Heather Ellis pled guilty Friday to disturbing the peace and resisting arrest in a plea agreement. The agreement came after the jury was out for deliberation. Ellis will serve four days in jail, attend an anger management course, serve a year of unsupervised probation, and must stay out of trouble for one year. If she abides by her agreement, then the two misdemeanors charges and arrest will be expunged from her record.
After she left the courtroom she stated that she was "taking responsibility for her actions and [hopes] that everyone else involved in the case will take responsibility for theirs,” CNN reported.
Heather Ellis denied all charges earlier in the day. But witnesses stated that she was belligerent, rude and in a rage. The incident happened at a Walmart store in Missouri.
Before the trial Ellis claimed that she was discriminated against by the Walmart employees, and police officers at the scene. She stated that a police officer passed a Ku Klux Klan card onto her, and she viewed that as a threat. To read the original Heather Ellis story, click here.
Ellis is supported by a local civil liberties group that stated 13% of the population in that area is Africian American, and that this case shows racial bias in the town. In a press conference after Ellis pled guilty, the local prosecutor attempted to say that there was no racial bias in that town, and the crowd created an immediate uproar in disagreement, and about a dozen people left the area of the press conference.
Racism in the United States is still rampant especially in communities that are mostly white with a lower population of African American residents. In Utah, almost 90% of the population is white, and African Americans make up less than 1% of the population. Many African Americans feel uncomfortable in the state partly because they are such a small minority, and some have said because people stare at them.
Related articles: Video: Heather Ellis in court over racism dispute at Walmart
Source: CNN
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Comments
Uhm...hold it. There might be rampant racism in Utah, but the way you've written this adds 2 and 2 and gets 200:
Racism in the United States is still rampant especially in communities that are mostly white with a lower population of African American residents. In Utah, almost 90% of the population is white, and African Americans make up less than 1% of the population. Many African Americans feel uncomfortable in the state partly because they are such a small minority, and some have said because people stare at them.
Do you equate "Many African Americans feel uncomfortable" with rampant racism? You're making a rather nasty implication but you're not backing it up with facts.
You may be perfectly right, but you might want to take a couple of journalism classes to learn how to draw conclusions effectively. Right now, what you've written is simply sensationalist. It certainly doesn't belong in anything purporting to be a news story.
Amen! @Hey--
And the people in Utah stare at everyone. The creepiest 2 days of my life were the ones spent driving through Utah, but that doesn't equate to racism - they're just rude to everyone who's not "one of them," regardless of skin color (I'm caucasian).
As a white male, I've have experienced my share of discrimination and racist attitudes from people of a different color than myself. Some people might call me prejudgist, I call it experienced. I grew up not being able to walk the halls of school alone for fear of being jumped by black kids. This is because I was robbed by Blacks on more than one occasion.
THIS IS PURE CRAP!!!!!!
"Racism in the United States is still rampant especially in communities that are mostly white with a lower population of African American residents. In Utah, almost 90% of the population is white, and African Americans make up less than 1% of the population. Many African Americans feel uncomfortable in the state partly because they are such a small minority, and some have said because people stare at them."
FALSE ACCUSATIONS OF RACISM IS WHAT'S RAMPANT AS THIS STORY ILLUSTRATES.
I could not agree with you more, racism is rampant and here is a perfect example of it ....falsely accusing white people of things they didn't do. Some times minorities get arrested for breaking the law and not because of racism.
Lies!! Regurgitated propaganda. The statement, "Racism is still rampant in the United States in White communities is an outright lie. Statistics show that most interacial attacks are black on White. White rapes of black women are non-existant while blacks raping white women is an epidemic. Someone needs to get their facts straight. Blacks are waging a race war on whites. It is the "dirty war" that the press doesn't talk about and hides.Between 1976-2005, blacks made up 13% of the US population, but committed 59% of felony murders. Overall, blacks are 9 times more likely to commit murder than whites.
Source: US DOJ
Is this supposed to be an opinion piece or is this editorial?
There is a large dark space between your ears because you obviously do not think anymore.
this type of behavor is comon in the south. It usually starts with " excuse me I have a queston" they jump in line. Now the casher is talking to the intruder, insted of checking you out. Then she say well just check me out so i can go. It is not a black/white thing, just a female thing. I have had it happen wile buying beer, at Ikes ( white female) and kroger ( black Female) People just try to see how far the can push the envelope and get away with it
• According to the latest US Department of Justice survey of crime victims, more than 6.6 million violent crimes (murder, rape, assault and robbery) are committed in the US each year, of which about 20 per cent, or 1.3 million, are inter-racial crimes.
• Most victims of race crime—about 90 per cent—are white, according to the survey "Highlights from 20 Years of Surveying Crime Victims", published in 1993.
• Almost 1 million white Americans were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by black Americans in 1992, compared with about 132,000 blacks who were murdered, robbed, assaulted or raped by whites, according to the same survey.
• Blacks thus committed 7.5 times more violent inter-racial crimes than whites even though the black population is only one-seventh the size of the white population. When these figures are adjusted on a per capita basis, they reveal an extraordinary disparity: blacks are committing more than 50 times the number of violent racial crimes of whites.
I'm a black woman and I agree with all of you. The editor could have kept that last paragraph. I'm from a Midwestern state and I have never been to Utah but I can't believe how you all describe Utah. Are they really that bad? Makes me not want to go there. I think the editorial is racist against white people. How do we know how blacks feel in Utah and what does that have to do with what happened in Missouri? This is the stuff that fuels racism.
So this miscreant decided to plead guilty after three years of legal maneuvers and a trial. I do hope she is held liable for all legal costs associated with this exercise in how to be a social pariah and all around piece of s**t.I don't understand the idea of expunging the charges from her record. This will just encourage bad behavior from like minded trash.
If she took the ple deal three years ago then she would be done with the whole thing right now. I would have withdrawn the deal when the case went to trial.
I wish I knew some gay black people. I don't know any. But I wish I knew at least one. I say this because as a white American, I would love to hear that I am (supposedly) discriminating against JUST ONE black person for reasons other than their skin color. As far as I know, (or at least as far as I thought I knew) I don't discriminate against any gays or blacks. But the media, Al, Jesse, Ellen, and most of California remind me constantly that regardless of what I think, I do discriminate because I’m a cracker. If I have to be forced into white guilt, [just this one time], it would be refreshing to hear that my (supposed) prejudice against an (African) American was because I am homophobic rather than because of his/her skin color (even if it isn't true).
P.S. I'm sitting in downtown St. Louis tonight at work. You want to find out about racism, come downtown here for a bit. There's racism alright, both ways, white AND black. Did you see where the gal sang the Black National Anthem at a Denver city meeting, when she had been asked to sing THE National Anthem? Go on the NPR website and see all the congratulating that she got for doing it. One commenter basically said to go jump in the lake, we'll do what we want, when we want to do it. Unfortunately, racism goes both ways.
Marci, c'mon. You're still smokin' hot, but your articles read like an 8th grader's diary.
"...and some have said because people stare at them." Ooooh!! He looked at me!!! Let's GTF outta here!!!
Is that the best you've got? I was in a punk band in the early/mid '90's...before it was an everyday thing to see a 19 year-old kid walking around with bright colored hair except in NY and LA. I remember one night...it was either in coastal GA or SC. A girl that was travelling with us and collapsed during the show, and the club called an ambulance. We had to go to the hospital and claim her after the show. I had my usual oddball hair color at the time, and none of us looked normal. It was a small hospital, too..like a one-story job. We sat in the ER lobby, and the nurses, receptionist, the 2 or 3 other people waiting at 1 a.m. were ALL staring. So what? It's impolite, but it's human nature. GET OVER IT!
Racism is dead except for in those who constantly think they are a victim of it.
Racism or not, how come people haven't been talking about the fact that she cut in line, then got indignant about it when the other customers called her out on it? Where I'm from, cutting in line is another form of cheating. Even school children learn that it's wrong. How is it that an adult doesn't know this?
It's a sad day when the basic rules of the social contract are thrown away just to get ahead in a line. Tacit rules like this are what let citizens tolerate one another, regardless of race.
She knew she was guilty, and so did the jury. Call it a plea, but she was CONVICTED! Justice was served.
Guess what happened to me today? An African-American woman took the parking place I was waiting for with my blinker on in the parking lot at Target. I think I'll sue...her, Target, the guy that collects carts at Target that didn't stop her, and Mercedes, the manufacturer of her car that cut me off. But like a normal person, I didn't do anything, just shook my head at her rudeness and ignorance. Heather Ellis brought all of this on herself by not doing the same. Go back to Louisiana and hopefully the next Katrina will seek justice upon you.
"Racism" is merely a charge used by minorities (usually black ones) to deflect scrutiny or criticism by Whites. It has proven to be effective at reducing criminal sentences, undermining the freedom of association, and transforming Whites into guilt-ridden, kow-towing boot-lickers.
Perhaps it isn't the "skin color" of blacks that provokes racism. Maybe it's the behavior exhibited by them that makes a negative impression upon white people. And it happens so frequently that the "skin color" is burned into our minds.
Kind of like the way when a black hears about an instance of racism, (s)he processes the perpetrator as a white person. As intelligent human beings, we are blessed to be able to process and recognize patterns; perhaps it developed as part of our survival strategy - who knows?
Clearly blacks wield the charge like a well-oiled machine because it brings them results. And even THAT statement is based upon personal experiences with people of black "skin color".
The above poster is right when he says the charge of racism is used to deflect criticism or jail time. We should be more vocal in our criticisms of blacks, not less. It's the only way to urge them to behave in a civilized manner.
samila very good comment
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