The Daily Moth 9-19-19

Severe flooding in southeast Texas from Imelda; Justin Trudeau apologizes for wearing brownface make-up; Referee who ordered wrestler to cut locks is suspended for two years ; Tate Tullier’s Instagram account deactivated; Peyton Manning, Riddell award football equipment to Texas School for the Deaf; Deaf man killed in pedestrian crash in District Heights

[Transcript] Hello, welcome to The Daily Moth! It is Thursday, September 19. Ready for news?

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Severe flooding in southeast Texas from Imelda

There are reports of severe flooding in areas around Houston and Beaumont, Texas from Tropical Depression Imelda, which brought over 40 inches of rain over the last three days.

There are hundreds of 911 calls for high water rescues. The National Weather Service announced a flash flood emergency. The rains are expected to continue until tomorrow.

This storm has brought comparisons with Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which flooded large areas in Houston and Beaumont. Some say this storm is worse.

Images and videos show flooded streets both on I-10 and in neighborhood homes. There are concerns that a levee in Jefferson County could break and send over 4,600 acres of water.

Lamar University in Beamount tweeted that they are closed today due to weather conditions.

The George Bush Intercontinental Airport experienced major delays because of the rainfall and severe weather.

https://www.kvue.com/article/news/nation-world/imeldas-deluge-wont-let-up-over-texas-and-louisiana/269-82c62742-220c-4c65-87a1-967e5d24447b

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/09/19/texas-flooding-storm-imelda-hits-winnie-beaumont-dangerous-rain/2372220001/

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/texas-flooding-september-2019/index.html

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Justin Trudeau apologizes for wearing brownface make-up

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized for wearing brownface make-up at an “Arabian Nights” themed gala in 2001 when he was a teacher. The image was released yesterday. There was another image released yesterday of Trudeau wearing blackface as a high school student during a talent show performance. Today, there was a video released of a third instance of Trudeau wearing blackface at an unknown time and place.

Trudeau said last night that he shouldn’t have done that, that he should have known better, and is really sorry. He said he didn’t think it was a racist action at the time but now we know better and “this was something that was unacceptable and, yes, racist.”

This is a sensitive time for Trudeau because Canada has a general election on October 21 that will decide if Trudeau, a Liberal, will have a second term as prime minister.

There are three main challengers: Andrew Scheer from the Conservative Party, Jagmeet Singh from the New Democratic Party, and Elizabeth May from the Green Party.

Singh, who is a Sikh and wears a turban, said this means Canadians are going to see the prime minister mocking the realities that so many Canadians live with, and that it is not a joke. He said it is up to Canadians, not him, to decide whether to forgive him.

Scheer and May both said they were shocked at the acts of racism and criticized his ability to lead.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-49490396

https://globalnews.ca/news/5922861/justin-trudeau-brownface-video/

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Referee who ordered wrestler to cut locks is suspended for two years

Do you remember a high school wrestler from New Jersey who was ordered by a referee to either cut his locks or cover it or forfeit a match? There was a viral video in December of his hair being cut off and it sparked outrage.

That referee, Alan Maloney, is now suspended by the state for two seasons. The NJ Division on Civil Rights, after an investigation, concluded that a number of NJ wrestling officials used rules about limits on long hair and applied it to traditionally black hair styles regardless of length.

The wrestler, Andrew Johnson, identifies as multiracial. In the December incident, the referee said his hair was “unnatural.”

There is now an agreement between the NJ Civil Rights office and the NJ State Interscholastic Athletic Association that aims to eliminate interpretations of the rule that would allow referees to say a traditionally black hairstyle was “unnatural” or require it to be covered.

All wrestling officials in NJ will receive in-person training before the start of the season to emphasize that the rule is about hair length, not hair style.

Johnson’s family said through their attorney that they support the results of the investigation and the agreement.

https://www.wtap.com/content/news/Referee-who-told-NJ-wrestler-to-cut-dreadlocks-barred-for-2-seasons-560745131.html

https://theundefeated.com/features/the-untold-story-of-wrestler-andrew-johnsons-dreadlocks/

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Tate Tullier’s Instagram account deactivated

Tate Tullier, who is one of the most well-known Deaf photographers out there, had his Instagram account @tatephoto taken down on Tuesday. There is a petition with over 1,800 signatures to bring it back.

The Instagram account was filled with images of his signature “Tub Time with Tate,” which featured people posing nude in a tub.

There were no private parts exposed, but the poses often pushed boundaries in the name of art. You could compare it with images from ESPN’s “The Body Issue.”

Tullier told “The Daily Moth” that in the past, he had images reported here and there with specific posts taken down. He said he always tried to abide by Instagram’s rules on female nipples, genitals, or close up buttock shots.

Tullier said he is really “bummed” because he had 58,000 followers and met many of his own subjects, both deaf and hearing, on Instagram.

Clare Cassidy, who Tullier describes as a “good friend and fellow photographer,” started a change.org petition called “get Tate Tullier’s artistic feed back on instagram @tatephoto.”

Tullier tweeted yesterday that he was able to appeal his disabled account and that he received an email saying someone would get back to him. He expressed gratitude to those who supported him.

You can follow Tullier on Twitter @tatephoto for updates.

https://twitter.com/tatephoto

Petition: https://bit.ly/2kW3RTl

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Peyton Manning, Riddell award football equipment to Texas School for the Deaf

Football equipment maker Riddell and former NFL star quarterback Peyton Manning announced in a video that the Texas School for the Deaf was one of ten schools nationwide to win a 2019 Smarter Football Grant. Over 800 programs applied for the grant.

Manning, in a captioned video, applauded the TSD Rangers team’s innovative coaching and their unique style of play to “take the head out of the game.”

The Daily Moth reached out to TSD’s Athletic Director Chris Hamilton to ask how they received this grant.

Hamilton said the head coach, John Moore, Jr. was looking for new shoulder pads in August and while he was comparing different companies, he found the Riddell campaign. Moore explained in his application that TSD avoids head injuries in two different ways. The first is by using a drum for snaps, so they don’t have to turn their heads away from the opposing players. They only have to wait for the drum. The second method is by only using onside kicks in kickoffs to avoid the traditional kickoff method.

We asked Moore to send in a video to explain more about using only onside kicks and on what this award means to them.

JOHN MOORE JR.

How long have we been doing onside kicks? We’ve been doing it for six years now. It really does help us avoid injuries. Even pee wee football leagues don’t use kickoffs. They start at the 20-yard or the 30-yard line. The NFL is modifying their special teams rules. It’s because of the dangers present in running full speed across the field to tackle someone. Sometimes there is an opponent next to you that you don’t notice who will smack you out of the blue. We avoid this by using onside kicks. There are less people involved and less potential for hard impacts. We do it to avoid injuries. We don’t have a lot of injuries from it, it’s really gone down.

About the award -- we are very honored to receive the grant from Peyton Manning. The comments he made to us was an inspiration. You know, he chose us as one of the 10 teams out of 800 schools that applied for the grant so we are very honored to receive that recognition.

Alex: Thank you, Hamilton and Moore, for your time.

A press release from Riddell said each team winner will receive $10,000 to use on Riddell’s latest helmets, shoulder pads, or other equipment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5DZhFtCkks&list=PLO09SlPXF6k4KSEedWyh0xnJy6pgoi-fd&index=5&t=0s

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190917005754/en/Riddell-Peyton-Manning-Award-Equipment-Grants-Smarter

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Deaf man killed in pedestrian crash in District Heights

On September 7th, a deaf man, Manuel Cortez, as known as “Manny” and “Nene,” died after being struck by two vehicles. At 11:34pm, he was pronounced dead on the scene.

This happened at District Heights in Prince George County, Maryland. Cortez was from Brooklyn, New York and just turned 25 years old last August.

There are three articles in local news that explained the accident but the name of the victim was not released. We reached out to Prince George County’s Media Relations Division (PGCMRD) and they confirmed that the victim mentioned is Cortez.

We reached out to Yesenia Rivera, Cortez’s sister, to share what she knows. We had a conversation through video relay.

She explained that Cortez and his girlfriend went to visit Maryland on Thursday, September 5th, to visit a friend. On Saturday, September 7th, Cortez and his girlfriend went to a party. That was the last that Rivera (his sister) heard from him.

Rivera said that she always talks to Cortez everyday so when she did not get any response on Sunday, she knew something was wrong. She began investigating by calling various police departments and asking Cortez’s friends. Nobody could tell her where he was.

When Rivera read news articles about the accident, she had a feeling that it was her brother. On September 12th, the Prince George County Police Department informed Rivera that the body had been identified as Cortez.

We contacted PGCMRD for comments. They said that Cortez was walking across the street, not using the crosswalk, in the dark. The first car that hit him was a Mercedes. Cortez fell to the ground, and then an SUV coming from the opposite direction hit him. Both drivers stayed on the scene until police arrived and explained that they didn’t see Cortez until it was too late. The drivers’ identities have not been released and there are no charges for either person.

Cortez did not have any ID on him which took awhile for the fingerprinting process to confirm that the body belonged to him.

Rivera stated that Cortez has Usher’s Syndrome, which may make it harder for him to see at night. She said she is heartbroken by this whole situation and wants to know what made Cortez cross the street late at night and why he was alone. She said she is frustrated at not being able to get answers.

Rivera shared a post on Facebook that included two videos of Cortez walking on a street and chasing after vehicle.

There is a lot of discussion on social media among friends of Cortez on what happened that night.

Rivera said that these videos were taken on the same night that Cortez died. She also mentioned that his wallet and phone were taken from him that night of the accident.

Rivera mentions that she would never wish this upon any family and wants answers about what happened before Cortez walked across the street.

Rivera is raising money for Cortez’s funeral expenses. The link for more information is in the transcript.

LINK for donation:

https://www.facebook.com/yesenia.rivera.7564/posts/2433776773325708

LINK to videos

https://www.facebook.com/chantel.cedenorivera/posts/921810654840450

News links:

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com/2019/09/09/fatal-pedestrian-collision-district-heights/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/man-from-new-york-killed-in-pedestrian-crash-in-district-heights-md/2019/09/17/811cf354-d97d-11e9-a688-303693fb4b0b_story.html

https://wjla.com/news/local/fatal-pedestrian-crash-in-prince-georges-county

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That is all for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light!

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