A memorial to African-Americans who served in all 12 of the United States’ wars was just unveiled in Buffalo Naval Park.

CBS News reported that on Saturday, the first African American Veterans Monument in America was inaugurated in Buffalo Naval Park.

The monument’s twelve black pillars represent the twelve main wars that the United States has fought since the Revolutionary War.

During the unveiling ceremony, Buffalo’s governor, Kathy Hochul, remarked on the “historic” nature of the new memorial.

According to Hochul “This is the dedication, the unveiling, of not just Buffalo’s first, not just New York’s first, but our nation’s first African-American veteran monument,”

An interactive display at the memorial gives guests a glimpse into the past through the eyes of the African American servicemen who fought there.

This memorial will serve as a symbol of the qualities we value in our black soldiers. Legislator Howard Johnson proclaimed, “They were our heroes.”  

He continued “They were our leaders. Our Black soldiers served in a spirit of excellence, making sure that all Americans could enjoy the bastion of freedom.”

Leaders from the area banded together to support the memorial, which pays tribute to those who battled for the country’s freedom and independence at a time when it wasn’t guaranteed to everyone. According to WIVB, the area around the 12 black pillars also features bricks with the names of African American veterans along with information on the assistance of African Americans in every American war.

“Recognize that African American veterans did do a part in this country, and we weren’t just sitting on the side, we did a very important part and that we should be recognized for,” Robert Johnson, a Vietnam Navy veteran, said.

“Little by little we learn that we can work together and everything is possible, everything is achievable so for that reason, that’s why we’re here.”

A commemorative brick bearing Johnson’s name will be installed at the new memorial. If you or a loved one would like to have a brick inscribed with your name, there is still time!

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“It’s Your World, You Decide!”

On Thursday, August 4, 2022, the United States Department of Justice stated that it would be charging the current and former Louisville, Kentucky, police officers who had been involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor the previous year.

According to ABC News, Garland said at a press conference, ““The federal charges announced today allege that members of a Police Investigations Unit falsified the affidavit used to obtain the search warrant of Ms. Taylor’s home and that this act violated federal civil rights laws, and that those violations resulted in Ms. Taylor’s death,

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said that former Louisville police detective Kelly Goodlett, sergeant Kyle Meany, and detective Joshua Jaynes would be prosecuted with the following crimes.

Taylor’s right to be free from unlawful search and seizure was violated.
The Department of Justice asserts that the officers who carried out the no-knock warrant did so while knowing that they lacked the necessary reasonable cause.

In order to gain entry to Taylor’s residence, police officials obtained a warrant that reportedly contained “false and deceptive information;”

The affidavit included, among other fabrications, a statement that police had confirmed that the accused drug trafficking operation’s target had received shipments at Ms. Taylor’s residence. “The defendants, Jaynes and Goodlett, knew that was not accurate,” Garland stated at a press conference.

The DOJ further claims that after the deadly shooting, Jaynes and Goodlett convened in a garage “where they agreed to tell investigators a false tale.”

Brett Hankerson is “charged in a two-count indictment for deprivation of rights under color of law, both of which are civil rights crimes,” as stated by Garland, according to the news outlet.

The Capital: Former high school football coach in western Washington who was fired for praying on the 50-yard line after games won his case in the Supreme Court on Monday.

The court held along ideological lines, 6-3, that a person’s right to free exercise of religion and free speech under the First Amendment is absolute. In Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, delivered by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the court’s majority found in favor of the defendants.

When it comes to ideas, both religious and otherwise, “The Constitution and the best of our traditions counsel mutual respect and tolerance, not censorship and suppression, for religious and nonreligious views alike,” Gorsuch wrote. 

Attorneys for Joseph Kennedy, a former assistant football coach at Bremerton High School, claimed the school district’s penalty for Kennedy’s religious expression violated his constitutional rights under the First Amendment’s free speech and free exercise sections. When the school administration found out that Kennedy was praying after games, they informed him that this behavior likely violated the establishment clause, which forbids the government from promoting a religion.

Numerous sportsmen, both current and retired, on both sides of the controversy regarding Kennedy’s postgame prayers at midfield, filed “friend of the court” briefs in the ongoing legal battle.

Kennedy called the verdict a “wonderful ruling for America” and praised his supporters in an interview with CBS News on Monday.

What the Constitution is all about is ensuring that people of all faiths and no faiths enjoy the same protections under the law, as Kennedy put it. All Americans have the same rights. Liberal minority writer Justice Sonia Sotomayor said Monday that the Constitution does not permit public schools to accept Kennedy’s conduct and that the majority judgment dismisses “longstanding concerns” about government support of religion.

Sotomayor and Justices Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan noted that “officially led prayer strikes at the core of our constitutional guarantees for the religious liberty of students and their parents,” and they were joined in this opinion by Justice Samuel Alito. The court has taken a new course, giving priority to the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause rather than the Establishment Clause’s restriction on government endorsement of religion.

Kelly Shackelford, the leader of First Liberty, the organization that defended Kennedy, hailed the Supreme Court’s ruling as a “tremendous triumph” for Kennedy and religious freedom.

In a statement, Shackelford argued that “our Constitution preserves the right of every American to participate in private religious expression,” which includes praying in public without fear of being fired.

Court’s ruling “represents the largest loss of religious freedom in years,” said Rachel Laser, CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

The court “continued its assault on church-state separation today,” she said in a statement, “by wrongly defining forceful prayer as ‘personal’ and blocking public schools from defending children’ religious freedom.” “The simultaneous and catastrophic decline of so many of our most prized liberties and the blurring of the barrier between church and state is no coincidence. As a result, public funding for schools, reproductive rights, and civil liberties have all come under fire.”

A “welcoming, inclusive atmosphere for all children, their families, and our staff” is something the Bremerton School District is committed to maintaining.

In August 2008, after Kennedy’s first game as coach of the Bremerton Knights, he began praying in the locker room after the game. Initially, Kennedy would praise God after games on his own, but eventually, players would join him, but their attendance was inconsistent week to week. According to at least one father, his son “felt obligated to participate” because he was afraid of losing playing time.

It’s no surprise that the prayers themselves developed from intimate, succinct expressions of gratitude to lengthy orations laced with religious allusions.

Kennedy’s on-the-field prayer sessions went on for seven years without incident. In September 2015, an opposing team’s coach informed the high school principal that Kennedy asked his players to join him for the post-game prayer and that he “thought it was pretty cool” that the district would allow such an activity, and the Bremerton School District learned of the coach’s actions.

But the remark sparked a years-long battle between Kennedy and the school district, with the coach arguing he was engaging in constitutionally protected religious expression. Defenders of the school district claimed the coach was acting as an agent of the state, and that by doing so, he violated the religious freedom of students who felt pressured to pray.

Before resuming postgame prayers in October 2015, Kennedy had stopped doing so because the district advised him his conversations with children had to be secular and any future religious involvement had to be kept separate from any student activities.

After Kennedy failed to follow district protocol and supervise student-athletes after games, he was placed on administrative leave and the athletic director at Bremerton High School recommended he not be rehired for the upcoming football season.

After Kennedy’s First Amendment rights to free expression and free exercise of religion were violated in August 2016, he decided not to reapply for his coaching position at Bremerton High School and filed a lawsuit against the district.

After losing at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Kennedy took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Four of the court’s conservative justices voted against hearing his case in 2019, arguing that it was too soon for them to rule on the matter.

Kennedy continued to be unsuccessful in the lower courts when new proceedings were held. In January, the Supreme Court decided to hear the matter again at his request.