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by Stephen Lendman
While family, friends, civil rights activists and good people everywhere mourn Sandra Bland’s death at the hands of Waller County, TX killer cops, Native American Rexdale Henry’s likely murder in Neshoba County, Mississippi jail needs more nationwide attention.
Family spokesman John Steele said he was found dead on July 14. As of July 27, results of two autopsies aren’t known. He was allegedly arrested for nonpayment of traffic fines.
A Neshoba County Justice Court clerk said records showed they totaled $2,677. He could have paid some not yet indicated, she explained. Possibly the recorded total included late fees or other charges.
Steele called Henry an activist community member for Native American rights and equal justice, an announced candidate for the Choctaw Tribal Council days before his arrest on July 9.
“He was a great family man and just tried to help his people, the Choctaw tribe. He had a closeness with everyone in the community,” Steele explained. Police said they found him dead around 10:00AM July 14. He was seen alive 30 minutes earlier with no signs of ill health reported. Like Sandra Bland, his case wreaks of foul play - likely cold-blooded murder, perhaps for supporting Native American rights in a community against them.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI) is examining his case. Cause of death from a state conducted autopsy will likely exclude murder as cause of death.
Anonymous donors paid for his body to be flown to Florida for an independent forensic pathologist’s evaluation. Results so far aren’t known.
Law Professor Janis McDonald said “(a)t a time when the nation is focused on the terrible circumstances of the brutal death of Sandra Bland, it is critical to expose the many ways in which black Americans, Native Americans and other minorities are being arrested for minor charges and end up dead in jail cells.”
The day before Henry’s arrest, a Stonewall, MS cop pulled African-American Jonathan Sanders from a horse, then choked him to death with a flashlight, according to witnesses.
Before dying, he was heard pleading “(l)et me go. I can’t breathe.” Police chief Michael Street lied claiming otherwise - saying there was no flashlight. No shots were fired. “There were no weapons, and he was not dragged off a horse.”
Sanders was a horse trainer, unarmed threatening no one. The MBI is investigating his case. No cause of death so far was released.
Steele said once results of Henry’s independent autopsy are available, they’ll be made public.
A longstanding race war in America rages against people of color - victimized by multiple forms of injustice, including killer cop homicides called deaths by suicides or natural causes.
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III".
http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html
Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.
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