....political power.
We must get our people registered, and then vote y'all.
As posted on BlackPerspective.net on September 19th:
Afrosphere Action Coalition
National Voter Registration Push
Black folks, we need to register our people to vote, and there's not much time left. From what I can tell October 6th is the beginning of voter registration deadlines in many states; including the all important battle ground states of Pennsylvania and Florida.
The Afrosphere Action Coalition is calling upon our partners in net-activism to help rally our folk to the cause of getting our people registered; especially in the important battle ground states where our voices can make a difference. As recently as August 20th, it was reported that a third of eligible Black voters (8 million) still aren't registered. http://proudblackvoter.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2008-08-27T16%3A26%3A00-05%3A00&max-results=7
We need a persistent push for the next month, as all the voter registration deadline dates that I've seen are between October 6th and 15th. We are asking bloggers not to just blog on it, but to organize registration in their communities, and when they do blog, to ask their readers not to only register themselves, but to at least pass the word on to people in their circles, volunteer with local groups do registration, or even organize their own efforts.
See here: http://proudblackvoter.blogspot.com/2008/09/state-by-state-voter-registration-links.html
and here: http://proudblackvoter.blogspot.com/2008/09/tennesseepennsylvania-you-have-til.html
For some information on voting deadlines.
Will you commit to use your medium, from here through October 15 (the last day of registration deadlines); to urge readers in people in your sphere to not only register themselves but to participate in registering others as noted above?
Will you commit to a combination of 3 post or mass emails a week for these next 4 weeks? (note: these do not have to be elaborate productions. As a matter of fact, functional and informative is more important than poetic appeals. How much time does it take to jot down a few lines of reminder, and a couple of links to resources? The point is to keep beating the drum).
Also, will you commit yourself to register voters, if it's nothing more than carrying around some voter registration cards in your car, and keeping some at you office, or with in your books as you go to class, and registering the people that you run across and know?
Of course, nobody can force you to stick to the commitment, it will be up to you to follow through. But here is where we can put our politics to work. Here's an opportunity to make a tangible difference by doing. If enough of us follow through we can use this medium of the internet to affect and outcome. We can do more here than blog about a problem or it solutions; we can create a solution.
If you're with this commitment please comment with your email letting me know so that I can have you on our list of participants and make sure you receive information updates as the campaign goes forward.
Or, email me at lionrunner777 @ yahoo dot com
Showing posts with label commentary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label commentary. Show all posts
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Remembering The Jena 6 March With Urban EpiCenter's Keith Caldwell
The following is an interview I conducted tonight with Keith Caldwell, fellow community organizer here in Nashville, and one of the principle parties that I worked with in helping to organize 10 free bus of some 500+ people to go down to Jena 1 year ago tomorrow.
We discuss how it all started with a conversation over breakfast; and what we've taken from it and have built on that mobilization since.
The Evonne I reference in the convo is Evonne Tisdale of Center for Community Change.
http://www.urbanepicenter.org/
http://www.blackperspective.net/
We discuss how it all started with a conversation over breakfast; and what we've taken from it and have built on that mobilization since.
The Evonne I reference in the convo is Evonne Tisdale of Center for Community Change.
http://www.urbanepicenter.org/
http://www.blackperspective.net/
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Howard University Paper Takes Students Lowered Temperature On Jena 6
After High Temperatures, Jena Outrage at a Low Fever
Hundreds of students gathered in Cramton Auditorium to rally for teenage boys in Louisiana -- more commonly known as the Jena "6" on Sept. 5, 2007.
Student leaders, along with representatives from African-American progressive organizations gave stirring speeches. Adorned in "Free the Jena '6'" T-shirts, the campus of Howard University was reminiscent of the days of Stokely Carmichael and other revolutionary figures. The spirit to effect change was contagious as students embarked on their journey to Jena, La. But now, after Howard received such accolades for organizing the fight for the Jena "6," the fight seems to be over. Jerome Brooks, of Bay St. Louis, Miss. who was a member of the planning committee for the trip to Jena, said that Howard students are essentially over it. "It was great to see students around the nation mobilize in order to seek justice for the proper punishment for the Jena "6," but there has not been a push to end the clear segregation and mistreatment of African Americans in Jena," said Brooks, a sophomore biology and political science double major. "The politics are the same as they were before the case." Following the rally that had an estimated 20,000 people in attendance, a defense fund was established by Color of Change, an empowerment organization with a desire to mobilize the black community. Close to $300,000 was raised in order to secure payment for attorneys and other legal fees.
But the segregated environment of Jena continued when the FBI became aware of a white supremacist Web site that listed the names, addresses and phone numbers of the Jena "6" and their closest family members and friends.
The FBI investigation surfaced after threats of lynching were received by the Jena "6" and their family members. Another member of the planning committee, sophomore finance major Brian Cox from Harrisburg, Pa. said conscious students are aware of what is currently happening with the Jena "6," as well as what is going on in Jena, La. "Students who were already actively involved with politics are aware of what is going on. For others, I think they were mainly involved only because of the hype surrounding the case, so they are completely over it now," Cox said. "But politically-aware students understand that Jena is still a conservative, Southern, Baptist town that has little to no plans on changing their politics."
The teens known as the Jena "6" have received less harsh charges and await trials scheduled for later this year.
http://media.www.thehilltoponline.com/media/storage/paper590/news/2008/04/04/NationWorld/After.High.Temperatures.Jena.Outrage.At.A.Low.Fever-3304453.shtml
Hundreds of students gathered in Cramton Auditorium to rally for teenage boys in Louisiana -- more commonly known as the Jena "6" on Sept. 5, 2007.
Student leaders, along with representatives from African-American progressive organizations gave stirring speeches. Adorned in "Free the Jena '6'" T-shirts, the campus of Howard University was reminiscent of the days of Stokely Carmichael and other revolutionary figures. The spirit to effect change was contagious as students embarked on their journey to Jena, La. But now, after Howard received such accolades for organizing the fight for the Jena "6," the fight seems to be over. Jerome Brooks, of Bay St. Louis, Miss. who was a member of the planning committee for the trip to Jena, said that Howard students are essentially over it. "It was great to see students around the nation mobilize in order to seek justice for the proper punishment for the Jena "6," but there has not been a push to end the clear segregation and mistreatment of African Americans in Jena," said Brooks, a sophomore biology and political science double major. "The politics are the same as they were before the case." Following the rally that had an estimated 20,000 people in attendance, a defense fund was established by Color of Change, an empowerment organization with a desire to mobilize the black community. Close to $300,000 was raised in order to secure payment for attorneys and other legal fees.
But the segregated environment of Jena continued when the FBI became aware of a white supremacist Web site that listed the names, addresses and phone numbers of the Jena "6" and their closest family members and friends.
The FBI investigation surfaced after threats of lynching were received by the Jena "6" and their family members. Another member of the planning committee, sophomore finance major Brian Cox from Harrisburg, Pa. said conscious students are aware of what is currently happening with the Jena "6," as well as what is going on in Jena, La. "Students who were already actively involved with politics are aware of what is going on. For others, I think they were mainly involved only because of the hype surrounding the case, so they are completely over it now," Cox said. "But politically-aware students understand that Jena is still a conservative, Southern, Baptist town that has little to no plans on changing their politics."
The teens known as the Jena "6" have received less harsh charges and await trials scheduled for later this year.
http://media.www.thehilltoponline.com/media/storage/paper590/news/2008/04/04/NationWorld/After.High.Temperatures.Jena.Outrage.At.A.Low.Fever-3304453.shtml
Monday, February 11, 2008
Why I'm Proud To Defend the Jena Six, Model Citizens or Not
Concerning Bryant Purvis' recent arrest in Texas and the debate about defending those who are not model citizens, some valid points have been pointed out
In a list serve discussion another blogger states in part that "the way this issue was framed actually made it about individuals - You can't go back now and say well that really didn't matter."
She goes on to state
"Nothing wrong with standing up for people, but how you frame the issue is important. When you are dealing with cirminal defendants, you are almost always dealing with someone who exercised poor judgement at the very least and engaged in criminal behavior at the very worse. I mean as far back as two months ago, the CBC was attempting to get a FULL pardon for the six teens from Blanco.
It is almost as if people don't know how to disengage and will ride
this bad boy into the ground. You saved their youth. What other role
do you have to play now?"
Here's what I think in regards to these points.
Sure, we have to be careful about how a protest is framed, but some of how anything is framed is out of our hands, as the run-away media will say what it wants to it's echo chamber of whites (including liberals) who minimalism racism.
It was always a lie that Jena 6 supporters thought that the young men should receive no punishment; yet, that's the lie that was spread by mainstream media and white "progressive" blogs alike, from day one.
Calls for pardon were after they had all already spent months in prison, and the DA was digging his heels in on going forward on trumped up charges and illegal prosecutions and tactics. It was a response to the failure of the legal system to provide equal protection under the law, so at that point a pardon was right. They
had already been punished, and the legal system was showing itself ineffectual in responding to a malicious prosecution.
When we get down to deciding who's rights should be defended and who's shouldn't based on who they are, then we get to a point where it's going to be:
They came for the Jena 6, but I said nothing because I was a well behaved Negro, and not a criminal like they
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak up.*
That may seem dramatic, but it's really not. If they can trample criminals rights, then they can trample yours too; especially when they do so based on the criminal being Black, as this article shows that in Louisiana Black youth are sentenced 6 times more harshly than white criminals who commit the same crimes:
http://www.blackperspective.net/index.php/black-teens-six-times-more-likely-to-be-sentenced-to-jail-than-white-teens/
And when they get through with the Black "criminals", taking away their rights; you want to know who they're coming after next to feed the prison industrial complex; The rabble rousers, the protesters, the intellectuals; just as tyrannies always do.
So yeah, I've seen where some people have run out in defense of somebody Black who got tazered, and it turns out his black ass was in the wrong, and deserved to be tased; so we do have to be careful - get our facts first, and make our arguments based on good knowledge.
But at the same time we can't let the "good test case"/model citizen ideal be the determining factor in whether we defend against injustice being committed against someone. The "good test case" thing really only applies to challenging unjust laws, not in challenging unjust prosecutions, when the law itself isn't at question.
*This section of my exegesis is an allusion to a poem entitled First They Came
In a list serve discussion another blogger states in part that "the way this issue was framed actually made it about individuals - You can't go back now and say well that really didn't matter."
She goes on to state
"Nothing wrong with standing up for people, but how you frame the issue is important. When you are dealing with cirminal defendants, you are almost always dealing with someone who exercised poor judgement at the very least and engaged in criminal behavior at the very worse. I mean as far back as two months ago, the CBC was attempting to get a FULL pardon for the six teens from Blanco.
It is almost as if people don't know how to disengage and will ride
this bad boy into the ground. You saved their youth. What other role
do you have to play now?"
Here's what I think in regards to these points.
Sure, we have to be careful about how a protest is framed, but some of how anything is framed is out of our hands, as the run-away media will say what it wants to it's echo chamber of whites (including liberals) who minimalism racism.
It was always a lie that Jena 6 supporters thought that the young men should receive no punishment; yet, that's the lie that was spread by mainstream media and white "progressive" blogs alike, from day one.
Calls for pardon were after they had all already spent months in prison, and the DA was digging his heels in on going forward on trumped up charges and illegal prosecutions and tactics. It was a response to the failure of the legal system to provide equal protection under the law, so at that point a pardon was right. They
had already been punished, and the legal system was showing itself ineffectual in responding to a malicious prosecution.
When we get down to deciding who's rights should be defended and who's shouldn't based on who they are, then we get to a point where it's going to be:
They came for the Jena 6, but I said nothing because I was a well behaved Negro, and not a criminal like they
When they came for me, there was no one left to speak up.*
That may seem dramatic, but it's really not. If they can trample criminals rights, then they can trample yours too; especially when they do so based on the criminal being Black, as this article shows that in Louisiana Black youth are sentenced 6 times more harshly than white criminals who commit the same crimes:
http://www.blackperspective.net/index.php/black-teens-six-times-more-likely-to-be-sentenced-to-jail-than-white-teens/
And when they get through with the Black "criminals", taking away their rights; you want to know who they're coming after next to feed the prison industrial complex; The rabble rousers, the protesters, the intellectuals; just as tyrannies always do.
So yeah, I've seen where some people have run out in defense of somebody Black who got tazered, and it turns out his black ass was in the wrong, and deserved to be tased; so we do have to be careful - get our facts first, and make our arguments based on good knowledge.
But at the same time we can't let the "good test case"/model citizen ideal be the determining factor in whether we defend against injustice being committed against someone. The "good test case" thing really only applies to challenging unjust laws, not in challenging unjust prosecutions, when the law itself isn't at question.
*This section of my exegesis is an allusion to a poem entitled First They Came
Thursday, November 15, 2007
The Justice That Jena Demands
Free The Jena 6 Tree GraphicIn the News: The Justice that Jena Demands
Posted by: Xochitl Bervera , November 06, 2007
The injustice we witnessed in Jena, Louisiana, should wake us up to blatant racism throughout the criminal justice system --- and tell us it's time for radical change.
I want to tell you about some young men I know. These are young Black men who have encountered Louisiana’s criminal justice system who I know because their mothers have become proud members of Families and Friends of Louisiana’s Incarcerated Children (FFLIC), the organization I have worked for over the last 7 years. These stories are about young men who have experienced incredible injustice, not unlike the Jena 6, only the national spotlight has never shined on them.
First, there is Emmanuelle Narcisse. He was a tall, slim, handsome young man who was killed by a guard at the Bridge City Correctional Center for Youth – a Louisiana juvenile prison – in 2003. Apparently, he was “fussing” in line, talking back to a guard. The guard punched him in the face, one blow, and Emmanuelle went down backwards, slamming his head on the concrete. He took his last breath there behind the barbed wire of that state run facility. The guard was suspended with pay during the investigation. No indictment was ever filed against him.
There is also Tobias Kingsley, sentenced when he was 15 to two years in juvenile prison for sneaking into a hotel swimming pool (his first offense). Tobias endured physical and sexual abuse inside the prison. He said that guards traded sex with kids for drugs and cigarettes, and sometimes set kids up to fight one another, making cash bets on the winner. His mama said he was never the same after he came home. She said the nightmares, the violence, the paranoia persisted years after the private lawyers helped him come home early. His battles with addiction and depression are not yet over.
And there is Shareef Cousin, who was tried as an adult and sent to death row in the state of Louisiana for a murder that he didn’t commit. Shareef spent from age 16 to age 26 behind bars, the majority of those years isolated in Angola’s Death Row, because an over zealous prosecutor didn’t care that the evidence didn’t really add up. After all, it was only a young Black man’s life on the line.
There are hundreds more. Thousands. Every day in the state of Louisiana (and in most states in this nation), injustices of epic proportions are taking place in our criminal and juvenile justice systems. We, those of us who live here, fight here, and organize here, know hundreds of families and young people – often our own - who’ve endured almost inconceivable levels of violence, abuse, neglect. And despite efforts to get someone, anyone to care and to act, these young people most often end up statistics in somebody’s dismal report, or an anecdote in an article just like this. Because people don’t care. Because these young people are not just poor, they are not just Black, they are criminals.
To read the rest go here
Saturday, November 10, 2007
African-Americans must rise to the example of our forefathers
By Frank M. Conaway
I once knew a proud man. He was called "black" or "Negro" - or worse. This man worked long hours to provide for his wife and five children. Rain or shine, he rose early and went to his job at the docks. It was a tough job, a thankless job. He didn't mind because he knew he had to provide for his family.
He didn't graduate from elementary school. However, he made his children stay in school because he knew an education would open doors for them that had been closed to him. He made sure he instilled in his kids a sense of values and good moral judgment. And, yes, he voted in every election.
When hard times came, he did not complain. This man was not angry, because he knew anger destroys the soul. Before civil rights became a reality, he dreamed of a better day. He dreamed that his children would become productive citizens.
Our forefathers, like the man I speak of, suffered, fought and died to make our lives better. As they look down on us, they must be so disappointed in what little we have done with our lives. They struggled to make black people equal, to get us the right to vote. What have we done with those hard-won rights? Many of us do not exercise our right to vote, much less become politically active. It is easier to sit back and complain about how unfair life is to African-Americans.
True, sometimes we are stirred to action. It was heartening to see how the African-American community bonded during the recent "Jena 6" ordeal. Black people from all walks of life went to Louisiana, or met at colleges and churches across the United States, to show their solidarity for the six African-American students who were unfairly charged in a racially motivated incident.
But such cases are rare. I have not seen this type of coming together of African-Americans for a long, long time - not since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. We, as a people, need to keep this momentum going. It is fine to support the Jena 6, but will we change how we run our own lives?
To quote Gandhi, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." We need to cure ourselves of our apathy. We need to rid ourselves of the collective chip on our shoulders and stop asking what's going to be done for us. If our noise-making isn't followed by action, it serves no purpose other than to grab headlines.
Many immigrants, legal and illegal, have arrived in the United States with little money in their pockets, not speaking English and with no transferable education. Yet they are industrious and find ways to make a living. Often, they work long hours in what others would call disagreeable jobs. However, within a generation, many become productive citizens who give back to the community. Many immigrants struggle to send their children to college. In turn, many of the second generation become professionals. Once immigrant families are established as citizens, they become politically active so their voices can be heard.
Many African-American dreamers have also turned their dreams into reality: people such as Booker T. Washington, Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. These men and women and countless others paved the road for us with their blood, struggles and suffering. We need to get back on this road and travel together to keep their dreams alive.
The African-American community needs to wake from its collective sleep and begin to live its dreams. We began to wake up with the Jena 6. Now, we need to take a cue from the examples set by immigrants. If this is too uncomfortable, we should look back to our forefathers, who fought for our equality.
It will take hard work. Blacks are a strong force, one to be reckoned with - if we would only get our acts firmly together and stop lamenting what could or should be. African-Americans need to finally begin to be accountable for their lives and take action to improve their lot in life - like that man with the five children and almost no education, who yet managed to achieve a better life for his family.
He was my father.
The fact is that too often, we are our own oppressors. A strong dose of self-respect is greatly needed to cure the many social ills that plague the black community. We need to stop making excuses for our misfortunes and get on with it. These are tough words, I know. But sometimes the truth hurts.
Frank M. Conaway is clerk of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.blacks21oct21,0,1982419.story
I once knew a proud man. He was called "black" or "Negro" - or worse. This man worked long hours to provide for his wife and five children. Rain or shine, he rose early and went to his job at the docks. It was a tough job, a thankless job. He didn't mind because he knew he had to provide for his family.
He didn't graduate from elementary school. However, he made his children stay in school because he knew an education would open doors for them that had been closed to him. He made sure he instilled in his kids a sense of values and good moral judgment. And, yes, he voted in every election.
When hard times came, he did not complain. This man was not angry, because he knew anger destroys the soul. Before civil rights became a reality, he dreamed of a better day. He dreamed that his children would become productive citizens.
Our forefathers, like the man I speak of, suffered, fought and died to make our lives better. As they look down on us, they must be so disappointed in what little we have done with our lives. They struggled to make black people equal, to get us the right to vote. What have we done with those hard-won rights? Many of us do not exercise our right to vote, much less become politically active. It is easier to sit back and complain about how unfair life is to African-Americans.
True, sometimes we are stirred to action. It was heartening to see how the African-American community bonded during the recent "Jena 6" ordeal. Black people from all walks of life went to Louisiana, or met at colleges and churches across the United States, to show their solidarity for the six African-American students who were unfairly charged in a racially motivated incident.
But such cases are rare. I have not seen this type of coming together of African-Americans for a long, long time - not since the civil rights movement of the 1960s. We, as a people, need to keep this momentum going. It is fine to support the Jena 6, but will we change how we run our own lives?
To quote Gandhi, "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems." We need to cure ourselves of our apathy. We need to rid ourselves of the collective chip on our shoulders and stop asking what's going to be done for us. If our noise-making isn't followed by action, it serves no purpose other than to grab headlines.
Many immigrants, legal and illegal, have arrived in the United States with little money in their pockets, not speaking English and with no transferable education. Yet they are industrious and find ways to make a living. Often, they work long hours in what others would call disagreeable jobs. However, within a generation, many become productive citizens who give back to the community. Many immigrants struggle to send their children to college. In turn, many of the second generation become professionals. Once immigrant families are established as citizens, they become politically active so their voices can be heard.
Many African-American dreamers have also turned their dreams into reality: people such as Booker T. Washington, Rosa Parks, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. These men and women and countless others paved the road for us with their blood, struggles and suffering. We need to get back on this road and travel together to keep their dreams alive.
The African-American community needs to wake from its collective sleep and begin to live its dreams. We began to wake up with the Jena 6. Now, we need to take a cue from the examples set by immigrants. If this is too uncomfortable, we should look back to our forefathers, who fought for our equality.
It will take hard work. Blacks are a strong force, one to be reckoned with - if we would only get our acts firmly together and stop lamenting what could or should be. African-Americans need to finally begin to be accountable for their lives and take action to improve their lot in life - like that man with the five children and almost no education, who yet managed to achieve a better life for his family.
He was my father.
The fact is that too often, we are our own oppressors. A strong dose of self-respect is greatly needed to cure the many social ills that plague the black community. We need to stop making excuses for our misfortunes and get on with it. These are tough words, I know. But sometimes the truth hurts.
Frank M. Conaway is clerk of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.blacks21oct21,0,1982419.story
Thursday, October 11, 2007
National March against Hate Crimes for Megan Williams, Jena 6, and Nooses
BLACK LAWYERS FOR JUSTICE (BLFJ)
www.Blacklawyersforjustice.org
For Immediate Release
October 7, 2007
NATIONAL MARCH AGAINST
HATE CRIMES:
MEGAN WILLIAMS: KIDNAP, TORTURE AND RAPE VICTIM IS FOCUS OF NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION
When: Saturday November 3, 2007 12:00 noon
Location: Charleston, West Virginia. Beginning in front of West Virginia State University and Marching to the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston.
March Purpose: To bring national and statewide support to Charleston resident Megan Williams, the Williams Family and victims of other hate crimes nationwide. The Jena 6 case, the rise in the hanging of nooses and other current acts of injustices and intimidation against Blacks/African Americans will all be highlighted at this National March against Hate Crimes. Families and victims of hate crimes that are occurring throughout the nation will attend. Black Lawyers For Justice, the Williams Family and organizers are demanding that Federal Hate Crimes charges be brought in the instant case. They are also demanding Congressional hearings on hate crimes against Black residents as well a wide range of actions to combat the growing attacks on Blacks in America.
Who are the Organizers? The primary march organizers are Black Lawyers For Justice (BLFJ) and the Support Committee For Megan Williams. This march will be endorsed by at least 100 Black organizations, student groups, clergy and leaders of every stripe. An initial endorsement list will be produced on 10-15-07.
Contact: Black Lawyers For Justice (BLFJ) / Malik Shabazz, Esq.
Attorney/ advocate for Megan Williams and the
Williams Family)
Ph: NATIONAL (202) 397-3577 local (304) 657-1493
E-mail: shabazzlaw@aol.com
Website: Blacklawyersforjustice.org
WHY A MARCH TO SUPPORT MEGAN WILLIAMS AND OPPOSE HATE CRIMES?
On November 3, 2007 a historic National March will take place in Charleston, West Virginia. This call to action is to support young Megan Williams, who is the victim of one of the worst hate crimes in United States history. The March is also called to address an unacceptable rise in hate crimes and incidents of injustices currently perpetrated against Blacks or African Americans. On September 12, 2007, and in subsequent preliminary hearings, it was revealed that Megan Williams, a twenty year old Black Woman, was lured into a nearby Logan county trailer house of hatred. Young Megan, who also has special disability needs, was repeatedly raped, choked, stabbed, forced to eat dog and rat feces as her six white tormentors berated her calling her “nigger” incessantly. According to evidence gathered, Megan was sodomized with a stick and a noose was tied around her neck for lengthy periods during this week long ordeal that is verified by several of co-defendants signed confessions. This is an this ugly and outrageous ordeal. Prosecutors said. "Every time they stabbed her, they called her 'nigger." Carmen Williams, the mother, told The Charleston Gazette. "She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, 'Mommy.' What's really, really bad is, we don't know everything, and they did to her. She is crying all the time." No doubt, had she not been rescued they were going to kill her and throw her in a nearby lake.
Arrested are: Frankie Brewster, 49, and her son Bobby Brewster, 24., Karen Burton, 46; her daughter Alisha, 23; Danny Combs, 20, and George Messer, 27 –six whites from nearby Logan County, West Virginia. The suspects took turns beating, stabbing, choking and sexually abusing Williams, while consistently threatening her with death, according to criminal complaints. A rope was placed around Williams' neck, her hair was ripped out and she was made to eat dog and rat feces, drink from a toilet and lick up blood, the complaint charges. At one point, she was sexually assaulted while scalding water and melting hot wax from a candle was poured on her body. At another point she was forced to lick the toes of the sadistic defendants. She was stabbed in the leg at least four times and both of her ankles were cut by a female suspect who allegedly taunted her, saying, "This one is for Kunta Kinte, and that's what we do to niggers around here.”
“The Megan Williams case is beyond a doubt, one of the worst hate crimes in U.S. History. The Megan Williams case is even worse than the case of the Jena 6”…said Attorney Malik Shabazz Esq., Megan Williams Family Attorney and Spokesman for Black Lawyers For Justice, speaking at the October 3rd preliminary hearing in Logan County, West VA.
Shabazz also said, “The number of outright hate crimes and injustice cases against Blacks is rising so rapidly it’s hard for our office to keep track of. We are calling for every concerned person in our community to respond to this national crisis with vigor and due diligence. The November 3rd March in Charleston is a big step in the direction of organizing to challenge the tide of attacks occurring against Blacks”.
HATE CRIMES DOCUMENTED
In addition to the Megan Williams case, criminal acts of hatred and intimidation using hanging nooses have sprung up all over the nation. The hanging noose, central to the Jena case, is used by racists as an actionable threat to the safety and well being of Blacks, who have suffered innumerable historical injustices via hanging ropes and lynchings. On Sept 7th, a three foot noose was found hung at the University of Maryland, College Park, roiling the campus. On October 4th, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported that police were investigating several cases in which nooses were left at workplaces to intimidate black employees in the Pittsburgh area. The Tribune reported, “a supervisor at the Verizon Wireless Business Services Center in Marshall found a black doll with a noose around its neck and racial slurs directed at it.” Several similar hate crime incidents have been reported in the Pittsburgh area in the last month. In Long Island, New York last month, police found a noose hanging in the locker room. Many believed it was hung by a police officer and was in response to the newly elected Black police chief. Last month, in North Carolina, nooses were found hung at a public school. On October 3rd in Washington D.C., white students and historical Galluadet University for the deaf, reportedly held a Black student hostage for over an hour and repeatedly wrote “KKK” all over his body with markers. All over the U.S., Police assaulting and killing unarmed Black victims is on the rise again.
A FOLLOW UP TO JENA
The November 3rd National March against Hate Crimes is also an effort to end the continued persecution of the Jena 6. Mychal Bell and the Jena 6 are still facing jail after responding to racist persecution at the High school in Jena, Louisiana. Also the addresses and phone numbers of the Jena 6 Families were posted on Neo-Nazi/Klan websites, subsequently, white supremacists have committed acts of aggression near their homes and BLFJ has copies of letters from various Ku Klux Klan organizations directly threatening the Jena 6 families. Members of the Jena 6 are endorsing and are expected at this march.
Over 100 organizations, student groups, youth organizations, clergy, rappers, and leaders are set to endorse the November 3rd March (a list will be released on 10/15/07) Like in Jena, organizers going to get busses, travel the highway and organize to support Megan Williams and organize against these attacks.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday November 2nd 7:00 pm: A pre march remembrance/ prayer vigil will take place at the Logan County trailer home where Megan Williams was kidnapped and tortured
Saturday November 3rd 12:00 noon: National March against Hate Crimes, Charleston, West VA. March will begin in front of West Virginia State University.
Saturday November 3rd 5:00 pm: Fundraiser for Megan Williams and Town Hall Meeting on Race Relations to take place at Rehoboth Cathedral of Christ in Charleston, West Virginia- Bishop James Carter III is the host pastor.
To Endorse This March Or For Updates And Further Details, Visit The Website: Www.Blacklawyersforjustice.Org Or Call (202) 397 -4577 The Email Is Shabazzlaw@aol.Com
www.Blacklawyersforjustice.org
For Immediate Release
October 7, 2007
NATIONAL MARCH AGAINST
HATE CRIMES:
MEGAN WILLIAMS: KIDNAP, TORTURE AND RAPE VICTIM IS FOCUS OF NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION
When: Saturday November 3, 2007 12:00 noon
Location: Charleston, West Virginia. Beginning in front of West Virginia State University and Marching to the West Virginia State Capitol in Charleston.
March Purpose: To bring national and statewide support to Charleston resident Megan Williams, the Williams Family and victims of other hate crimes nationwide. The Jena 6 case, the rise in the hanging of nooses and other current acts of injustices and intimidation against Blacks/African Americans will all be highlighted at this National March against Hate Crimes. Families and victims of hate crimes that are occurring throughout the nation will attend. Black Lawyers For Justice, the Williams Family and organizers are demanding that Federal Hate Crimes charges be brought in the instant case. They are also demanding Congressional hearings on hate crimes against Black residents as well a wide range of actions to combat the growing attacks on Blacks in America.
Who are the Organizers? The primary march organizers are Black Lawyers For Justice (BLFJ) and the Support Committee For Megan Williams. This march will be endorsed by at least 100 Black organizations, student groups, clergy and leaders of every stripe. An initial endorsement list will be produced on 10-15-07.
Contact: Black Lawyers For Justice (BLFJ) / Malik Shabazz, Esq.
Attorney/ advocate for Megan Williams and the
Williams Family)
Ph: NATIONAL (202) 397-3577 local (304) 657-1493
E-mail: shabazzlaw@aol.com
Website: Blacklawyersforjustice.org
WHY A MARCH TO SUPPORT MEGAN WILLIAMS AND OPPOSE HATE CRIMES?
On November 3, 2007 a historic National March will take place in Charleston, West Virginia. This call to action is to support young Megan Williams, who is the victim of one of the worst hate crimes in United States history. The March is also called to address an unacceptable rise in hate crimes and incidents of injustices currently perpetrated against Blacks or African Americans. On September 12, 2007, and in subsequent preliminary hearings, it was revealed that Megan Williams, a twenty year old Black Woman, was lured into a nearby Logan county trailer house of hatred. Young Megan, who also has special disability needs, was repeatedly raped, choked, stabbed, forced to eat dog and rat feces as her six white tormentors berated her calling her “nigger” incessantly. According to evidence gathered, Megan was sodomized with a stick and a noose was tied around her neck for lengthy periods during this week long ordeal that is verified by several of co-defendants signed confessions. This is an this ugly and outrageous ordeal. Prosecutors said. "Every time they stabbed her, they called her 'nigger." Carmen Williams, the mother, told The Charleston Gazette. "She wakes up in the middle of the night screaming, 'Mommy.' What's really, really bad is, we don't know everything, and they did to her. She is crying all the time." No doubt, had she not been rescued they were going to kill her and throw her in a nearby lake.
Arrested are: Frankie Brewster, 49, and her son Bobby Brewster, 24., Karen Burton, 46; her daughter Alisha, 23; Danny Combs, 20, and George Messer, 27 –six whites from nearby Logan County, West Virginia. The suspects took turns beating, stabbing, choking and sexually abusing Williams, while consistently threatening her with death, according to criminal complaints. A rope was placed around Williams' neck, her hair was ripped out and she was made to eat dog and rat feces, drink from a toilet and lick up blood, the complaint charges. At one point, she was sexually assaulted while scalding water and melting hot wax from a candle was poured on her body. At another point she was forced to lick the toes of the sadistic defendants. She was stabbed in the leg at least four times and both of her ankles were cut by a female suspect who allegedly taunted her, saying, "This one is for Kunta Kinte, and that's what we do to niggers around here.”
“The Megan Williams case is beyond a doubt, one of the worst hate crimes in U.S. History. The Megan Williams case is even worse than the case of the Jena 6”…said Attorney Malik Shabazz Esq., Megan Williams Family Attorney and Spokesman for Black Lawyers For Justice, speaking at the October 3rd preliminary hearing in Logan County, West VA.
Shabazz also said, “The number of outright hate crimes and injustice cases against Blacks is rising so rapidly it’s hard for our office to keep track of. We are calling for every concerned person in our community to respond to this national crisis with vigor and due diligence. The November 3rd March in Charleston is a big step in the direction of organizing to challenge the tide of attacks occurring against Blacks”.
HATE CRIMES DOCUMENTED
In addition to the Megan Williams case, criminal acts of hatred and intimidation using hanging nooses have sprung up all over the nation. The hanging noose, central to the Jena case, is used by racists as an actionable threat to the safety and well being of Blacks, who have suffered innumerable historical injustices via hanging ropes and lynchings. On Sept 7th, a three foot noose was found hung at the University of Maryland, College Park, roiling the campus. On October 4th, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review reported that police were investigating several cases in which nooses were left at workplaces to intimidate black employees in the Pittsburgh area. The Tribune reported, “a supervisor at the Verizon Wireless Business Services Center in Marshall found a black doll with a noose around its neck and racial slurs directed at it.” Several similar hate crime incidents have been reported in the Pittsburgh area in the last month. In Long Island, New York last month, police found a noose hanging in the locker room. Many believed it was hung by a police officer and was in response to the newly elected Black police chief. Last month, in North Carolina, nooses were found hung at a public school. On October 3rd in Washington D.C., white students and historical Galluadet University for the deaf, reportedly held a Black student hostage for over an hour and repeatedly wrote “KKK” all over his body with markers. All over the U.S., Police assaulting and killing unarmed Black victims is on the rise again.
A FOLLOW UP TO JENA
The November 3rd National March against Hate Crimes is also an effort to end the continued persecution of the Jena 6. Mychal Bell and the Jena 6 are still facing jail after responding to racist persecution at the High school in Jena, Louisiana. Also the addresses and phone numbers of the Jena 6 Families were posted on Neo-Nazi/Klan websites, subsequently, white supremacists have committed acts of aggression near their homes and BLFJ has copies of letters from various Ku Klux Klan organizations directly threatening the Jena 6 families. Members of the Jena 6 are endorsing and are expected at this march.
Over 100 organizations, student groups, youth organizations, clergy, rappers, and leaders are set to endorse the November 3rd March (a list will be released on 10/15/07) Like in Jena, organizers going to get busses, travel the highway and organize to support Megan Williams and organize against these attacks.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Friday November 2nd 7:00 pm: A pre march remembrance/ prayer vigil will take place at the Logan County trailer home where Megan Williams was kidnapped and tortured
Saturday November 3rd 12:00 noon: National March against Hate Crimes, Charleston, West VA. March will begin in front of West Virginia State University.
Saturday November 3rd 5:00 pm: Fundraiser for Megan Williams and Town Hall Meeting on Race Relations to take place at Rehoboth Cathedral of Christ in Charleston, West Virginia- Bishop James Carter III is the host pastor.
To Endorse This March Or For Updates And Further Details, Visit The Website: Www.Blacklawyersforjustice.Org Or Call (202) 397 -4577 The Email Is Shabazzlaw@aol.Com
Friday, September 28, 2007
Justin Barker, The True Victim in the Jena 6 Case
More on Jena 6 @ BlackPerspective.net
This is the line we keep getting from the ‘status quo of racism’ defenders.
Sure, he’s the purist, most innocent kid that ever lived. He’s such a good kid he got expelled from school 5 months after the fight for brining a gun to school. Now he’s a high school dropout as I understand it.
Their should be some recompense for the butt kicking that was delivered to Mr. Barker, but some recompense does not = anything goes. The charges are way overblown! This is the issue here. The fact that the Jena 6 had to be disciplined is hardly in dispute by anyone. That doesn’t mean any discipline is okay. If somebody steals a piece of candy from the store, that doesn’t make chopping off their hand justified. If someone steals a car, they should be prosecuted, but it doesn’t mean they deserve 50 years in prison. The time should fit the crime. It is also a crime to try to kill an ant with a sledgehammer, metaphorically speaking.
Further, ignoring all the context of the incident, and accepting one sided stories that don’t make sense and don’t fit the facts, is egregious. Reed Walters has presented to date, NO evidence of a conspiracy versus a spontaneous reaction to a verbal racial assault; that was in continuation of at least months of racial intimidation. Such context changes everything. If he has no evidence of conspiracy, why did he charge it in the first place; save he was out to get those kids to put the blacks in their place?
Justin Barker is a punk, a thug, and a race baiter. He instigated and attempted to racially intimidate, and then wants to act as if he had no role in anything.
How can one accept the notion, that Justin Barker neither said nor did a thing to provoke the attack; particularly in contradiction to the black students who say he was with at least one of the noose hangers at the time, taunting with racial slurs the black student who had been beaten by whites at a party.
WHICH MAKES MORE SENSE? Only one story makes ANY sense. If you believe Justin Barker, and the noose hanger that was with him and testified as a witness in court; then Black savages, for no reason whatsoever, plotted to randomly pick a white guy to beat down just for the hell of it; and Justin Barker was these savages unfortunate, innocent target.
First, if you believe they just randomly picked him to beat for no reason; then you believe in the long embedded racist stereotype of small brained marauding black Negroes, who only have the mental capacity for sex and violence.
There is more contexts that shapes this whole issue, and that shows Reed Walters had it out to get somebody Black, particularly the ones at the school interrupting the racial status quo.
When the principal of the school (the only person in Jen who’s done anything right in this situation) recommended the noose hangers be expelled, and the superintendent overruled him and slapped them on the wrist with a measly 3 days IN-SCHOOL suspension; the Black kids protested. Not an organized, formal protest mind you, but simply raised their voices in dismay that the noose hangers where getting off so light for such a deep insult and threat of bodily harm. Because of this, Reed Walters came up to the school, held an assembly, and told the Black kids if they didn’t stop their protest and basically get back in their place, “that he would end their lives with the stroke of a pen”. This shows a clear predisposition on his part – stay in your place nigger or I’m gonna get’ch ya – that was the clear message.
Then, in order to make his aggravated battery charge, once the fight did happen, he had to have aggravating circumstances; such as a deadly weapon. He calls a tennis shoe a deadly weapon. If a tennis shoe is a deadly weapon, then a stack of typing paper is a deadly weapon. This is absurd. It’s clearly and extreme overreach. I submit that it is an ‘I’m going get you anyway I can and make an example out of you’ reach.
This is against the backdrop of an ongoing history and tradition in this country of over charging and overly aggressively prosecuting black people when a white person is the victim (or in many times supposed victim) in racially charged settings.
This situation does not simply exist in a vacuumed.
A suspension and maybe a misdemeanor assault charge may have been appropriate; but 80 to 100 years for teens in a school fight who were provoked by constant racial intimidation, death threats, and beatings they took themselves? Even 15 to 22 years, as if there’s no culpability on the other side? For teenagers? Can YOU imagine living under a constant barrage of threats, abuse, and intimidation? Is it not human nature to react when the final straw hits. When the authorities (here, both school, police, and prosecutors) have shown they will not only not protect you, but that they are satisfied to maintain that status quo. When a white teen threatened black students with a shot gun, and they wrestled it away from him, the black students got charged with theft of a firearm, and the white teen didn’t get prosecuted. Is this not a clear message from the white authorities that we not only don’t care what happens to you; but if you sass a white person we’re going to get you?
People get beat up at school all the time for way less provocation (or just for bullying purposes) than what these kids endured. I’ve seen black students stomped before, and no one went to prison. People get beat up at school all the time for way less provocation (or just for bullying purposes) than what these kids endured. I’ve seen black students stomped before, and no one went to prison. It’s a lie that Barker was beat so bad that he almost died. People who almost die don’t go to social events the same night of such a severe beating; they’re too busy, in the hospital, trying not to die!
Where was the zeal and resilience that Reed Walters exhibits in going after the Jena 6, for prosecuting white kids during months of threats, intimidation, physical violence, and abuse? He scarcely went after anybody white for their barrage upon the black kids (one probation for a similar beating administered to a black kid, where a real weapon, a beer bottle across the head was used). He let an environment of intimidation and ridicules fester, and then went full throttle when the recipients of the hostility finally boiled over and exploded.
This is why there is a battered wife’s syndrome recognized in the courts, because it’s understandably human nature that if someone constantly abuses and berates you, that you can have a breaking point. This is why so many school systems in recent years have adopted no tolerance for bullying policies. But some people want to act like these factors don’t exist in this case. In their eyes, the case is as simple as six Black savages, for no reason whatsoever, out of the thin blue sky, beat a pure, innocent, all American white boy.
Oh by the way, some of the Jena 6 claim they weren’t even the ones in the fight (such as Bryant Purvis), and where not arrested on the spot; they weren’t arrested until the next day. I’ve not seen to date, any evidence from DA Walters proving Purvis, for one, was actually even involved. Forget all the above, it’s possible that some may be out right innocent. But you know something; Purvis was involved in leading the protest, though. You know, the protesting that lead to Reed Walters threat to end their lives with the stroke of his pen. Hmmm, how curious.
Read how Reed Walters felt that the noose hanging was insignificant and was frustrated that black people dare be upset by it, and how he was determined to put a stop to black folks making an issue of it: http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/2007/09/08/the-wall-of-shame/
Time line of Jena 6 events: http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=103414
Good Article framing the issue, with a Reed Walter quote of the nooses being an “innocent prank”: http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=6027
This is the line we keep getting from the ‘status quo of racism’ defenders.
Sure, he’s the purist, most innocent kid that ever lived. He’s such a good kid he got expelled from school 5 months after the fight for brining a gun to school. Now he’s a high school dropout as I understand it.
Their should be some recompense for the butt kicking that was delivered to Mr. Barker, but some recompense does not = anything goes. The charges are way overblown! This is the issue here. The fact that the Jena 6 had to be disciplined is hardly in dispute by anyone. That doesn’t mean any discipline is okay. If somebody steals a piece of candy from the store, that doesn’t make chopping off their hand justified. If someone steals a car, they should be prosecuted, but it doesn’t mean they deserve 50 years in prison. The time should fit the crime. It is also a crime to try to kill an ant with a sledgehammer, metaphorically speaking.
Further, ignoring all the context of the incident, and accepting one sided stories that don’t make sense and don’t fit the facts, is egregious. Reed Walters has presented to date, NO evidence of a conspiracy versus a spontaneous reaction to a verbal racial assault; that was in continuation of at least months of racial intimidation. Such context changes everything. If he has no evidence of conspiracy, why did he charge it in the first place; save he was out to get those kids to put the blacks in their place?
Justin Barker is a punk, a thug, and a race baiter. He instigated and attempted to racially intimidate, and then wants to act as if he had no role in anything.
How can one accept the notion, that Justin Barker neither said nor did a thing to provoke the attack; particularly in contradiction to the black students who say he was with at least one of the noose hangers at the time, taunting with racial slurs the black student who had been beaten by whites at a party.
WHICH MAKES MORE SENSE? Only one story makes ANY sense. If you believe Justin Barker, and the noose hanger that was with him and testified as a witness in court; then Black savages, for no reason whatsoever, plotted to randomly pick a white guy to beat down just for the hell of it; and Justin Barker was these savages unfortunate, innocent target.
First, if you believe they just randomly picked him to beat for no reason; then you believe in the long embedded racist stereotype of small brained marauding black Negroes, who only have the mental capacity for sex and violence.
There is more contexts that shapes this whole issue, and that shows Reed Walters had it out to get somebody Black, particularly the ones at the school interrupting the racial status quo.
When the principal of the school (the only person in Jen who’s done anything right in this situation) recommended the noose hangers be expelled, and the superintendent overruled him and slapped them on the wrist with a measly 3 days IN-SCHOOL suspension; the Black kids protested. Not an organized, formal protest mind you, but simply raised their voices in dismay that the noose hangers where getting off so light for such a deep insult and threat of bodily harm. Because of this, Reed Walters came up to the school, held an assembly, and told the Black kids if they didn’t stop their protest and basically get back in their place, “that he would end their lives with the stroke of a pen”. This shows a clear predisposition on his part – stay in your place nigger or I’m gonna get’ch ya – that was the clear message.
Then, in order to make his aggravated battery charge, once the fight did happen, he had to have aggravating circumstances; such as a deadly weapon. He calls a tennis shoe a deadly weapon. If a tennis shoe is a deadly weapon, then a stack of typing paper is a deadly weapon. This is absurd. It’s clearly and extreme overreach. I submit that it is an ‘I’m going get you anyway I can and make an example out of you’ reach.
This is against the backdrop of an ongoing history and tradition in this country of over charging and overly aggressively prosecuting black people when a white person is the victim (or in many times supposed victim) in racially charged settings.
This situation does not simply exist in a vacuumed.
A suspension and maybe a misdemeanor assault charge may have been appropriate; but 80 to 100 years for teens in a school fight who were provoked by constant racial intimidation, death threats, and beatings they took themselves? Even 15 to 22 years, as if there’s no culpability on the other side? For teenagers? Can YOU imagine living under a constant barrage of threats, abuse, and intimidation? Is it not human nature to react when the final straw hits. When the authorities (here, both school, police, and prosecutors) have shown they will not only not protect you, but that they are satisfied to maintain that status quo. When a white teen threatened black students with a shot gun, and they wrestled it away from him, the black students got charged with theft of a firearm, and the white teen didn’t get prosecuted. Is this not a clear message from the white authorities that we not only don’t care what happens to you; but if you sass a white person we’re going to get you?
People get beat up at school all the time for way less provocation (or just for bullying purposes) than what these kids endured. I’ve seen black students stomped before, and no one went to prison. People get beat up at school all the time for way less provocation (or just for bullying purposes) than what these kids endured. I’ve seen black students stomped before, and no one went to prison. It’s a lie that Barker was beat so bad that he almost died. People who almost die don’t go to social events the same night of such a severe beating; they’re too busy, in the hospital, trying not to die!
Where was the zeal and resilience that Reed Walters exhibits in going after the Jena 6, for prosecuting white kids during months of threats, intimidation, physical violence, and abuse? He scarcely went after anybody white for their barrage upon the black kids (one probation for a similar beating administered to a black kid, where a real weapon, a beer bottle across the head was used). He let an environment of intimidation and ridicules fester, and then went full throttle when the recipients of the hostility finally boiled over and exploded.
This is why there is a battered wife’s syndrome recognized in the courts, because it’s understandably human nature that if someone constantly abuses and berates you, that you can have a breaking point. This is why so many school systems in recent years have adopted no tolerance for bullying policies. But some people want to act like these factors don’t exist in this case. In their eyes, the case is as simple as six Black savages, for no reason whatsoever, out of the thin blue sky, beat a pure, innocent, all American white boy.
Oh by the way, some of the Jena 6 claim they weren’t even the ones in the fight (such as Bryant Purvis), and where not arrested on the spot; they weren’t arrested until the next day. I’ve not seen to date, any evidence from DA Walters proving Purvis, for one, was actually even involved. Forget all the above, it’s possible that some may be out right innocent. But you know something; Purvis was involved in leading the protest, though. You know, the protesting that lead to Reed Walters threat to end their lives with the stroke of his pen. Hmmm, how curious.
Read how Reed Walters felt that the noose hanging was insignificant and was frustrated that black people dare be upset by it, and how he was determined to put a stop to black folks making an issue of it: http://friendsofjustice.wordpress.com/2007/09/08/the-wall-of-shame/
Time line of Jena 6 events: http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=103414
Good Article framing the issue, with a Reed Walter quote of the nooses being an “innocent prank”: http://www.newuniversity.org/showArticle.php?id=6027
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