A Ramadan Miracle: Justice for Cariol Horne!
Assalamu Alaikum and Ramadan Mubarak!
On this first blessed day of Ramadan, we are thrilled to be able to share fantastic news of a true Ramadan miracle: Justice has been done by our dear sister and former Buffalo, New York police officer Cariol Horne.
The State of New York Supreme Court ruled today that the 2010 decision by the City of Buffalo to terminate Cariol from her job as a police officer and strip her of her benefits is hereby vacated and annulled! This removes the barriers to Cariol accessing her pension and requires that the City of Buffalo issue her back-pay for her time off of the force back in 2010.
As you may recall, Cariol was fired from her job and stripped of her opportunity for pension in 2006 after preventing another officer from killing an unarmed Black man in a chokehold. IMAN was connected to Cariol’s plight through the advocacy of IMAN Roster Artist Drea d’Nur and helped to drive the national campaign to pass Cariol’s Law in 2020, a law that now makes it mandatory for police in Buffalo to intervene when they witness the use of excessive force by another police officer.
Last year, IMAN was able to secure legal representation for Cariol with our partners at Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, and Harvard Law School and it was through the work and standout legal team of longtime IMAN supporters Kamran Bajwa, Dr. Intisar Rabb, and Ronald Sullivan that this case was won.
None of this would have been possible without your calls and emails to the mayor of Buffalo and governor of New York, and your relentless commitment to ensuring IMAN has the resources necessary to create real change. Your generosity enables us to have an impact not only in Chicago and Atlanta, but across the country. With all of the dark news and difficult times we’re facing as a country, we couldn’t ask for a more healing and reaffirming way to begin the month than with news of this early Ramadan blessing!