plot: Marijuana, Hip Hop and the Scientific Assault on Black America.”

He laid the foundation of his June 27 talk scripturally by dissecting the biblical history of Pharaoh and his plan to destroy the Children of Israel, King Herod and his machinations against Jesus to the modern day government of America and the aims to destroy Black men, women and youth and how the community is being targeted for genocide.

Student Min. Dr. Wesley descriptively referenced parts of his voluminous 800-page book “The Pot Plot.”

Many of the youth who came with their parents or mentors expressed gratitude for attending and hearing for themselves the governmental plot contained in drugs, hip hop music and destructive behaviors.

“I feel like the message was so clear and straight to the point on how weed is feminizing our people and also the harmful effects that it’s having on kids even in those who aren’t born yet in the fetus and how the weaponized weed goes into the brain development of our babies,” said Jordan Brown.

Jair Rizzo, 15, said, “ I just felt this lecture was very powerful. I’m a young individual and I am just grateful for this opportunity to be here with my brother and my dad. I am just glad they brought me out with them to hear all of this information from Dr. Wesley.

A lot of my friends and people need this knowledge to understand what’s going on in our community, especially the way our bodies and minds are being destroyed by the use of marijuana. It’s very important to know that. Honestly, I am grateful that I came out.”

His brother Eric Rizzo, 25, agreed. “I felt that message he gave today was really deep and I really needed to hear it. I now see that the stuff that I went through, I wasn’t in my right frame of mind then.

I realize now after hearing him speak from the stuff I went through, I now know that it misguided me and I was on a different path,” said Eric Rizzo. “Hearing Dr. Wesley now gave me a wakeup call. I am steadily moving forward with my life and I am trying to be a role model to my little brother here with me today, so we can both benefit from what we heard today.”

Student Min. Dr. Wesley explicitly described weaponization through the bio-chemical use of marijuana as it targets specific parts of the brain, its effects, consequences and what and why behind government manipulation.

“I felt like it was very informational. I feel like if more of our people my age, 20 years old or younger, were introduced to hearing Dr. Wesley (and) what he said about the substances in the pot plot, it would wake them up and revert them or chill them from using it. I am going to spread the word and relay this information to my friends,” said Kayden Stennett.

Dr. Mzuri is an author and activist. “What I got from today’s message was a confirmation of information that I share throughout the community and with brothers and sisters.

I was so happy to hear that conspiracy and plot detailed and I was thrilled to be able to have a book that I can also use to substantiate,” said Dr. Mzuri. “The research that I heard will enhance the research I’ve done, it was an awesome presentation.”

Hope Smith is a new interim co-chairperson at CEMOTAP and shared that Student Min. Dr. Wesley’s message was wonderful. “It was so informative. We all learned so much about the effects of marijuana and the diabolical plot that the government uses to control and destabilize our community. I am looking forward to him coming back again.”

John Kinard is also a new interim co-chairperson. “Dr. Wesley Muhammad did an excellent job on the pot plot. His lecture was very informative. We appreciate him coming and the brothers and sisters from the Nation being here too with us.”

Raymond Dugue, the First Assistant President General of the UNIA, (Universal Negro, Improvement Association) added, “I had the unbelievable pleasure to attend Dr. Wesley Muhammad’s presentation on the pot plot. In a few words, it was excellent, uplifting, purposeful.

He gave us so much information and an idea of what we are up against. The enemy has a wickedly wise plan to subdue us and the facts he presented was powerful.”

Brenda Worthington agreed about the importance of the presentation, calling it a “very powerful event.”

“I truly enjoyed it. I’ve got so much out of it educationally.” She also was happy she brought her 20-year-old grandson along. “He said he loved it. And you know I really encourage our people to do the right thing and bring our children to more events like this.”

The post Student Minister Dr. Wesley Muhammad addresses CEMOTAP on the ‘pot plot’ appeared first on Final Call News.

He will lead the council for a one-year term. He has also previously served on the Monroe School Board and currently also serves as president of the local NAACP branch.

According to reporting from the Monroe Free Press, Brother Verbon’s “election marks a historic milestone in local and national governance. Muhammad is one of only a handful of Nation of Islam members nationwide to hold elective office.

Furthermore, he is the only Nation of Islam member in the country to head a city legislative body with previous experience leading a local school system, having formerly served as President of the Monroe City School Board.” 

According to DataUSA.com, as of 2024, Monroe had a population of 47,000 people and Blacks make up 59.8% of the population.

Brother Verbon was elected to city council in 2024 after capturing 65% of the votes (See The Final Call, Vol. 43 No. 34).

“I thank the Saviour Allah (God) Who came in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, His Messiah the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Their Servant among us the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan for the unanimous support of my colleagues to lead the city council. We will continue to work to make our community a decent and safe place to live,” he said.

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HOMER, La.—The Holy Qur’an, which is the Islamic book of scripture, teaches us that success does not depend on numbers.

In Homer, Louisiana, which is the seat of Claiborne Parish, the brothers and sisters of the Nation of Islam’s Muhammad Study Circle of Homer are working toward becoming an official Study Group. Homer, which is located in northern Louisiana and has a population of 2,800, falls under the nearest mosque, which is Muhammad Mosque No. 99 of Monroe. 

For the past 3 years, Student Brother William X and the F.O.I. (men of the Nation of Islam) have been working diligently with Homer High School Administrators to bring the Nation of Islam’s presence to the public school system. The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad taught that, “Education is the torchlight of civilization.” 

As a group, the believers decided to award a $300 Scholarship Fund to a deserving high school graduate this year. Requirements included that the student must have a 3.0 GPA, must be a high school senior, must have already applied to a college or university, and have demonstrated community leadership skills.

Upon review, there was a young sister’s essay that stood out. This student worked a part time job and maintained 4.0 GPA. That is phenomenal. She also volunteers her time in school and in the community. The Homer Study Circle chose a bright start student for “The Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad Scholarship Award!” Sister Hayden Watts of Lincoln Prep High School was this year’s award recipient.

The post Big recognition in a small town appeared first on Final Call News.

The Council of Ministers announced the establishment of the Malian Office for Precious Substances on July 7, following a decision by the cabinet in March as part of efforts to centralize and secure sales in the sector.

The authorities said the measure is part of the implementation of the 2023 Mining Code and a local content law, aimed at reinforcing state sovereignty over the value chain of precious substances.

Gold from artisanal and small-scale mining occupies a strategic place in Mali’s economy, providing foreign exchange, tax revenue, and jobs for two million people across 350 to 400 sites, the government said. However, the sector still faces challenges, including smuggling and gaps in recorded flows.

Mali is Africa’s fourth leading gold producer, according to World Gold Council data, which put the country’s 2025 output at 82.9 tons, behind Ghana, South Africa and Burkina Faso.

Official statistics show Mali produced 72.2 tons of gold in 2022, including six tons from artisanal mining, generating 763 billion CFA francs ($1.27 billion) for the state budget.

Mali’s gold exports climbed to about 2.75 trillion CFA francs ($4.81 billion) in 2025, compared with 1.61 trillion CFA francs the previous year, according to Reuters, citing the national statistics institute Instat.

The reform comes as Bamako seeks to increase state revenue from mining. The 2023 Mining Code allows the state and local investors to hold up to 35% in new mining projects.

Canadian miner Barrick and Australia’s Resolute Mining have faced direct disputes with Bamako under the government’s push to extract more revenue from the gold sector.

Other operators, including Canada’s B2Gold, British firm Hummingbird Resources, and London-headquartered Endeavour Mining, have reached agreements with the state to align parts of their operations with Mali’s revised mining framework.

Several of Mali’s neighbors have also moved to tighten control over mineral resources. Burkina Faso has expanded state purchases of artisanal gold through its National Precious Substances Company.

Last year, Niger nationalized the country’s only industrial gold mine, accusing its Australian-owned operator McKinel Resources Limited of “grave contractual breaches.” Ghana created a state gold board last year to regulate small-scale gold exports, while Guinea banned raw gold exports in June to boost local refining. (RT.com)

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