Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission

Three face misdemeanors, felonies

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Wednesday, November 21, 2007.

By AMIRA SEYOUM
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – Prosecutors filed criminal charges against three students arrested after a Sept. 18 scuffle with campus security guards at Knight Hill School over thrown cake, a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Pleajhai Mervin was charged with misdemeanor battery on a school employee and misdemeanor assault on a school employee, Kenngela Lockett was charged with misdemeanor battery on a school employee, and Joshua Lockett, Kenngela’s brother, has been charged with threatening a public officer and making criminal threats, both felonies, as well as misdemeanor disturbing the peace.

The confrontation started with students throwing cake at a lunchtime birthday celebration, escalated to a broader conflict after a security guard told Mervin to pick up the cake and ended with the arrest of the three students and Mervin’s mother, Latrisha Majors. Prosecutors announced last week they would not file charges against Majors.

The charges against the girls carry a yearlong sentence, according to district attorney’s office spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons. She said she didn’t know the possible penalty for Joshua Lockett if he is convicted of all the charges filed against him.

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From the FBI website:

11/19/07

Last Tuesday, a 22-year-old white supremacist named Gabriel Laskey was sentenced for his role in a hateful attack on Temple Beth Israel, a Jewish synagogue in Eugene, Oregon.

A few years earlier, Laskey, his brother Jacob, and two other men had thrown rocks etched with swastikas through the stained glass windows of the temple, right in the middle of religious services. You can just imagine how the peaceful worshippers felt.

It’s just one recent example of a hate crime—traditional offenses like vandalism, arson, or even murder motivated by various forms of prejudice that not only impact individuals and families but often escalate fear and tension across communities. . .

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By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer
Mon Nov 19, 6:45 PM ET

(This article appeared in the Antelope Valley Press November 20, 2007, on page B2)

WASHINGTON – Hate crime incidents rose nearly 8 percent last year, the FBI reported Monday, as civil rights advocates increasingly take to the streets to protest what they call official indifference to intimidation and attacks against blacks and other minorities.

Police across the nation reported 7,722 criminal incidents in 2006 targeting victims or property as a result of bias against a race, religion, sexual orientation, ethnic or national origin or physical or mental disability. That was up 7.8 percent from 7,163 incidents reported in 2005.

More than half the incidents were motivated by racial prejudice, but the report did not even pick up all the racially motivated incidents last year.

Although the noose incidents and beatings among students at Jena, La., high school occurred in the last half of 2006, they were not included in the report. Only 12,600 of the nation’s more than 17,000 local, county, state and federal police agencies participated in the hate crime reporting program in 2006 and neither Jena nor LaSalle Parish, in which the town is located, were among the agencies reporting.

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This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Tuesday, November 20, 2007.

By AMIRA SEYOUM
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – More than 40 protesters rallied Monday in front of the Antelope Valley courthouse, demanding that the district attorney’s office refrain from prosecuting three students arrested after a Sept. 18 struggle at Knight High School.

Latrisha Majors, daughter Pleajhai Mervin, and fellow students Joshua and Kenngela Lockett were arrested after a confrontation with campus security guards. A spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office announced last week that charges would not be filed against Majors.

“The district attorney does not realize we will not be satisfied until all the pending charges are dropped,” said civil rights activist Najee Ali. “We are grateful the district attorney realizes the charges against Latrisha Majors were unwarranted. In fact, she shouldn’t have been arrested and the children shouldn’t have been arrested.”

The rally included representatives from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Nation of Islam and the Act Now to Stop War and End Racism Coalition. Ali, who organized the rally, said the Antelope Valley’s black civic leaders have failed to support Majors and the teens.

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Greetings,

The next AV Human Relations Commission Meeting will be on Monday
November 19, 2007 at 6:30 PM at the Palmdale Chimbole Cultural Center.

Minutes and Agendas will be available at the meeting.

See you there.

Bob Forshay
Vice President-AVHRTF
661.285.8402

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OPTIONS OFFERED – Darren Parker of the Antelope Valley Human Relations Commission speaks Sunday with family members involved in a Sept. 18 incident at Knight High School that ended with the arrest of three students and one parent. The Antelope Valley Parents Union met for the first time Sunday at the Wellsprings Christian Center in Palmdale. RON SIDDLE/Valley Press

This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Monday, November 19, 2007.

By AMIRA SEYOUM
Valley Press Staff Writer

PALMDALE – More than two dozen parents and civil rights activists gathered Sunday at the Wellsprings Christian Center for the first informal meeting of the Antelope Valley Parents Union.

After the Pete Knight High School incident, involving three teenagers and a mother who were arrested and could face charges, mother Latrisha Majors and civil rights activist Najee Ali are bringing parents together.

“We want to bring everyone together and stop and confront the abuse of our children by our schools, judicial system, law enforcement and city officials,” Ali said. “This is a critical defining moment. We are here to come together for our children. The problems in the schools that affect our children is not limited to black parents, but all parents.”

Majors, her daughter Pleajhai Mervin, and fellow students Joshua and Kenngela Lockett, were arrested after a confrontation began over thrown cake. The three students detained believe that excessive force was used on them. Majors will not have charges filed against her, but the cases of the three students are still pending.

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Noose Found At Spiritual Bookstore Occult Bookstore Run By Self-Proclaimed Witch

UPDATED: 6:29 pm PST November 13, 2007

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A hangman’s noose was found outside a spiritual bookstore in Bakersfield run by a self-proclaimed witch.

Police are calling the noose discovered at Altar Bookshoppe , which sells occult books and supplies in Old Town Kern suspicious.

Bookstore owner Katie Oliveras said she had not experienced any previous problems in the neighborhood and takes the finding of the noose as a death threat.

Oliveras also said that if the point of the noose was to make the bookstore leave the community, it didn’t work. She doesn’t plan on leaving the community and Oliveras said the community is rallying around the bookstore.

Police are still investigating and said it’s too early to tell if the occurrence is a hate crime.

The bookstore has been in the area for more than two years.

Noose Found At Spiritual Bookstore

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This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press on Saturday, November 17, 2007.

By TITUS GEE
Valley Press Staff Writer

LANCASTER – Charges will not be filed against the Knight High School mother arrested on suspicion of battery following a campus scuffle that made national headlines, the district attorney’s office announced Friday.

Latrisha Majors, whose daughter was also arrested, could not be reached for comment, but a representative said the news rings hollow as long as charges still may be filed against three students also arrested in the Sept. 18 incident.

“Ms. Majors feels that this is not a victory … Her arrest, along with the children, should never have happened,” said Los Angeles activist Najee Ali, speaking on behalf of Majors. “We’re not celebrating … This changes nothing.”

The confrontation started with students throwing cake, escalated to a broader conflict, and ended with the arrest of Majors and her daughter Pleajhai Mervin, as well as Mervin’s schoolmates Joshua and Kenngela Lockett. All four arrested are African American and allege they were treated harshly because of their race. Ali and others have called for all charges against them to be dropped.

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