The Verdict, The L.A. Review, and Serena's Return

Mimi Brown breaks down the day. A South Carolina jury has acquitted a store owner of murder in the killing of 14-year-old Cyrus Carmack-Belton over four water bottles. Los Angeles prosecutors are now reviewing a new sexual assault case against Sean "Diddy" Combs. And Serena Williams is coming out of retirement to play in London. Plus,  The Underplayed. The 105th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre just passed without national coverage.

From the Black Effect Podcast Network.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
A South Carolina jury has acquitted a store owner of
murder in the shooting death of a fourteen year old
black boy over poor water bottles.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
This makes us feel as if our children don't matter,
and they do.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
And Los Angeles prosecutors are now reviewing a sexual assault
case against Sean Diddy Combs.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
We're gonna beal, we think we're right.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
And Serena Williams is coming back to tennis. I'm just
so grateful to every single person. It's Wednesday, June third,
from the Black Effects Podcast Network. I'm Mimi Brown. This
is front page, and here are the day's biggest stories,
plus today on the underplayed, the anniversary that just passed

(00:43):
without national news coverage, and what that silence is telling us.
Stay with me. A South Carolina jury has found a
convenience store owner not guilty in the shooting death of
fourteen year old Cyrus mccarmick. Belton has drawn national attention
ever since it happened nearly three years ago. Rick Chow,

(01:05):
the owner of a gas station convenience store in Columbia,
South Carolina, was acquitted Monday night after being charged with murder.
This case goes back to Memorial Day weekend in twenty
twenty three. According to investigators, Cyrus walked into Child's convenience
store with friends. Employees believe the fourteen year old had
taken four bottles of water without paying. Cyrus then left

(01:27):
the store and started running down the street. That's when
prosecutors say Rick Chow and his adult son chased after
him outside. During that chase, Chow pulled out a gun
and fired. Cyrus was struck in the lower back and
died at the scene. The shooting shocked the community immediately,
especially after Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott publicly addressed the

(01:49):
case and said, even if the teenager had stolen water bottles, quote,
that's not something you shoot anybody over, much less a
fourteen year old. But Chiles the Fish attorneys argued self defense,
saying Child believed his son was in danger during the
confrontation outside the store. The defense claimed Cyrus pointed a
gun during the encounter, but the prosecution, led by South

(02:12):
Carolina Solicitor Byron Gibson, argued the opposite. He pointed out
that multiple witnesses testified they never saw anything in cyrus
hands while he was running from the store. No gun, nothing,
The jury came back Monday with the verdict not guilty.
Here is Todd Rutherford, the attorney for the Belton family.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
I've been practicing law for almost thirty years. I've never
seen anything like this. I don't understand it. I'm at
a loss to explain it to his father, Troy standing
beside me. I'm being a loss to explain it to
his mother, who couldn't take it and had to leave.
I'm going a loss to explain it to his family
because I too don't understand it. He ran away and
he got shot in the back. It should not happen.

(02:53):
Shouldn't have happened, and unfortunately we're gonna have to deal
with the end results of it.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
The family says they will now pursue a civil lawlaw suit.
Sean Diddy Combs is now facing a new criminal review
in Los Angeles while already serving time in federal prison.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office confirmed this week
that prosecutors are reviewing a sexual assault investigation connected to Combs.

(03:21):
This is separate from the federal case that already sent
him to prison. Right now, Combs is serving a fifty
month sentence at a federal prison in New Jersey after
a New York jury convicted him last year on prostitution
related charges involving transportation across state lines.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
I mean, the jury's verdict was resoundingly clear. There was
no sex trafficking, there was no racketeering. Everything was consensual,
Everything was adult, which is why he was convicted only
of the prostitution offense.

Speaker 1 (03:51):
Combs is currently appealing that conviction, but now a second
legal battle may be developing on the West Coast. According
to reports, both the Last Angela's Police Department and the
La County Sheriff Department spent the last year investigating allegations
from a music producer and publicist named Jonathan Hay. Investigators
later turned their findings over to the Los Angeles County

(04:13):
DA's office for review. This week, the office confirmed prosecutors
are actively looking at the case. Hey alleges there were
two separate incidents involving Combs, one in Los Angeles in
twenty twenty and another in Florida in twenty twenty one.
The Los Angeles allegation includes claims of sexual battery. The
Comb's legal team they have denied the allegations. One of

(04:36):
his attorneys previously called the claims false and defamatory, and
said Combs deny sexually abusing anyone. At this point, prosecutors
have not announced charges and there's no timeline for when
a decision could come. But if Los Angeles prosecutors do
move forward, it could mean additional prison time for Combs
on top of the sentence he's already serving federally. Every

(05:02):
Wednesday on front page, this is what we do. One
story that didn't get the coverage it deserved this week
because some of the most important news in the country
right now is happening on page eight. Today's pick Sunday
and Monday. May thirty first and June first marked the
one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Tulsa RAS massacre.

(05:24):
If you have not heard about the anniversary this week,
that is the story. May thirty first through June first,
nineteen twenty one, Tulsa, Oklahoma, a white mob deputized by
local police descended on a black neighborhood called Greenwood. Greenwood
was at the time the wealthiest black community in America.
People called it Black Wall Street. Over the course of

(05:45):
about sixteen hours, the mob destroyed it all. They burned
every black owned business, They burned every black owned home
over thirty five city block. They machine gunned residents from
the ground, They dropped firebombs from private planes. They arrested
almost every survivor. Estimates of the dead ranged from one
hundred and fifty to three hundred Black Americans. Most are

(06:07):
buried in unmarked graves. Tulsa has been excavating mass burial
sites for the last several years. Not a single white
attacker was ever charged. Survivors and their families were never compensated.
In twenty twenty, a lawsuit was filed in Oklahoma state Court.
Two of the last known survivors, Viola Fletcher and Leslie
Binningfield Randall, were the lead plaintiffs. Both were over one

(06:31):
hundred years old. They asked for a public nuisance ruling,
acknowledgment and reparations. In June of twenty twenty four, the
Oklahoma Supreme Court dismissed the case. The state's argument the
harm was too old, the legal claim was barred, and
the court agreed. Mother Randall passed away last year. Mother

(06:51):
Fletcher is, as of this anniversary, one hundred and twelve
years old. The number of confirmed survivors of the Tosal
race massacre is now extremely small. The anniversary just passed.
There were no major network specials, no White House proclamation,
no federal recognition, no reparations bill moving in Washington. If

(07:13):
you missed the anniversary this week, most American newsrooms did too.
For context, when we remember other American tragedies, we remember
them every year the country grinds to a stop. We
name the dead, we hold ceremonies, we do not forget.
But for the Tulsa Race massacre, most Americans went one

(07:34):
hundred years not knowing about it at all. The story
was actively kept out of textbooks, out of news coverage,
out of memory. The HBO show Watchmen taught more Americans
about Tulsa in twenty nineteen than every American history class
combined in the previous century. That is the legacy. And

(07:54):
the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary just came and went. So,
if you have kids, tell them about Greenwood. If you
have a community, talk to him about it. If you
have a platform, use it. Because the last living survivor
of one of the worst racial massacres in American history
is sitting in Tulsa right now. In the country is
not paying attention. That is the underplay, and finally, Serena

(08:24):
Williams is officially stepping back onto the tennis court. The
Tennis Icon announced this week that she'll compete in the
HSBC Championships in London beginning June eighth, marking her first
competitive tournament since retiring nearly four years ago, and for
tennis fans, this is a pretty big moment. Serena is
now forty four years old and has spent the last

(08:44):
several years focus on her life off the court, raising
her daughters, building businesses, producing projects, and running her venture
capital company. But now she's returning to competition as a
wildcard entry in the doubles tournament on the grass courts
and Queen's Club in London.

Speaker 2 (09:01):
I'm just so grateful to every single person that's ever
said go Serena in their life. I'm just so grateful because, yeah,
you got me here.

Speaker 1 (09:11):
And this tournament matters because it's one of the major
warm up events leading into Wimbledon later this month. So naturally,
Latini's world is already buzzing about whether this is just
a one time appearance or the beginning of a bigger
Serena return heading into Wimbledon. So far, Serena isn't saying
that's your front page. I'm Mimi Brown. This podcast was

(09:33):
brought to you by The Black Effect Podcast Network