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The Justice System’s Stunning Betrayal of Chrystul Kizer

NNPA NEWSWIRE — According to the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s office, the court denied Kizer eligibility to engage in any early release programs at the Department of Corrections; she should be freed in 2033.

Published

9 months ago

August 28, 2024

Oakland Post

By Stacy M. Brown
NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

The opening words on a fundraiser page started four years ago remain harrowing: “Hello, I am the mother of, Chrystul Kizer, who was a minor at the time of her incarceration and is currently facing charges in Kenosha, WI, because she defended herself from a known sex trafficker,” Devore Taylor wrote. The page, which has raised more than $67,000 to date, a Facebook page urging authorities to “Free Chrystul,” and a Wisconsin law that seemed to side with Kizer wasn’t enough to stop a judge from sentencing the now 24-year-old to more than a decade in prison for killing the man who allegedly sex trafficked her.

A Kenosha County judge added 5 years of extended supervision to Kizer’s sentence in the 2018 death of Randall Volar, 34. She was given credit for 570 days, about one and a half years of time served. According to the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s office, the court denied Kizer eligibility to engage in any early release programs at the Department of Corrections; she should be freed in 2033. Kizer, who is Black, pled guilty in May to second-degree reckless murder in Volar’s killing, avoiding a trial and a possible life sentence.

Prosecutors said Kizer shot Volar at his Kenosha home in 2018 when she was 17, and that she then burned his house down and stole his BMW. Kizer was charged with multiple counts, including first-degree intentional homicide, arson, car theft, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. Incidentally, Kenosha is the same city where Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted after killing two men at a Black Lives Matter Rally. Kizer told police she encountered Volar on a sex trafficking website. She said that for the year before his death, he had been mistreating her and marketing her as a prostitute. She said she shot him as he tried to touch her.

Her attorneys argued that Kizer could not be held criminally accountable for any of it because of a 2008 state statute that exempts sex trafficking victims from “any offense committed as a direct result” of being trafficked. Over the last decade, most states have approved similar legislation that provides sex trafficking victims with some amount of criminal protection. Arguing in court pleadings that victims of trafficking feel imprisoned and occasionally feel as though they had to take matters into their own hands, anti-violence organizations swarmed Kizer’s defense. In 2022 the state Supreme Court decided Kizer could raise the defense during trial. However, prosecutors argued that Wisconsin lawmakers couldn’t have meant for safeguards to include homicide.

“I think about all the people who harmed Chrystul who are walking free today. There are individual men in southeastern Wisconsin who paid to sexually abuse Chrystul. They’re walking free. Only Chrystul is being held responsible,” Claudine O’Leary, an independent consultant for survivors of human trafficking with Rethink Resources who worked with Kizer’s defense team, said on the NPR show, “Wisconsin Today.”

Many observed that the case mirrors that of Cyntoia Brown, which played out over 15-years in Tennessee. In 2006, Brown, also Black, was convicted of aggravated robbery and first-degree murder for killing 43-year-old real estate agent Johnny Allen, whom she went home with after he picked her up for sex at a Sonic Drive-In in Nashville. Fearing that Allen was reaching for a gun, she claimed she took a revolver from her handbag and killed him.

She then escaped with Allen’s firearms and cash. She drove off in his pickup vehicle. Brown, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the homicide, was freed from prison in 2019 after serving 15 years. Author of “No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us,” Rachel Louise Snyder, a New York Times contributing opinion writer, described the justice system’s history of betraying Black women and girls like Kizer.

“In this world, Black girls, especially, are routinely over-sexualized by law enforcement and the judiciary,” she wrote. “The lead investigator in the case against Volar wrote of one of Valor’s victims that she was ‘prostituting herself out.’ He was writing about a 15-year-old.” Snyder noted that Kizer was trying, “in the best way she knew, to help her family.” “She posted the ad on backpage.com so she could buy food and school supplies,” Snyder determined. “Kizer didn’t know that under federal law, it is illegal to solicit someone under the age of 18 for prostitution. What she did know were the layers of systemic racism embedded into her life – poverty, homelessness, abuse, hunger.”

After the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling, Snyder noted that Kizer had a choice. She said the disillusioned Black girl could go to trial and risk getting a life sentence — “her life for his, if you didn’t count how he’d already hijacked hers — or take a plea deal and some lesser time to serve. She faced up to 30 years on the plea. But 30 years wasn’t life, at least.” She took the plea, Snyder continued.

“She could have risked a trial, of course. But consider what the world had taught her by then, a poor Black girl with men’s violence and control all around her, with a law-enforcement system that prioritized her abuser’s freedom at the cost of her trauma, a world that said sometimes you were hungry and sometimes you needed school supplies, but no good comes from wanting,” Snyder concluded. “For six years her case was in and out of court, all the way to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, and what did that get her? An impossible gamble. What were the odds she’d prevail; in this world we’ve made for her?”

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#NNPA BlackPress

Black Feminist Movement Mobilizes in Response to National Threats

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — More than 500 Black feminists will convene in New Orleans from June 5 through 7 for what organizers are calling the largest Black feminist gathering in the United States.

Published

3 days ago

May 30, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

More than 500 Black feminists will convene in New Orleans from June 5 through 7 for what organizers are calling the largest Black feminist gathering in the United States. The event, led by the organization Black Feminist Future, is headlined by activist and scholar Angela Y. Davis. Paris Hatcher, executive director of Black Feminist Future, joined Black Press USA’s Let It Be Known to outline the mission and urgency behind the gathering, titled “Get Free.” “This is not just a conference to dress up and have a good time,” Hatcher said. “We’re building power to address the conditions that are putting our lives at risk—whether that’s policing, reproductive injustice, or economic inequality.” Hatcher pointed to issues such as rising evictions among Black families, the rollback of bodily autonomy laws, and the high cost of living as key drivers of the event’s agenda. “Our communities are facing premature death,” she said.

Workshops and plenaries will focus on direct action, policy advocacy, and practical organizing skills. Attendees will participate in training sessions that include how to resist evictions, organize around immigration enforcement, and disrupt systemic policies contributing to poverty and incarceration. “This is about fighting back,” Hatcher said. “We’re not conceding anything.” Hatcher addressed the persistent misconceptions about Black feminism, including the idea that it is a movement against men or families. “Black feminism is not a rejection of men,” she said. “It’s a rejection of patriarchy. Black men must be part of this struggle because patriarchy harms them too.” She also responded to claims that organizing around Black women’s issues weakens broader coalitions. “We don’t live single-issue lives,” Hatcher said. “Our blueprint is one that lifts all Black people.”

The conference will not be streamed virtually, but recaps and updates will be posted daily on Black Feminist Future’s YouTube channel and Instagram account. The event includes performances by Tank and the Bangas and honors longtime activists including Billy Avery, Erica Huggins, and Alexis Pauline Gumbs. When asked how Black feminism helps families, Hatcher said the real threat to family stability is systemic oppression. “If we want to talk about strong Black families, we have to talk about mass incarceration, the income gap, and the systems that tear our families apart,” Hatcher said. “Black feminism gives us the tools to build and sustain healthy families—not just survive but thrive.”

Stacy M. Brown

Posts by Stacy M. Brown

#NNPA BlackPress

Hoover’s Commutation Divides Chicago as State Sentence Remains

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — Hoover was convicted of murder and running a criminal enterprise. Although some supporters describe him as a political prisoner, the legal and public safety concerns associated with his name remain substantial.

Published

4 days ago

May 29, 2025

Stacy M. Brown

By Stacy M. Brown
Black Press USA Senior National Correspondent

The federal sentence for Gangster Disciples founder Larry Hoover has been commuted, but he remains incarcerated under a 200-year state sentence in Illinois. The decision by Donald Trump to reduce Hoover’s federal time has reignited longstanding debates over his legacy and whether rehabilitation or continued punishment is warranted. The commutation drew immediate public attention after music executive Jay Prince and artist Chance the Rapper publicly praised Trump’s decision. “I’m glad that Larry Hoover is home,” said Chance the Rapper. “He was a political prisoner set up by the federal government. He created Chicago Votes, mobilized our people, and was targeted for that.”

But Hoover, the founder of the Gangster Disciples, is not home—not yet. Now in federal custody at the Florence Supermax in Colorado, Hoover was convicted of murder and running a criminal enterprise. Although some supporters describe him as a political prisoner, the legal and public safety concerns associated with his name remain substantial. “There is a divide in the Black community here,” said Chicago journalist Jason Palmer during an appearance on the Let It Be Known morning program. “Some view Hoover as someone who brought structure and leadership. Others remember the violence that came with his organization.” Palmer explained that while Hoover’s gang originally formed for protection, it grew into a criminal network responsible for extensive harm in Chicago. He also noted that Hoover continued to run his organization from state prison using coded messages passed through visitors, prompting his transfer to federal custody.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is widely considered a potential 2028 presidential contender, has not issued a statement. Palmer suggested that silence is strategic. “Releasing Hoover would create enormous political consequences,” Palmer said. “The governor’s in a difficult spot—he either resists pressure from supporters or risks national backlash if he acts.” According to Palmer, Hoover’s federal commutation does not make him a free man. “The federal sentence may be commuted, but he still has a 200-year state sentence,” he said. “And Illinois officials have already made it clear they don’t want to house him in state facilities again. They prefer he remains in federal custody, just somewhere outside of Colorado.”

Palmer also raised concerns about what Hoover’s case could signal for others. “When R. Kelly was convicted federally, state prosecutors in Illinois and Minnesota dropped their charges. If a president can commute federal sentences based on public pressure or celebrity support, others like R. Kelly or Sean Combs could be next,” Palmer said. “Meanwhile, there are thousands of incarcerated people without fame or access to public platforms who will never get that consideration.” “There are people who are not here today because of the violence connected to these organizations,” Palmer said. “That has to be part of this conversation.”

Stacy M. Brown

Posts by Stacy M. Brown

#NNPA BlackPress

WATCH: Five Years After George Floyd: Full Panel Discussion | Tracey’s Keepin’ It Real | Live Podcast Event

Join us as we return to the city where it happened and speak with a voice from the heart of the community – Tracey Williams-Dillard, CEO/Publisher of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

Published

4 days ago

May 28, 2025

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https://youtube.com/watch?v=OsNLWTz6jU0&feature=oembed

May 25, 2020. The world stopped and watched as a life was taken.

But what has happened since?

Join us as we return to the city where it happened and speak with a voice from the heart of the community – Tracey Williams-Dillard, CEO/Publisher of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.

She shares reflections, insights, and the story of a community forever changed. What has a year truly meant, and where do we go from here?

This is more than just a date; it’s a moment in history. See what one leader in the Black press has to say about it.

Recorded live at UROC in Minneapolis, this powerful discussion features:

Panelists: