Clarence Martin, Jr. allegedly suffered from “mental issues.”
A two-month old is gone too soon.
A newborn was allegedly thrown from the second-floor balcony by her father on Saturday around 4 a.m. in Las Vegas. Clarence Martin, Jr. was arguing with the infant’s mother, Nicole Poole, when he snatched her away to the balcony of their apartment and didn’t return with her moments later, according to People.
When Poole discovered that her fiancée had not returned with the baby she ran to get her and then called 911. When officers arrived at the scene they discovered the mother performing CPR on the baby who eventually passed away due to blunt force trauma.
A GoFundMe has been set up for the baby’s funeral costs.
London Martin (Poole family)
The page reads:
“It is with extreme sadness our family is needing to reach out, so we can properly bury our precious 7-week old baby girl London. We were completely blindsided and are still in shock this is even a reality. Our sweet London was horrifically taken from us, and all at once, all our lives have been changed forever.
Our beloved daughter, little sister, granddaughter and niece was born August 26, 2020. Her life was tragically cut short in the early morning of October 24th, 2020.”
According to the Las Vegas Journal-Review, Poole told police Martin suffered from “mental issues” and had not slept in days.
Reports say the argument started between the couple, who had been together four years, when Martin entered the bedroom and began kicking Poole and baby London. Poole took the baby into the living room but Martin followed and that’s when he snatched the baby away and went to the balcony.
Martin fled in Poole’s Mercedes Benz before the police arrived but not before he also allegedly started a fire that killed the family dog.
After crashing the car several times in his escape, police ultimately located Martin on the tarmac of McCarran International airport wearing a TSA security shirt. He is being charged with first-degree arson, torture of an animal and battery on a protected person and open murder.
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It was the year 2004 and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs was touring the country in a T-shirt with the words Vote or Die! across the front, encouraging young people to vote in the presidential election. It was the campaign heard around the world. Diddy was conducting interviews on a private jet and celebrities like Mary J. Blige were right beside him encouraging youth to vote. You couldn’t turn the TV on without news pundits bashing or loving the hip-hop-driven campaign or your favorite celebrity donning the shirt, pushing for your vote.
And it worked. In 2004, 51% of young people between the ages of 18-29 voted in the 2004 presidential election in comparison to the 42.3% that voted in 2000. But this new Vote or Die! campaign feels different, less bling bling, and more down to earth. There are no jets or large gatherings (that could also have something to do with the coronavirus). The shirts are back with a slight facelift and if you check the web, the coverage is there.
This time around Diddy’s media company, Revolt is spearheading the initiative. As of June 1, the company has redirected its focus from “zero social justice content to a 100% social justice content.” They have been conducting town halls and surveys to figure out what makes Gen Z and millennials tick as they push a redesigned voting initiative which will continue after the Presidential election.
Singer Sean “P. Diddy” Combs gestures as he speaks to students at Temple University during a stop in his Vote or Die! Tour October, 27, 2004 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Vote or Die! Tour is traveling to six cities in three days to educate, motivate, and empower young Americans across the country to vote. (Photo by William Thomas Cain/Getty Images)
“If we are going to truly mobilize this generation we are going to have to shift to a format that works for them,” Detavio Samuels, chief operating officer at Revolt, told theGrio.
He says the company is redesigning itself to fully serve the younger generation by feeding them information in the way they will enjoy it, short in form, and from folks who look like them. They are arming the youngest generations with knowledge and tools to understand that the fight for the next presidential election begins the day after Nov. 3 and that local elections are just as important.
But it wasn’t the election that sparked the change. It wasn’t an outrageous tweet from Donald Trump or an off-handed comment from Joe Biden. It was the brutal death of a Minneapolis man at the hands of a police officer that redirected Revolt as a network and revived one of the most popular campaigns in modern history. His name was George Floyd.
“Ultimately after George Floyd, Revolt made a major pivot to social justice,” says Samuels. “That fundamentally changed the DNA of Revolt to social justice and the flight for Black liberation is now embedded into who we are as a brand.”
He adds that voting is not a silver bullet in the fight for change but a key weapon in the arsenal along with economic empowerment, protesting, and activism.
The brand has done its research. They conducted a study and surveyed a thousand 18-34-year-olds across the country in order to learn how they feel about the election. They found 28% of young people are not voting because neither candidate represents their interests, both of them have sexual assault allegations looming or they are just too exhausted to vote.
“There is this gut to want to bash them [nonvoters] but we have never really as a culture dove into why they don’t vote,” says Lynzie Riebling, VP, insights & strategy at Revolt, who led the study. “Instead of just making assumptions that they are irresponsible or arrogant let’s take a moment and zoom in on some of those things.”
Another find is that 14% of young people cannot vote due to ‘high barriers.’ This group makes up those who cannot vote due to citizenship or who have mental restrictions.
Riebling explains that if you are deemed mentally incapacitated you lose your right to vote. That could include a young person who has slight autism or a learning disorder. “My big goal for the study is to help people have empathy for this generation,” she adds.
This Vote or Die! campaign feels different because it is. Samuels says the 2004 Vote or Die! was about making voting cool, but now it’s easy to say the mission is richer.
Rapper Jay-Z performs on the “Best of Both Worlds” tour, November 1, 2004 at Madison Square Garden in New York City (Photo by Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
“We realize who we put in office at the national or local level has a say on abortion rights, gun control, police brutality, systemic racism and things that actually impact young folks’ survival and once we were clear on the mission and the purpose we knew we had to show up at the election.”
‘I think to be able to protest is a totally legitimate, totally reasonable.’
After he voted in Delaware on Wednesday, Joe Biden denounced the violence and looting in Philadelphia amid protests over the police shooting of Walter Wallace Jr..
“There is no excuse whatsoever for the looting and the violence. None whatsoever,” Biden said outside of a polling station in Wilmington.
“I think to be able to protest is a totally legitimate, totally reasonable,” he continued.
Wallace Jr. was fatally shot by police officers Monday afternoon after he allegedly approached them armed with a knife.
theGRIO previously reported, the incident occurred shortly before 4 p.m. when two Philadelphia Police officers responded to a call in West Philadelphia about a man with a weapon. They arrived at the scene and ordered Wallace to drop the knife but say he “advanced towards” them.
Officers then fired “several times,” wounding Wallace, who was driven to a nearby hospital by one of the policemen and then died.
Protesters took to the city streets Monday night to denounce the shooting, resulting in smashed windows at businesses and at least one police vehicle being set on fire. Over 25 officers have been reportedly injured by bricks and other thrown objects. A 50-year-old female officer was hospitalized after being struck by a speeding truck.
“I don’t condone no violence — tearing up the city, looting in the stores and all this chaos,” Wallace Sr. said on Tuesday. “I need everybody to have respect for my family and my son to stop this violence and chaos.”
Biden co-signed his remarks on Wednesday.
“As the victim’s father said, ‘do not do this. You’re not helping, you’re hurting. You’re hurting my son,'” he said.
Wallace, Sr. told The Philadelphia Inquirer that his son was hit at least 10 times by officers’ bullets.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said the killing raises “difficult questions that must be answered.”
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