19 year old Darrius Stewart lost his life in 2015 by a police officer In Memphis in a case of mistaken identity. He was completely unarmed. His mother, Mary Stewart, has been trying to file a suit since 2016. Again and again they dismiss the case. On February 10th, 2020 his mother filed another suit against the cop as an individual and we will not let them shut it down again. Sign and demand they recognize this case. More Information Below: Sourced from here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.commercialappeal.com/amp/4712694002 The mother of Darrius, Mary Stewart filed a suit against former Memphis Police Officer Connor Schilling. The first step in litigation began in 2016 when Stewart and the slain teen's father, Henry Williams, filed suit against Schilling and the City of Memphis. Former Police Director Toney Armstrong was sued in his official capacity, but U.S. District Judge S. Thomas Anderson dismissed the claim against him in 2017. Then in 2019, U.S. District Judge Samuel Mays Jr. ruled to dismiss the city from the case, but he let the suit against the officer as an individual continue. The Stewart family dropped its suit against the police officer and asked an appeals court to reverse the judge's ruling and reinstate the city as a defendant. In October, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit affirmed the judge's decision to dismiss the city government from the case. That led to Friday's court filing restarting the lawsuit, this time against the officer alone. "As a direct and proximate result of the actions or omissions of the defendant ... Stewart was killed, and his constitutional rights under the United States Constitution and Tennessee Constitution were violated," the new lawsuit says. The new suit seeks $17.2 million in damages. It's the same amount family members demanded in the prior lawsuit.  More on his story you can find here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.commercialappeal.com/amp/4712694002

The safety and validity of LGBTQ+ youth in the state of Tennessee is being actively threatened by bills HB 1182 (SB 1224), HB 800 (SB 1216), SB 1367 (HB 1233), SB 1229, and SB 1367. Each of these bills challenge the progressive progress of inclusion of LGBTQ+ youth that we have worked so hard for over the last several centuries. These bills limit the acknowledgement, support, normalization, and education regarding LGBTQ+ issues and lifestyles. These bills prevent access to proper bathrooms for transgender students and threaten their safety in our schools. These bills allow for students to opt-out of LGBTQ+ curriculum which will only further the marginalization of targeted LGTBQ+ students. These bills require teachers to notify parents 30 days in advance if their lesson would include LGBTQ+ content- which is a ridiculous request considering the practice of love and inclusion presented to our young people should exist in every single classroom moment.  As a community, it is our duty to ensure the safety of our children in our schools. Please consider voting against these bills so that our talented educators can continue fostering an environment that is safe and inclusive for all students. The signatures below signify the community's request to vote against these bills.

My father Francisco Javier Adin was born in Jalisco, Mexico. In search of a better life, he immigrated to the U.S. about 20 years ago. Ever since he's been in the United States, as a matter of fact... for as long as he has lived, he as been an incredibly hard worker, a devoted man of Christ, and the most caring individual possible.  On August 26th, he was provided with the opportunity to the path of legal immigration. He had been approved, with a waiver, to come to Mexico for his scheduled immigration interview. At the interview is when things took a turn for the worst... He was punished for his illegal entry with a permanent bar from entering the United States. This is a punishment that could not have been more harsh and undeserving. He has been indefinitely separated from his family and his business that he has owned for 10+ years. This has created the most extreme hardship for my family and the employees that he has led for years.  My father has done nothing but good in his life for his family, friends, and the restaurant. He has never been in any trouble, not even a traffic ticket, he has paid his taxes in this country, and done everything that an American citizen should do although he's not. He has sacrificed so much in order to give our family, including my mother and 17 year old brother the best life possible. He has raised us to be grateful, humble, and a Christian family. For anyone that knows my father will always say the same thing which is that he is the most positive, humble, caring, and kind person. My brother now has to grow up without the loving support that my father provides, and my mother has to spend double the time at the restaurant to make up for my father not being able to be there which has put my mom's health in jeopardy. There is nothing bad that you could say about a man who has an extraordinarily strong faith in Christ, who puts his family before himself, and is selfless in an opportunity to help others no matter the expense. My father exemplifies every trait of a person who belongs in this country.  He owns and operates The Hut Restaurant in Somerville, TN which is a landmark restaurant in that area. He has been the backbone of the restaurant which employs more than 11 employees. This has left my mother with the responsibility to completely run the restaurant with all that it entails which has been the most physically and mentally demanding action possible. We have all, as a family, pulled together to try to keep the restaurant running as it was while my father was there which has proven to be difficult for everyone. The customers, employees, and citizens of Fayette county have known Javi (his nickname) for years and know that this is something that needs to be fixed.  This is an opportunity to take a step towards proper immigration reform. Signing this petition can help fix this tragedy that we have been going through. This is an unjust situation that my father has to endure and we ask, as a family, that you help take action in bringing him back home to his family and his business that he owns. Please take a few minutes out of your day to sign now and pass this on wherever you can.  - The Loving Family of Francisco Javier Adin

     In Blountville, Tennessee, (Sullivan County, northeast TN) a now 15-month-old (DOB: 11/21/2018) Evelyn Mae Boswell has been missing for 2 months. She is 2 feet tall, 28lbs, with blue eyes and blonde hair. Her father is Ethan Perry, an Army service member stationed in Louisiana. Her mother, Megan “Maggie” Boswell, had custody of Evelyn at the time of her disappearance. Due to conflicting stories of who had care or where the child was... ‘A family member’ requested a welfare check from the Department of Children’s Services, whom became aware that Evelyn’s whereabouts were unknown and reported the girl as missing to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office, in Blountville, TN. Evelyn entered the database on February 18, 2020 as a missing child. Officially entering the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children on Feb. 19, 2020. Her last confirmed sighting was reported as December 10-11, 2019 wearing a pink tracksuit and pink shoes. Over two months elapsed time between the last known interaction and the date Evelyn was reported missing. It is reported that both parents are cooperating with the active investigation. There is an active Amber Alert out for Evelyn Mae Boswell as of Feb. 19, 2020 as well as a BOLO as of Feb. 21, 2020 for persons of interest leading to information on Evelyn in a 2007 silver BMW with front fender damage: Tennessee tags 3M9-6W9.      February 24, 2020: Home videos of Evelyn Boswell showing more of a description in her abilities to walk and talk as a 15 month old.      If you have any information leading to the whereabouts of Evelyn Mae Boswell, you’re asked to call the TBI Tip Line at +1 (800)824-3463. If you’d like to contribute to the reward for finding Evelyn, please call the SCSO Rewards Line at +1 (423)279-6064.      You can find more information (as well as the information already mentioned) at our local news outlet website, https://www.WJHL.com       Our latest development: https://www.wjhl.com/news/local/megan-boswell-claims-her-mother-took-evelyn-to-mendota-va-has-since-told-authorities-where-to-find-missing-toddler/ —This information is fact checked as of February 24, 2020, after a news release via WJHL at 11pm.      I will be posting updates as new information is released in the Updates section at the bottom of this petition.       I am petitioning for Tennessee lawmakers to adopt Caylee’s Law: Florida, 2012, HB37— Knowingly and Willfully Giving False Information to a Law Enforcement Officer; Provides that it is third-degree felony for person to knowingly & willfully give false information to law enforcement officer conducting missing person investigation involving child 16 years of age or younger with intent to mislead officer or impede investigation if child suffers great bodily harm, permanent disability, permanent disfigurement, or death. (https://www.flsenate.gov ), on the rise of this bizarre, tragic case of a missing toddler girl not reported for 2 months— Dec. 10-11, 2019 to Feb. 18, 2020. Caylee’s Law is named after the 2011 homicide victim, Caylee Anthony, whom’s mother, Casey Anthony, was acquitted of her murder due to the elapsed time in reporting and missing information, sparking the law change. More information about Caylee’s Law that is currently enacted in specific states here: https://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/rpt/2012-R-0130.htm      Sheriff Jeff Cassidy of the SCSO stated in the news conference video available at https://www.WJHL.com , “We’re not disregarding anybody as a suspect at this time (5:54)... The mother, [Megan “Maggie” Boswell], has been cooperating, but some of the information she has given us has not been accurate (6:42)... During our interviews, her stories aren’t leading up to stuff that we went out and checked on, video surveillance, eyewitness testimony, lot of her information hasn’t been accurate (7:02).”      I personally believe this child to be in danger due to the honesty of the disbelief of law enforcement with the custodial mother and due to the elapsed time of reporting plus missing information. The same situational instances are seen in the earlier 2011 Casey Anthony case.      With Caylee’s Law in place in Tennessee, these unanswered questions and show of missing or false information will no longer be tolerated or acceptable on the behalf of the missing. The person responsible for the child at the time of the disappearance would be held accountable if the guardian withheld or falsely claimed information including failing to report the child missing.      Two months is too long. Where is Evelyn Mae Boswell?

I’m Jenifer Bass, a U.S. Navy veteran, who served for 10 years, one-third in the Asia-Pacific region. It was due to my travel between ports in countries like Japan and Thailand that I first encountered amerasian children, and descendants, of U.S. service members and civilian contractors previously stationed overseas. Filipino Amerasians are abandoned and neglected biracial children of Filipino mothers and American fathers (mostly members of the US armed forces). In the Philippines alone, more than 52,000-plus children were born and left behind after the U.S. Navy withdrew the last of its military personnel in 1992. Right now, the U.S. government won’t legally recognize them as U.S. citizens, despite having been born to an American parent. The Philippine Embassy won't help them either. As a former US colony between 1898 and 1946, the Philippines was home to millions of US soldiers and their dependents, even after its independence. Until 1992, the country hosted two of the largest US military facilities outside the US – Clark Air Base and Subic Naval Base, which played major roles during the Vietnam and first Gulf wars. In 1982 US Public Law 97-359, or the Amerasian Act of 1982, allowed children from Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea, or Thailand to move to the US and eventually become American citizens, but those who were from the Philippines were excluded from the law, an exclusion which was upheld by the US Senate on the basis that many Filipino Amerasians were “conceived from illicit affairs and prostitution”, and were born during peacetime. Today, there are estimated to be more than 250,000-plus children. Many amerasians are caught in a no-man’s land of discrimination and poverty -- most left behind by U.S. service members who are unaware that they’ve fathered children overseas. My friend John Haines is one of these sailors. In 2011, John discovered he was the father of a half-Filipino daughter, Jannette. He attempted to unite with her through the American Homecoming Act -- but was frustrated to learn that the Act did not apply to Filipino children of U.S. service members. Today, all John wants is to be united with his daughter and grandchildren. He, like so many other veterans are living with a “hole in their hearts” as they search for ways to unite with their children. There is hope. The Uniting Families Act of 2018, HR 1520, creates a specialized visa allowing military veterans and eligible civilian contractors to sponsor their children and grandchildren for U.S. citizenship. Currently, blood relationship must be proven by DNA test and the total number of visas granted will be capped at 5,000 each year. The issue takes on more urgency as so many of our veterans from our wars in Southeast Asia are getting older and dying each day -- without the chance to connect, or in some cases, reconnect with their own children. John’s daughter Jannette has already undertaken the DNA testing process, conclusively proving her relationship to her American father. All she’s waiting for is the opportunity to permanently unite with her father. There is a PBS documentary, "Left by the Ship" (2010), documenting a day in the life and the personal struggles as a Filipino amerasian on the never ending search for identity and their struggles to connect to their American military families. Please sign this petition to tell Congress that these families cannot wait another day. Pass the Uniting Families Act of 2017, HR 1520, now!

Cyntoia Brown, a 16-year old sentenced to life for the killing of Johnny Allen. Cyntoia Brown had been given up for adoption by her biological mother, Georgina Mitchell, when she was two years old. When Georgina became pregnant with Cyntoia, she continued consuming alcohol which may have resulted in fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Georgina began using crack cocaine when Cyntoia was eight months old and Cyntoia was given up to Ellenette Brown. Even though Ellenette Brown provided a generally stable home, Cyntoia had not had sufficient stability in her life for proper emotional development and by 2004 had become a runaway. Sixteen-year-old Cyntoia Brown's sexual encounters had included many rapes, assaults during or before sex, and times when she was under the influence of drugs. Brown had a physically and sexually abusive pimp named "Kutthroat", who brandished guns at her and forced her into prostitution. Brown was picked up by a 43-year-old real estate agent, Johnny Allen and taken to his house on August 6, 2004. Brown stated that for several weeks, she had been repeatedly raped and was on drugs. When she arrived at Allen's house, she found it was full of guns. Brown said that she was afraid that she would be shot, which led her to shoot and kill Allen. Cyntoia Brown was then arrested for Allen's murder. From the day of her arrest she sat for six years until the start of her trial and she was convicted.  She requested an assessment by Dr. William Bernet, a juvenile forensic psychiatrist from Vanderbilt University. She was found to have had a difficult childhood, but was considered competent to stand trial, and therefore tried as an adult, at the age of sixteen. She requested to testify on her own behalf at her trial, to tell her own story, but her legal team advised her not to do so. Prosecutors argued that her motive for killing Allen, a child rapist and predator who bought her from her pimp, drugged and raped her daily, was robbery.  Brown was sentenced to 51 years to life for first degree murder. The prosecutor of the case had argued for life without parole by stating the importance of ensuring that dangerous and violent people are imprisoned, regardless of the circumstances that may have arisen to make them violent. After her conviction, her story caught the eye of a prominant Tennessee Attorney, Charles Bone, a Nashville attorney, who decided to join Brown's attorneys on the case. They argued for a new trial, particularly to allow Brown to testify on her behalf, something that was discouraged by her attorneys in the original case, to present evidence, and evidence about her developmental delays due to fetal alcohol syndrome. Brown’s new trial is in the appeal process as she sits in adult prison as the VICTIM.  Brown is currently serving her sentence at the Tennessee Prison for Women. Did we somehow change the definition of #JUSTICE along the way?? Because.... Something is horribly wrong when the system ENABLES these rapists and the VICTIM is thrown away for life! To each of you responsible for this CHILD’S sentence, I hope to God you don't have children, because this could be your daughter being punished for punishing already!!!!!!!! PLEASE SIGN THIS PETITION AND HELP ME GET JUSTICE FOR THIS BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRL WHO DOES NOT BELONG IN PRISON FOR THE ACTIONS SHE TOOK AGAINST HER PREDATOR/RAPIST. THE TENNESSEE JUSTICE SYSTEM HAS TAKEN AWAY THE REST OF HER CHILDHOOD AND ENTIRE ADULTHOOD, AND SHE WAS ALREADY ROBBED OF HER ENTIRE YOUTH. I WANT THIS CHILD TO KNOW LOVE DOES EXIST AND THE WORLD IS NOT ALL EVIL. I WANT CYNTOIA TO KNOW THAT THERE ARE PEOPLE OUT HERE WHO SAW HER STORY, LISTENED, AND CARE ENOUGH TO DEMAND CHANGE AND JUSTICE FOR HER. PLEASE SIGN, SHARE, POST THE LINK ON YOUR MEDIA PAGES... AND WHEN THERE ARE ENOUGH SIGNATURES THE PETITION WILL BE SENT TO THE TENNESSEE GOVENOR, DEPT OF CORRECTIONS, SENATE REP, HER ATTORNIES, CONGRESS.... THANK YOU!!!! #ISTANDWITHCYNTOIA #JUSTICEFORCYNTOIA#FREECYNTOIABROWN #HOWMANYMORE    

My name is Kimberly Scott. We moved to TN from Michigan to be closer to my daughter's care team at St. Jude. My daughter is 4 years old and is currently fighting a brain tumor. She was diagnosed at 2 years old in Michigan and we were told she'd be dead in 3 months. She had a tumor resection in november 2019 and was sent back home to begin chemotherapy to eradicate the remaining 10% that could not safely be surgically removed. After one treatment, we found out that she was allergic to chemo. That had to be stopped and it was then that we had her certified to begin using medical marijuana oils. We stopped these oils for two months to see what the trial drug that St Jude has her on could do by itself. From June-August she was on St Jude's trial drug AS WELL as her medical mariuana oils. That scan (on the left) showed 2mm shrinkage of her mass as well as 100% inflammation reduction. We took her off of her oils August-October. Her most recent scan (on the right) has shown that her tumor started GROWING again. I am reaching out to you as a desperate mother who is fighting with everything I've got to keep my little girl alive. These oils help her tremendously and the proof is right here that when she is off of them, her cancer spreads and grows. We need to change the way that her oils are viewed and i need your help to be able to keep my daughter on her life saving medication. There are so many more kids that lose their lives that could be saved if the state laws were changed. I am not pushing for recreational use. I am advocating for my child and other children who need it strictly for medical use. My child obviously does not smoke marijuana. She uses it in oil form. The oil that she uses is not just "CBD", she uses THC in oil form alongside the CBD. The current medical marijuana law in Tennessee grants patients strictly CBD with .09% THC. Cancer patients need much more than that to achieve remission. I am humbly asking you what I can do to present our case to federal lawmakers, before it's too late. Please help me save my daughter and countless other children who need salvation.

Tennessee is littered with statues memorializing confederate officers. History should not be forgotten, but we need not glamorize those who do not deserve our praise. Instead, let us honor a true Tennessee hero, Dolly Parton. Aside from her beautiful music, which has touched the hearts and lives of millions of Americans, Dolly Parton's philanthropic heart has unquestionably changed the world for the better. From the Dollywood foundation that has provided books and scholarships to millions of American children, to the millions of dollars she has donated to dozens of organizations such as the Red Cross and COVID-19 research centers, Dolly Parton has given more to this country and this state than those confederate officers could ever have hoped to take away. Let's replace the statues of men who sought to tear this country apart with a monument to the woman who has worked her entire life to bring us closer together.