William Stephen Devery

William Stephen Devery (January 9, 1854 – June 20, 1919) was the last superintendent of the New York City Police Department police commission and the first police chief in 1898. Devery and Frank J. Farrell later co-owned the New York Yankees baseball team.

Biography

He was born in New York City in 1854. In 1878, at age 24, he was hired as a patrolman. On September 16, 1881, he was made a roundsman, and on May 28, 1884, he was promoted to a sergeant. On December 30, 1891, after 13 years on the force, he was promoted to captain. As a police captain he once told his men, "They tell me there's a lot of grafting going on in this precinct. They tell me that you fellows are the fiercest ever on graft. Now that's going to stop! If there's any grafting to be done, I'll do it. Leave it to me." On February 5, 1897, he was arrested and charged with bribery and extortion. After conviction, he was dismissed from the force. He appealed his conviction in the New York Court of Appeals. It was overturned and he was reinstated to the force and promoted to inspector on January 7, 1898, and Deputy Chief on February 14, 1898. He was then appointed Chief of Police on June 30, 1898.

Emmett Till

Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14, after reportedly flirting with a white woman.

Till was from Chicago, Illinois, and visiting relatives in Money, a small town in the Mississippi Delta region. He spoke to 21-year-old Carolyn Bryant, the married proprietor of a small grocery store there. Several nights later, Bryant's husband Roy and his half-brother J. W. Milam went to Till's great-uncle's house and abducted the boy. They took him away and beat and mutilated him before shooting him and sinking his body in the Tallahatchie River. Three days later, Till's body was discovered and retrieved from the river.

Till's body was returned to Chicago. His mother, who had mostly raised him, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention not only on American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also on the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy". Tens of thousands attended his funeral or viewed his casket and images of his mutilated body were published in black-oriented magazines and newspapers, rallying popular black support and white sympathy across the U.S. Intense scrutiny was brought to bear on the condition of black civil rights in Mississippi, with newspapers around the country critical of the state. Although initially local newspapers and law enforcement officials decried the violence against Till and called for justice, they soon began responding to national criticism by defending Mississippians, which eventually transformed into support for the killers.

Chief of police

A Chief of Police, also known as Police Chief or sometimes shortened to just Chief, is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. Alternate titles for this position include Police Commissioner, Colonel (according to Rhode Island State Police), Police Superintendent, and Chief Constable. In contrast to a Sheriff (who is generally elected by the voters of a county, except in the states of Rhode Island and Hawaii), a Chief of Police is usually a municipal employee who owes his allegiance to a city or town. Some states have both an appointed and an elected Chief of Police (Louisiana). In some jurisdictions the head of the police commission is the leader of the police and holds a position analogous or similar to the one described here, in this case he is referred to as Commissioner. The New York City Police Department has both a Police Commissioner and a Chief, formerly called the Chief Inspector, now called the Chief of Department. In Louisiana, a Chief of Police may serve as the Chief of Police, Marshal, and Constable for a city. The fraternal organization International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is an organization often associated with many Chiefs of Police.

A Tribe Called Quest

A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group that was formed in 1985, and was composed of MC/producer Q-Tip, MC Phife Dawg aka Phife Diggy (Malik Taylor), and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album in 1991. He continued to contribute to the band sporadically before rejoining for their 2006 reunion. Along with De La Soul, the group was a central part of the Native Tongues Posse, and enjoyed the most commercial success out of all the groups to emerge from that collective. Many of their songs, such as "Bonita Applebum", "Can I Kick It?", "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo", "Scenario", "Check the Rhime", "Jazz (We've Got)", "Award Tour" and "Electric Relaxation" are regarded as classics. The group released five albums between 1990 and 1998 and disbanded in 1998. In 2006, the group reunited and toured the US. The group is regarded as pioneers of alternative hip hop music, having helped to pave the way for many innovative artists.

A Tribe Called Red

A Tribe Called Red is a Canadian electronic music group, who blend instrumental hip hop, reggae, moombahton and dubstep-influenced dance music with elements of First Nations music, particularly vocal chanting and drumming. Based in Ottawa, Ontario, the group consists of three DJs: Ian "DJ NDN" Campeau (of the Nipissing First Nation), Tim "2oolman" Hill (Mohawk, of the Six Nations of the Grand River), and Bear Witness (of the Cayuga First Nation). Former member Dan "DJ Shub" General left the band for personal reasons in spring 2014, and was replaced by Hill.

The group's music has been described as "powwow-step", a style of contemporary powwow music for urban First Nations in the dance club scene; popularized by the media as a description of the band's unique style, the term originated as the title of one of the band's own earliest singles.

Music

After releasing a number of tracks online and DJing at various dance and aboriginal events, the band released their self-titled debut album as a free internet download in 2012. The album was named as a longlisted nominee for the 2012 Polaris Music Prize on June 14, 2012. Their second album, Nation II Nation, was released in 2013 and was named a longlisted nominee for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize on June 13, 2013; in July, it was named to the prize's final 10-album shortlist. The band also won several awards at the 2013 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, including Best Group and Best Album for Nation II Nation.