Woman charged with murder for pushing elderly man who later died; NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio enters 2020 campaign; Camp Fire caused by PG&E electrical transmission lines, says Cal Fire; Deaf Canadian Indigenous leaders advocate for recognition of Indigenous Sign Languages; Florida Deaf man refused service at KFC; 3 police officers show up; Deaf woman dresses like nurse to surprise friend at hospital on Mother’s Day
Hello, welcome to the Daily Moth! It is Thursday, May 16. Ready for news?
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Woman charged with murder for pushing elderly man who later died
On Tuesday, Las Vegas police released a video of a young woman pushing an elderly man off a public bus.
Police said this happened on March 21 and that the man died on April 23 from injuries he sustained from the fall.
I will show you the video. It is graphic.
[Video clip from Las Vegas Metro Police of a woman pushing an elderly man off a public bus]
Cadesha Bishop (25) was identified by police as the woman who pushed him. She was arrested and charged with open murder on an elderly-vulnerable person.
The man, Serge Fournier, was 74. Police explained that on the day he was pushed, police went to the scene and Fournier refused medical attention, but that he went by himself to a hospital that night.
The Washington Post said Fournier died from complications from trauma to the torso. The death was ruled a homicide and police arrested Bishop last week.
Police said that before the push, the two were arguing. NBC News said that Fournier told Bishop to be nicer to passengers.
https://www.lvmpd.com/en-us/Press%20Releases/PO%20072%2005-14-19.pdf
https://wapo.st/30qu9gs
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz_XUcc7-eI
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NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio enters 2020 campaign
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that he would join the Democratic race for president in 2020. He is now the 24th person in that race.
He posted a video on YouTube that had auto-captions to launch his bid. Some of his main issues he talked about were income inequality, affordable healthcare and mental health services, and free pre-K.
De Blasio said President Trump is a bully and that he knows how to take him on.
To get an idea of how many Democrats are in the race, look at this graphic from Axios.
A poll conducted by Reuters showed Vice President Joe Biden as the leader in Democratic polls, with Senator Bernie Sanders in second place.
The first Democratic debate hosted by the Democratic National Committee will be on June 26 and 27 in Miami.
On the Republican side, there is only one person who has announced a challenge to President Donald Trump for the Republican primaries — Bill Weld, former governor of Massachusetts. Trump remains an overwhelming favorite to win the Republican nomination and take on whoever is the Democratic winner for the 2020 presidential elections.
https://youtu.be/GHDhsPyJzvk
https://www.axios.com/2020-presidential-election-candidates-announce-running-15472039-9bf49de4-351a-46b3-bdde-b980947b21ea.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/31/politics/2019-political-calendar-for-2020/index.html
https://reut.rs/2JGnKaO
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Camp Fire caused by PG&E electrical transmission lines, says Cal Fire
Cal Fire said the cause of the devastating Camp Fire last fall that killed 85 people and destroyed Paradise, California was a failure of electrical transmission lines owned by PG&E.
PG&E said they accepted this finding. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in January after they were sued multiple times for the Camp Fire and other fires in 2018 and 2017.
News reports also say PG&E could face criminal charges. There is now an investigation on how and why the transmission line equipment failed.
Cal Fire said there were two sites where the fire ignited from electrical equipment failures and that the fire quickly spread because of strong winds, low humidity, warm temperatures, and tinder-dry vegetation.
Several deaf people were either directly affected from the Camp Fire by losing their homes or having family members pass away or lose their homes.
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/15/officials-camp-fire-deadliest-in-california-history-was-caused-by-pge-electrical-transmission-lines.html
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Deaf Canadian Indigenous leaders advocate for recognition of Indigenous Sign Languages
Leaders in the Deaf indigenous community in Canada have been advocating for official recognition of Indigenous Sign Languages (ISL).
They wanted ISL to be a part of Bill C-91, which is titled, “An Act respecting Indigenous languages.” It focused on spoken languages, and they wanted signed languages to be a part of it. It has successfully been amended in the House of Commons version of the bill.
This week The Daily Moth did two interviews to learn more about Indigenous Sign Languages.
Firstly, I will show you an interview with Paula Wesley, a representative from the Indigenous Sign Languages Council and the BC Hummingbird Society for the Deaf.
Paula Wesley: Our language, Indigenous Sign Languages, should be recognized in the Indigenous Languages Act because we have been authentically using the languages for a long time. It is the oldest signed language in the world. It has been used by both the deaf and hearing communities. There are different groups but we support both because hearing people use it for hand talk, which means to communicate through gestures — for hunting, gatherings, and for practical ceremonies, which is done in private at the homes of their families. They use the signs to communicate with their groups. It is generally used when people can’t understand others’ spoken languages because it’s not the same or has different accents. They use the signs for trade, hunting and other purposes. Now, for an indigenous deaf person, their signs are home signs. It is called gestures. You can see this in the world when people develop their own gestures as they meet deaf people for the first time from other countries. They will have to gesture. It’s the same idea, but with their own family, in their home and community. Also in schools, or maybe not, but in their community. There is limited access to spoken language so they use gestures with their people. We are trying to find how to get access to recognize ISL.
[Graphic of different kinds of ISL]
British Columbia has over 500 different language groups. I’m sure there are many more across Canada. It is our goal to document information from different provinces and find representatives to spread awareness and document what their signs look like.
[Graphic showing 8 members of the Indigenous Sign Languages Council and BC Hummingbird Society of the Deaf (BCHSD)]
Alex: The next interview I will show you is with Marsha Ireland and Miranda Ireland-Kennedy, who represent the Oneida Nation. They have been very active in teaching, raising awareness, and documenting Oneida Sign Language.
Miranda Ireland-Kennedy: All three languages are important. ASL, French, and ISL. We need all three, too. Multilingualism is a norm in Canada, and in the U.S. as well.
Marsha Ireland: Here’s an example. If people ask me in ASL if I want to “celebrate,” I can’t identify with the concept of the sign. While my sign is this. (Shows Oneida sign for “celebrate.”) There is always a fire set up. It makes sense, is good, and I can identify with it. The ASL sign for celebrate isn’t the same. (Shows Oneida sign again).
When there is an interpreter, if a hearing Oneida person uses his voice, he chooses the Oneida language first and English second. I’m taken aback and the interpreter is unable to do anything. How do I communicate? I am a member of the Oneida as well. The elder has seen me often and feels that it is not right for me. It’s hard to communicate because the interpreter doesn’t sign in Oneida Sign Language, but in English/ASL. The elder said, “Ah.” But where is my interpreter? I’m unable to answer. I only have home made signs. So my husband and I have developed Oneida Sign Language. Now hearing people understand what I am saying. With the government, I’ve told them about those things and about two rows. They didn’t understand. I explained there has to be mutual respect for English and for the Oneida language. It is a two-way path, it doesn’t cross against each other.
Ireland-Kennedy: One issue is that I identify first with indigenous, but I can’t understand them, while I understand deaf people. I have that connecting with deaf persons because of Deaf or mainstream schools. But what about indigenous languages or signs? There is a struggle. That’s why most of us today have identity struggles. If ISL is successfully enacted in both bills, ASL, LSQ, and ISL will thrive. We need all those languages.
Alex: ISL was recognized in another major Canadian bill that can have a tremendous impact on deaf people’s lives — Bill C-81, the Accessible Canada Act.
Wesley will explain more about this.
Wesley: It was very exciting when our committee listened to us and quickly amended ISL along with ASL and LSQ. Frank Folino shared this briefly. He is our CAD-ASC President and our ally too. Folino spoke briefly about ISL because one of the senators asked, “Why not include ISL along with ASL and LSQ?” That senator proposed it and asked other senators if they had any objections. All of them agreed to it. It was quickly voted through and passed the third reading very fast. This was very recent. It’s going very fast.
Alex: That bill, C-81, is now awaiting a final step — approval by the House of Commons. Then it can get a Royal Assent and become law. This could happen very soon. Many are excited.
For Bill C-91, the Indigenous Languages Act, it is still in the middle of the legislative process.
I’ve included links in the transcript for more information about Indigenous Sign Languages.
Thank you to Wesley and the Irelands for your time and sharing.
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ISL Brief by ISL Council: http://bit.ly/2w1B9lN
ISL Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/islforila2019/
Bill C-91: https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-91/third-reading
Oneida Sign Language: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/oneida-sign-language-culture-deaf-1.4605295
Bill C-81: https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/42-1/bill/C-81/third-reading
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Florida Deaf man refused service at KFC; 3 police officers show up
A Deaf man from Florida, Justin Boozer Carter, filmed himself at a KFC drive-thru after he said staff refused to serve him and told him to come inside. Eventually three police officers showed up and told him to leave.
Boozer Carter: Now police is here. Police is here. Another officer is here.
[Shows a written note that reads, “The problem is that we need you to come inside to help you with your order please.”]
See this? So I have to go inside? Oh please. I’ve never had a problem with the drive-thru in the past. I’ve come here many times. Until now.
[Shows another written note that reads, “They are asking that you be removed from the property.”]
See this? Police said.. They wrote that they want me to be removed from the property.
[Camera shows three officers]
Three cops and her. [Camera shows female staffer at drive-thru] That.
Alex: Boozer Carter told The Daily Moth that this situation started when he went to the drive-thru menu area, where the speaker post was. He said there were no cars behind him and that he was looking at the menu and trying to call his girlfriend to ask her what she wanted. After a few minutes, a staffer walked up to him.
Boozer Carter: What happened was the manager came from outside and told me that I had to come inside because it was policy. No, oh please…I went up to the window and was about to write down my order. I had this feeling something was going to happen. So, just in case, I set up the video.
Alex: Boozer Carter said when police officers showed up, they told him that the KFC manager said it was store policy for deaf customers to come in. But he said he knew this was not true, but left because he didn’t want the situation to escalate.
Boozer Carter: At the end, the KFC manager told them to remove my order. Of course, I had to cooperate because I didn’t want to get shot or I’d even get arrested if I didn’t cooperate. Anything could happen. So I’d rather leave and that’s what I did. I left the place.
Alex: On Tuesday, a representative for KFC emailed Boozer Carter to apologize and offered him a $50 KFC gift card. The representative said the “Area Coach” is meeting with the KFC team to re-educate them on proper processes and protocols.
Boozer Carter said he didn’t feel satisfied.
Boozer Carter: When I think about out it, I mean please, I believe that woman should get fired honestly. They had absolutely no patience with me. They tried to shun me and said it was policy. I knew there couldn’t actually be a policy like this one. If Deaf person had to go inside, does that mean they would say the same to hearing people? Please I don’t think so.
Alex: So, this is yet another instance of a Deaf customer having the police called on them for refusing to leave the drive-thru after being told to come inside.
Boozer Carter: I never thought it would happen to me. I’ve said this many times, but I never had any problems with this. Until now, it really happened to me! Just, wow, you know?
Alex: The Daily Moth reported about two similar incidents in the past several months — one at a Taco Bell and another at a Dunkin’ Donuts.
Fortunately, none of the interactions with police officers resulted in arrests or harm towards Deaf customers, but one has to wonder what could happen if there was a miscommunication or a misunderstanding.
FB Post by Justin Boozer Carter: https://www.facebook.com/redbOiix3/posts/10156867134601357
KFC in Largo, Florida: http://bit.ly/2JoRiut
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Deaf woman dresses like nurse to surprise friend at hospital on Mother’s Day
One Deaf woman, Kimberly Thurlow from Fulton, New York drove to Boston, Massachusetts to surprise her hearing best friend, Nancee at the hospital for Mother’s Day. Nancee has been struggling with severe health issues with her kidneys and Kimberly mentioned that Nancee will have an open heart surgery tomorrow. Nancee has been constantly have been in and out of the hospital. So, for Mother’s Day, Kimberly became a “Deaf nurse” for a minute.
[Video clip of “fake nurse” surprise]
Nancee’s son, Holden, was the one who captured the surprise moment. It was posted on Facebook and it has 84,000 views so far. The Daily Moth interviewed Kimberly. We asked her to explain how this happened.
KIMBERLY: Then somehow her son, Holden, texted me. He said, “Hey, Mother’s Day is coming up. It’d be nice if you could visit mom. She would love that.” And I said, “Okay, okay when?” He asked if I could come on Saturday morning. She didn’t know I was coming, he wanted it to be a surprise. I said that was fine. So I told my husband that we needed to go to the hospital to visit her. We drove for six hours and arrived at the Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital. And then Holden said, “Why not dress up and act like a nurse to make it an even more of a surprise?” I thought that was a good idea! Then we put on the gown on.
Renca: Nancee seemed really surprised. We also asked Kimberly if it was a challenge for her to convince a nurse or doctor for her to get the nurse’s “outfit.”
KIMBERLY: No, we already told him…Holden talked with them and explained that Kim had come here from New York and asked if she could surprise his mom by dressing up like a nurse. They said sure and gave the items. They thought it was a wonderful and neat idea. I put on the nurse mask.
Renca: Any last words of encouragement you would like to share with us?
KIMBERLY: Okay, life is short, that’s number one. And I feel it’s so important that you value your friends and your family. Because…you never know what’s going to happen to you tomorrow. So it’s important to be there for them. If they’ve been there for you then you need to be there for them too. That sort of friendship is rare.
Renca: Thank you, Kimberly, for sharing a heartwarming story. What a wonderful way to surprise a friend in a hospital.
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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!