Chaka Khan Performs at Blood Lust Concert



NOTE TO CHAKA KHAN... I feel for u!'

Sista I don't have enough words that would convey Myprofound disappointment in your decision to perform at that blood lust concert!!!' u have shown a young sista that 30 pieces of silver is still enough to by the black woman's soul!!!! At 14 yrs old I now know that the power the Whiteman holds over u is great... I guess this is the price u had to pay for talking about your satanic 
Mentor Clive Davis...... Mrs khan after finding out u where In The movement at one point makes the pain Even worst!!! I know this won't matter to u at all... But I will never promote or play your music ever again.... Thoughts of a disappointed young QUEEN!!!

             ~~ Autum Ashante

by Scotty Reid, 12/29/2012, news, politics
campaign was launched in November targeting R&B legend Stevie Wonder who planned to perform at a Los Angeles fundraiser for the Israeli Defense Forces who frequently are on the offense against the indigenous people of Palestine since being deposited in the region by European nations after WWII.

Israel has a long history of racism and white supremacy and has been committing a slow genocide against the Palestinians to steal even more of their land.  Israel stood by the side of Apartheid South Africa when the rest of the world, some reluctantly, started to cut ties to the country in a global divestment effort to end its racist policies.

Stevie Wonder would eventually cancel his gig at the IDF benefit concert, which is puzzling that they need a fundraiser when their military is wholly subsidized by billions of American tax dollars and weapons annually. Wonder issued a press release that in part stated,

“Given the current and very delicate situation in the Middle East, and with a heart that has always cried out for world unity, I will not be performing at the FIDF Gala," Wonder said in a statement sent to Reuters. "I am and have always been against war, any war, anywhere.”    (http://blacktalkradionetwork.com/page/chaka-khan-helps-to-raise-14-million-for-the-idf-terrorist-organi)


Dakota Bright, gunned down by Chicago Police - Age 15


Dakota Bright, gunned down from behind, bullet in the back of his head.



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Justice For Ernest Duenez Jr.

Published on Dec 13, 2012 This is a video of raw footage from the murder of , Ernest Duenez, Jr. He was allegedly killed by "police" Just this past Tuesday, 12/11/12, the DA declared the officer as being "justified" in his 13 shots released , leading to his death. We are trying to fight for justice and in our fight against police brutality
Defense attorney tried for allegedly letting client use cellphone

Suspect in cop killing was in police custody and under investigation for murder when lawyer allowed calls, prosecutors say


November 27, 2012|By Jason Meisner, Chicago Tribune reporter
Timothy Herring was under arrest in the slayings of a Chicago police officer and another man two years ago when a police lieutenant leading the investigation heard something as he walked past the locked interrogation room where Herring was meeting with a lawyer.
"I heard Timothy having a conversation, but it was basically with himself, a one-way phone conversation, which was extremely odd since he's in a room with his attorney," testified Chicago police Lt. Brendan Deenihan, who said he went into the room and saw Herring, chained to a ring in the wall, end a call and hand the phone back to the lawyer.Lawyer Sladjana Vuckovic, a volunteer for First Defense Legal Aid for nearly 10 years, faces a 15-year sentence and possible disbarment if convicted.

That discovery led to an even more unusual twist. The lawyer, Sladjana Vuckovic, was charged with bringing contraband — her cellphone — into a penal institution. Vuckovic, who at the time was volunteering for a 24-hour free legal service for indigent suspects, faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted and would likely be disbarred.
The charges sparked a controversy among criminal-defense lawyers who said they routinely bring their cellphones into police interview rooms and sometimes let clients make calls. Some veteran attorneys said they could not remember a similar case ever being pursued by police.
Prosecutors alleged that in two visits to the Far South Side detective headquarters where Herring was in custody, Vuckovic allowed him to use her cellphone to make or receive a total of 26 calls. Phone records showed calls were made to Herring's half-brother and a friend, and that on two occasions, Herring had a three-way conversation with his half-brother and an unknown third party whose number came up blocked.
"The police will never know who (Herring was) talking to or what was being said," Assistant State's Attorney Michael Golden said in his opening statement to the Cook County jury. "They will never know how he was using that phone to advance his own case."
Vuckovic's attorney, Leonard Goodman, told jurors no signs were posted at the headquarters prohibiting cellphones in the interrogation room and that the Police Department's own general orders call for a suspect in custody to be allowed "a reasonable number" of calls to family, friends and an attorney.
Hours after Vuckovic's second visit to the station, Herring was charged with gunning down Officer Michael Flisk and Steven Peters as Flisk processed the scene of a break-in at Peters' garage. Police alleged Herring, then 19 and on parole, returned to the scene because he feared Flisk would uncover evidence connecting him to the burglary.
Born in the former Yugoslavia, Vuckovic, 44, worked as a attorney for the CTA but also had a passion for helping those less fortunate, her lawyer said. She had volunteered for First Defense Legal Aid for nearly a decade and was the on-call attorney the night Herring's brother called the agency's hotline and asked for help.
Goodman said First Defense attorneys often have to clear hurdles of distrust with clients who tend to be suspicious about whether the lawyer is really there to represent them. She allowed him to use her phone only to contact family and warned him not to talk about his case, Goodman said. Both times she had her phone in a shoulder bag. On her second visit, she brought Herring a sandwich and drink, he said.
"She's made hundreds of station visits, and not once has a detective ever said to her she couldn't bring a cellphone in," Goodman said.
In an effort to keep the high-profile murder from influencing Vuckovic's trial, Judge Evelyn Clay had lawyers refer to Herring only as "Timothy H." and jurors were not told that Herring was charged with killing a Chicago police officer and a second victim.
Still, at times the testimony made it clear that Herring was not in custody for a routine slaying. Several detectives said Herring was originally picked up on a parole violation sweep that's done only in exceptional cases. Deenihan, second-in-command at the Calumet Area headquarters, told jurors he was so focused on his investigation of the double slaying that he had no time to worry about arresting Vuckovic at the time.
In addition, several of Flisk's family members, including his wife, Nora, attended Vuckovic's trial, sitting in the front row of the courtroom gallery wearing buttons with the slain officer's photo.


Young brothers, 'denied refuge,' swept to death by Sandy




CNN) -- As Superstorm Sandy ravaged New York, Glenda Moore drove frantically across Staten Island in an attempt to get her sons to safety.
Instead, Moore found herself and her boys -- Connor, four and Brandon, two -- caught in the full fury of the storm.
Buffeted by torrential rains and winds of up to 90 miles per hour, her Ford Explorer plunged into a hole. According to the account she would later give police, Moore carried her sons to a nearby tree, gripping branches along with her boys as she tried to shelter them from the storm surge.
She told police they clung together for hours, before Moore managed to make her way to a nearby property, and pleaded to be let inside. But according to her police account, rather than sheltering the desperate strangers, the occupant refused to let them enter.
In desperation, Moore told police she then went to the back of the house, and tried to break in using a flower pot, but was unable to do so. As the storm raged on, her sons were swept away by floodwaters.
The bodies of the boys were found near each other Thursday, about a quarter of a mile from where Moore last held them.
It's unfortunate. She shouldn't have been out though.
A Staten Island homeowner accused of failing to help a mother and her boys
Relatives said Moore was too distraught to speak with CNN.
Meanwhile, public anger has been directed at the homeowner who allegedly failed to help Moore and her children. The man, who told CNN's Gary Tuchman that his name is Alan but did not want his full name used, disputed Moore's account, saying he saw only a man outside.
"He didn't come to the door... he must have been standing at the bottom of the stairs," said the man. "He took a concrete flower pot... and threw [it] through the door."
The man at the door didn't ask to enter the house, he said, but instead asked him to come outside in order to help.
"What could I do to help him?" he asked. "I had a pair of shorts on with flip-flops."
The man told CNN he sat up for the rest of the night, with his back against the door in the kitchen.
He said he did not know the fate of the children. Told that their bodies had been found, he said the deaths were a tragedy, but implied that the woman was at fault.
"It's unfortunate. She shouldn't have been out though. You know, it's one of those things," he said.
He said there was nothing he could have done. "I'm not a rescue worker ... If I would have been outside, I would have been dead."
The man said he had given his account to police.
Legal experts consulted by CNN said that no crime would have been committed by a failure to render assistance.

Walmart Cashier Accuses Nancy of Coupon Fraud


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So, Is This Type of Accusation Trending In Walmart because they do not properly train employees?



Please Donate For Medical Expenses

My sister has been diagnosed with mitochondrial myopathy, an incurable muscle disease that the doctors at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL has said there is no cure or treatment for. My sister worked up until early 2012, when doctors said she'd be no longer able to work again. Her job ended as well as all medical benefits. She has to be seen by neurologists as well as cardiologists on a regular basis. This disease can affect every organ in the body. My sister needs help with donations in order to pay her medical expenses and medication. My sister lives with our elderly parents and they are on a fixed income trying to keep their household going as well as keeping her needs met as best they can. Thank you for your help -- Kindra Lee

Gabbiee's father appeals for his daughter's return

wistv.com - Columbia, South Carolina | COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - "I'm not ever going to give up," said Alvin Thompson. "No one should ever give up on someone if there's hope." Sheriff: "We have not found Gabbiee yet" Lott to update on "very complex" investigation into teen's disappearance Thompson calls himself a foot soldier in the search for his missing 15-year-old daughter, Gabbiee Swainson. He's been looking day and night for her. "Under the houses, in the alleys, in abandoned buildings, in the ditches," he said. "I do feel that she is still alive but it ain't gonna be long," said Thompson. "It ain't gonna be long. We got to find her before it's too late. Thompson lives in Virginia and has eight kids. All of them are grown except Gabbiee. He doesn't see his youngest daughter often but said he's always been in Gabbiee's life. "We all got along great when we talked," he said. "All my kids I hardly ever see because I'm a truck driver and I'm gone half the time." In spite of his schedule, Thompson wishes he could have done more. "I kinda' blame myself for not being here to protect her," he said. A few years ago, Thompson said Gabbiee took a church trip to New York City. She called him before she left. "She said, 'Daddy I'm gonna go up there but I'm scared,'" recalled Thompson. "'What are you scared of?' 'If I get lost, you gonna come and get me?' I said, 'New York is big but I'll come. I'll come and look.'" "Now I think about back when she told me would I come get her," he said. "Now I can't find her." More than a week after Gabbiee disappeared, 52-year-old Freddie Grant was arrested. "I didn't know about this Freddie Grant at that time," said Thompson. "I had never heard of a Freddie Grant or met a Freddie Grant. Gabbiee never told me about a Freddie Grant." But Thompson's sister, Zoraida Turnipseed, said she met Grant two days after Gabbiee was gone. "I never knew a yard man," she said. "He was never introduced to me as a yard man. When I got there before 7 a.m. Monday morning Freddie Grant was there." "He was lying in the office on a day bed," said Turnipseed

IS THIS "LEGITIMATE RAPE" ACCORDING TO AKIN STANDARDS? ATHENS, GA


IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Nancy Lockhart, M.J.
PHONE:       843.217.4649

Athens, Georgia --- August 22, 2012 – In depth research on the profoundly ignorant "Legitimate Rape" theory expressed by United States Republican Senator Tod Akin may lead us to reasons that The Cottage and Athens, Georgia Police have not made an arrest in the egregious rape of a 3 year old child. That child, now seven (7) years old would like answers.  Very disturbing is the fact that Mo. Senator Todd Akin sits on the Congressional Science Committee. Science encompasses human anatomy and physiology, Akins obviously did not matriculate. 

Four years ago a three year old baby girl was raped by two adult males who have not been prosecuted. It is rumored that one of the males has subsequently raped another child. According to "The Little Girl", a third man tortured her. Authorities are well aware of who these men are, according to "The Little Girl's" adopted mother. Authorities have also been advised of their whereabouts.

"The Little Girl" has been removed from this criminally abusive home but, has asked her new mother why "children get time out when they do wrong and nothing at all happens to adults when they do wrong".

Attempts to contact the Athens Police Department and The Cottage have been unfruitful. The Cottage has provided services for "The Little Girl" and The Police Department Investigator Ragsdale has been repeatedly contacted. The Cottage holds a statutory and overall fiduciary duty to ensure that rapists are put behind bars and of course officers of the law do as well.  The Cottage, which is located at 3019 Lexington Road, Athens, Ga 30605, presents itself as a 5013c with a mission of providing rape victim services. It is located in close proximity of the Athens Police Department, still yet, The Cottage has refused to ensure that the 2 men who raped "The Little Girl", and the one man who tortured her, are prosecuted.

It is also interesting to note that The Cottage's Wesbite, lists Western Judicial Circuit, District Attorney Ken Mauldin as a board member. 

Please Watch The Video And Take Action For "The Little Girl" Video

URGENT - Call Now For "The Little Girl"



  • Call the Cottage and ask why they have refused to properly handle the case of The Little Girl - 706-546-1133
  • Call The Athens Police Department Investigator Ragsdale - 706-613-3330 extension 795

3 Year Old Raped and No One Is Arrested


CONTACT: Nancy Lockhart, M.J.
Phone: 843.217.4649
gmail.com

IS THE RAPE OF 3 YEAR OLD CHILDREN LEGAL IN ATHENS, GEORGIA?

Athens, Georgia --- August 20, 2012 – Four years ago a three year old baby girl was raped by two adult males who have not been prosecuted. According to "The Little Girl", a third man tortured her.

"The Little Girl" has been removed from this criminally abusive home and adopted but, has asked her new mother why "children get time out when they do wrong and nothing at all happens to adults when they do wrong".

Athens Police Investigator refuses to return e-mails or phone calls and neither will The Cottage Executive Director. The Cottage has provided services for "The Little Girl" and The Police Department Investigator is aware of the situation. The Cottage, which is located at 3019 Lexington Road, Athens, Ga 30605, presents itself as a 5013c with a mission of providing rape victim services. It is located in close proximity of the Athens Police Department, still yet, The Cottage has refused to ensure that the 2 men who raped "The Little Girl", are prosecuted.

Attawa Childres, Board President, Sally Sheppard, Executive Director and the Winner of the Person of Courage



The Cottage Staff
 Picture Courtesy of http://www.northgeorgiacottage.org/

ACTION FOR "The Little Girl"
Call The Cottage - Ask About An Arrest - 706-546-1133
Call The Athens, Georgia Police Department
Investigator Ragsdale - 706-613-3300








Juveniles (under the age of 18) In Solitary confinement



I would like to identify juveniles (under the age of 18) who are in solitary confinement or, who have just gotten out of solitary confinement.  Your assistance with this would be greatly appreciated. It would also be great to have parents or, loved ones, willing to discuss the experiences of the juveniles. Thank you Kindly,

Nancy Lockhart, M.J.
641-715-3900 extension 99222

Recording The Police Is A Dangerous But Necessary Act

Sign Petition

SUPPORT JAZZ HAYDEN! Support Joseph “Jazz” Hayden as his next court appearance on July 31, 2012 in Part F at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan. We will be gathering outside the courthouse at 8:30 am. Photograph by Lyric Cabral, The Village Voice July 9, 2012 Dear Friends, Allies and Supporters, As you may already know, I have a pending case in Manhattan Criminal Court resulting from a bogus stop & frisk by the NYPD from December, 2011. I can unequivocally state that this stop and arrest was in retaliation for my work as a Citizen Reporter aggressively covering police/community relationships in the Harlem community. (To review my body of work you need only go to my web site, www.allthingsharlem.com/copwatch to view four years of coverage of police community relations in Harlem.) My work on this issue is well known and has been covered by many news organizations, including The New York Times, the Village Voice, the Amsterdam News, the Economist, NY1, Channel 7 Eyewitness News, WPIX Channel 11, Gothamist, The Brooklyn Rail, The Nation and the National in Abu Dhabi (Middle East). The Harlem community is well aware of my work, and encourages and supports it. As you are probably already aware, the racist practice of stop & frisk by the NYPD has gained national attention for its astronomical numbers of unwarranted stops, nearly 700,000 in 2011. Less than 6% of those stopped were charged with any crime or violation of the law. The disproportionate impact on communities of color, specifically Blacks and Latinos (87%), has led to city-wide protest and condemnation in the local and national media. For every action there is a reaction. Because of my coverage of this racist and ineffective practice, I have been targeted for retaliation. My right as a citizen to cover the police in public places, as they perform their duties (a right recently acknowledged by U.S. Attorney General Holder) has resulted in my being targeted by the 32nd precinct in Harlem.

DROP THE CHARGES AGAINST JAZZ HAYDEN!



SUPPORT JAZZ HAYDEN!

Support Joseph “Jazz” Hayden as his next court appearance on July 31, 2012 in Part F at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan. We will be gathering outside the courthouse at 8:30 am.

Photograph by Lyric Cabral, The Village Voice
July 9, 2012
Dear Friends, Allies and Supporters,
As you may already know, I have a pending case in Manhattan Criminal Court resulting from a bogus stop & frisk by the NYPD from December, 2011.  I can unequivocally state that this stop and arrest was in retaliation for my work as a Citizen Reporter aggressively covering police/community relationships in the Harlem community.  (To review my body of work you need only go to my web site,www.allthingsharlem.com/copwatch to view four years of coverage of police community relations in Harlem.)
My work on this issue is well known and has been covered by many news organizations, including The New York Times, the Village Voice, the Amsterdam News, the Economist,  NY1, Channel 7 Eyewitness News, WPIX Channel 11, Gothamist, The Brooklyn Rail, The Nation and the National in Abu Dhabi (Middle East).  The Harlem community is well aware of my work, and encourages and supports it.
As you are probably already aware, the racist practice of stop & frisk by the NYPD has gained national attention for its astronomical numbers of unwarranted stops, nearly 700,000 in 2011. Less than 6% of those stopped were charged with any crime or violation of the law.  The disproportionate impact on communities of color, specifically Blacks and Latinos (87%), has led to city-wide protest and condemnation in the local and national media.
For every action there is a reaction.  Because of my coverage of this racist and ineffective practice, I have been targeted for retaliation.  My right as a citizen to cover the police in public places, as they perform their duties (a right recently acknowledged by U.S. Attorney General Holder) has resulted in my being targeted by the 32nd precinct in Harlem.
I am currently facing felony charges – and potentially years in prison -  as a result of an unlawful stop and search of my car last December. In July of 2011, I filmed the same officers who later arrested me performing an unlawful car stop in Harlem. You can view that video here:
During the video you can hear the officers talking to me and saying that they know who I am and know my background. At minute 5:05 the officer can be heard saying, “You done selling drugs yet or what? I know your rap sheet.” Then again around 5:55 the officer can be heard saying, “Go sell some more drugs sir. We know your background, I know who you are.” The officers let the men in the car go without charges. But they had other plans for me. In December of 2011, the very same officers stopped my car and conducted an illegal search. They found a pocket knife and a mini replica baseball bat in the car, and charged me with two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree, a felony punishable with two to seven years on prison. My stop and arrest was unequivocal retaliation for my surveillance of these officers and work in the community. Today I need your help. Please contact Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance and demand that all charges against Joseph Hayden be dropped and that the NYPD be put on notice that citizens have a right to monitor their “servants” as they perform their duties without retaliation. The significance of these cases of retaliation for covering “our servants” extends beyond my case alone. These actions by NYPD raise the larger issue of their role in communities of color, the rights of citizens to monitor law enforcement, and the rights/role of new media in covering the news. What is happening to me has happened to hundreds of thousands of citizens in New York City.

 Enough is enough! Send your letter to: Cyrus Vance Manhattan District Attorney One Hogan Place New York, NY 10013 You can email him at vancec@dany.nyc.gov. Please cc me on your letter at jhayden512@aol.com. A sample letter is included below. If you can make it, please join me at my next court appearance on July 31, 2012 in Part F at 100 Centre Street in Manhattan.

 We will be gathering outside the courthouse at 8:30 am. Thanks for your support. Yours truly, Joseph Jazz Hayden Campaign to End the New Jim Crow www.allthingsharlem.com SAMPLE LETTER TO CYRUS VANCE Cyrus Vance Manhattan District Attorney One Hogan Place New York, NY 10013

 Dear District Attorney Vance, [PLEASE MAKE INCLUDE YOUR NAME, YOUR JOB OR OTHER IMPORTANT AFFILIATION AND HOW YOU KNOW JAZZ] I am writing today about an urgent matter, the case of Joseph Hayden. Your office has chosen to seek an indictment against him for two counts of Possession of a Weapon in the Third Degree. I believe that his arrest was a retaliatory act on the part of the police against one of their most outspoken critics, a long-time neighborhood cop watch activist and police reform advocate. There is no doubt that Mr. Hayden has a lengthy criminal record. But he has put his past behind him and become an important community activist. He is a longtime member of The Riverside Church Prison Ministry and a founding member of the Ministry’s Campaign to End The New Jim Crow, a group dedicated to combatting mass incarceration and building caring communities. And for the past four years, Mr. Hayden has videotaped police officers as they stop and frisk people in Harlem as part of a neighborhood copwatch program and posted these videos on his website, All Things Harlem. Mr. Hayden was pulled over for a traffic stop in Harlem in December 2011. When the police approached his car, they made it plain that they recognized Mr. Hayden by statements such as “We know you.” The two officers who stopped him in December were the same officers filmed by Mr. Hayden several months earlier (view the video here: http://bit.ly/NjOZTN). After clearly acknowledging that they knew who he was, the officers unlawfully searched his car, finding a penknife and a small commemorative replica baseball bat. These items are the weapons for which he is now facing felony charges punishable by 2 to 7 years in prison. During your campaign for District Attorney, you sat down with Mr. Hayden for an interview for his website. During that interview, Mr. Hayden asked you what you would do to stop racial bias and harassment of people of color by the NYPD. You told him that while you “can’t tell the police who to arrest or who not to arrest,” but as District Attorney you would like to assure that “when it comes to us, that we are not making charging decisions that are biased in any way.” You can view the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEu5yZ4Pwxc In light of your commitment to make unbiased charging decisions, I urge you to drop the charges against Mr. Hayden. Given Mr. Hayden’s prominent role in filming the police, it is clear that his arrest was retaliation for his community activities. I also urge you to take seriously the dangers of police practices that effectively silence citizens who dissent. United States Attorney General Eric Holder has affirmed the right to record police officers in the public performance of their duties. By allowing Mr. Hayden’s indictment to proceed, the Manhattan District Attorney casts a chilling effect on this right. Thank you for your kind attention to this letter.


 Sincerely [NAME] [ADDRESS]

Private Prisons Lobby for Harsher Sentences



If you’re looking for one of the reasons why the United States imprisons more people — by miles — than any other nation, you can look to the development of private prisons as a means of making some people rich. Those people spend millions of dollars to lobby elected officials to do two things: Convert government-run prisons to private prisons, and lock up more people for longer periods of time. Because that makes them even richer.
new study by the Justice Policy Institute reaches exactly that conclusion and documents it thoroughly.
Over the past 15 years, the number of people held in all prisons in the United States has increased by 49.6 percent, while private prison populations have increased by 353.7 percent, according to recent federal statistics. Meanwhile, in 2010 alone, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and the GEO Group, the two largest private prison companies, had combined revenues of $2.9 billion. According to a report released today by the Justice Policy Institute (JPI), not only have private prison companies benefitted from this increased incarceration, but they have helped fuel it. Gaming the System: How the Political Strategies of Private Prison Companies Promote Ineffective Incarceration Policies, examines how private prison companies are able to wield influence over legislators and criminal justice policy, ultimately resulting in harsher criminal justice policies and the incarceration of more people. The report notes a “triangle of influence” built on campaign contributions, lobbying and relationships with current and former elected and appointed officials. Through this strategy, private prison companies have gained access to local, state, and federal policymakers and have back-channel influence to pass legislation that puts more people behind bars, adds to private prison populations and generates tremendous profits at U.S. taxpayers’ expense.
“For-profit companies exercise their political influence to protect their market share, which in the case of corporations like GEO Group and CCA primarily means the number of people locked up behind bars,” said Tracy Velázquez, executive director of JPI. “We need to take a hard look at what the cost of this influence is, both to taxpayers and to the community as a whole, in terms of the policies being lobbied for and the outcomes for people put in private prisons. That their lobbying and political contributions is funded by taxpayers, through their profits on government contracts, makes it all the more important that people understand the role of private prisons in our political system.”
America’s obsession with locking up more and more people, while simultaneously ignoring the numerous ways that innocent people are railroaded by a corrupt and inept justice system, is not only destroying important constitutional principles, it’s also bankrupting state and local governments. It needs to be fixed.

Jacksonville NAACP Rally for Marissa Alexander Highlights Justice Issues


“We want justice, not just us,” protesters chanted at a march and rally for Marissa Alexander Friday morning in downtown Jacksonville, Fla.
Alexander’s case is an example of a controversial Stand Your Ground decision that didn’t go in Alexanders favor.  Many leaders, community members and the Alexander family expressed dissatisfaction with her sentence—20 years for firing a “warning shot” near her reportedly abusive husband.
The Jacksonville chapter of the NAACP hosted the event, which included local, state and national leaders as well as Alexander’s lawyers and her mother and sister. Attendees were in the hundreds.
Rep. Corrine Brown, a vocal champion of Alexander, told the crowd that the verdict pained her. She said that at first she could not stop crying.
While Brown found Alexander’s sentence upsetting (a fact made known when Brown confronted State Attorney Angela Corey about the case), the congresswoman also said youth are being classified as adults and felons at a startling rate.  Brown said that help is needed for other victims and, “I know that the Lord has sent us help” with Alexander’s case in the form of New York based attorney, Michael G. Dowd.
Dowd told the crowd that society frequently supports battered women until they “are forced to defend themselves.”
On Alexander he said, “She didn’t even harm this animal.” According to NAACP representatives, Alexander’s sentence and other 10-20-life mandatory sentences are miscarriages of justice and “judicial lynchings.”
Jacksonville NAACP President Isaiah Rumlin encouraged supporters to vote for representatives with their best interests at heart and vote out people who didn’t deliver. He said that minorities were being overcharged and disproportionately sentenced at the state level.
Martin Luther King III echoed the need for people to use their political power. He said that people have to read the entire ballot when they vote.  ”Rarely do we see justice”, calling the criminal justice system “the criminal system.”
Alexander’s mother, Helen Jenkins, thanked the crowd for support and advocated for her daughter. “She did not commit a crime. She was protecting herself,” Jenkins said.
Alexander, a mother with a master’s degree, had no prior criminal history, but in less than 15 minutes a jury found her guilty of three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.  During her trial, she invoked Stand Your Ground and said that she fired in self-defense. Many have drawn parallels between Alexander’s case and Trayvon Martin’s shooting death at the hands of George Zimmerman. Even though a judge denied Alexander Stand Your Ground immunity, police protected Zimmerman from arrest using Stand Your Ground.
As traditional media did not initially cover Alexander’s case, she now continues to be championed across several social media platforms.
Marissa Alexander’s name is a hashtag. A Facebook group entitled “Stand Your Ground: Justice for Marissa Alexander” boasted about 1,350 likes as of press time. “Support for Marissa Alexander” had more than 1,200 likes. A Free Marissa Alexander petition on change.org includes more than 15,000 signatures.
As far as courtroom work goes, Alexander’s attorney seemed unshaken when he addressed listeners. He said that his team would walk in the footsteps of one of the “great legal lights,” Thurgood Marshall and pursue justice.
“We are going to go back into the system, twist and turn it, and make it do the right thing,” Dowd said.  If the status quo continues, Alexander’s mother reminded onlookers of the risks.
“It could be someone else tomorrow,” Jenkins said.

Action Alert::: Post Card Campaign For Sara Kruzan

African Soccer Player - Racist Italian Newspaper

Euro 2012: Italian newspaper shows striker Mario Balotelli as King Kong atop Big Ben prior to Italy's match against England 

Prior to Italy's clash with England in Euro 2012, La Gazzetta dello Sport shows Balotelli, who is black, swatting soccer balls while atop Big Ben. Racism has been a concern at the European Championships, and Balotelli had said earlier that racism is unacceptable in 2012.

Comments (42)
Updated: Monday, June 25, 2012, 3:19 PM





Players competing in Euro 2012 were concerned that racism could be a problem with fans in Poland and Ukraine. They probably didn’t expect to be the subject of racial insensitivity in the press.
On Sunday an Italian newspaper, La Gazzetta dello Sport, published a photo-illustration of Italy’s star striker, Mario Balotelli, as King Kong atop Big Ben swatting away soccer balls.
Although the intent of the cartoon seemed to be that Balotelli and the Italians would topple England, the execution was clearly done in poor taste. Italy won the match in a shootout, 4-2.

Before the tournament kicked off, Balotelli — who was born in Palermo but is of Ghanainan descent — addressed his concerns about racism in Poland and Ukraine, the co-hosts for the European Championships.
“Let’s see what happens at the Euro. I hope that there will not be a problem,” he told France Footall. “Because I really can’t handle that.”
“I cannot bear racism, it’s unacceptable for me. If it had happened again I would straight away leave the pitch and go home. We are in 2012. It can’t happen,” the 21-year-old added.

Despite efforts to stem any racist outbursts, racism has been an issue at the month-long tournament. In Italy’s group-play match against Croatia, Croatian fans directed racist chants at Balotelli and a banana was thrown onto the pitch during the match. The Croatian Football Federation was fined 80,000 euros ($106,000) last week for their fans’ actions.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/euro-2012/euro-2012-italian-newspaper-shows-striker-mario-balotelli-king-kong-atop-big-ben-win-england-article-1.1101983#ixzz1yv0M4qqn



Police Kill Woman In East Flatbush - Brooklyn, New York


The woman shot dead by a Brooklyn cop after she crashed a stolen car was part of a violent crew who police say forced a man into his home at gunpoint, robbed him and shot him as he ran away.
Shantel Davis, 23, took a bullet in the chest during a wild struggle with police after she tried to drive away from the smashup on Church Ave. and E. 38th St. in East Flatbush on Thursday, cops said.
No gun was found on Davis. Her rap sheet — which included robbery and drug busts — shows she was no stranger to run-ins with the law.
Davis was due in court Friday on charges stemming from an attack on April 23, 2011 — when she and a band of brutes allegedly held a man hostage as they robbed his Clarendon Road apartment, court papers show.

The heist netted cash, video games and jewelry, the documents show. But the thieves threatened to take 29-year-old Ralph Ragoobar to East New York and torture him for more loot. He managed to break free and started running down the street, court papers show.
That’s when Davis’ crew opened fire, striking the fleeing man three times in the back and once in the leg. He survived the wounds.
“I was shot five times,” Ragoobar told the Daily News. “I just want to move on with my life.”
Davis and two others were later booked on charges that included kidnapping, attempted murder and weapons possession.

Davis was out on $25,000 bail when two narcotics cops saw her blow a red light at E. 48th St. and start speeding westbound down Church Ave. about 5:35 p.m. Thursday, cops said.
The two plainclothes officers — who sources identified as Detective Phillip Atkins, 44, and Police Officer Daniel Guida, 27 — began to follow Davis in their unmarked car as she sped through a series of red lights before she crashed, cops said.
Davis was driving a 1998 Toyota Camry that she allegedly stole the week before. Armed with a pistol — and just a block away from her E. 52nd St. home — Davis approached the car’s owner, Vilma Craig, 57, and told her to hand over the keys, sources said.
“She had the gun pointed at me,” Craig told the Daily News Friday. “She took my car, my pocketbook and everything in the car.”
It was not clear whether the two cops knew the car was stolen when they approached Davis after she wrecked it.
The 5-foot-6, 185-pound Davis slid into the passenger side of the car in an attempt to flee, cops said.
After a brief struggle with Guida, Davis hopped back in the driver’s seat and tried to drive away.
Atkins, holding his service-issued Smith & Wesson 9-mm., began to grapple with the frantic woman and tried to stop her from putting the car into gear.
But Davis managed to put the car in reverse and hit the gas. During the struggle, Atkins fired one shot, hitting Davis in the chest and killing her.
Atkins had never fired his weapon while on duty, cops said, but court papers show he has been the defendant in six federal lawsuits.
But some say litigation is common for active officers like Atkins, who boasts more than 800 arrests during his 12-year career.
“It’s unfair to measure a narcotic detective’s performance by the lawsuits that are filed against him,” said Michael Palladino, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association. “Drug dealers are interested in one thing: making money, either by selling drugs or filing lawsuits.”
Friends and neighbors described Davis as “a sweetie.”
“She was sweet,” said friend Kelvia Joseph, 24. “She did her stuff on the side, but she was a good person.”
With Denis Slattery, Kerry Wills and Rich Schapiro
rparascandola@nydailynews.com


You call this justice? Not if it’s the victim who goes to prison - By Fred Grimm MiamiHerald.com

Fred Grimm 
fgrimm@miamiherald.com
Fred Grimm joined the Herald in 1976. Since 1991, he writes a column about crime, politics and life in Broward. Read his blog, The Grimm Truth - Disparate thoughts and random opinions of longtime Miami Herald columnist Fred Grimm.





You call this justice? Not if it’s the victim who goes to prison

 

Marissa Alexander, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a gun into the air to frighten off her husband.
Lincoln B. Alexander / via AP
Marissa Alexander, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing a gun into the air to frighten off her husband.
The “victim,” in this twisted tale of Florida justice, was Rico Gray, a 245-pound Jacksonville truck driver with a proclivity for domestic violence.The “criminal,” the woman sentenced to 20 years of hard time on May 11, was his wife, Marissa Alexander, five feet, two inches tall and slight enough, as Gray mentioned in his pre-trial deposition, that on two occasions he tossed her from their house without much physical exertion. “She’s a little person so it doesn’t take much for me to pick her up and tote her out my front door . . . You know, I pretty much picked her up and throwed her out.”
In the months before the incident that sent Marissa to prison, in addition to bodily heaving her out the door, Gray had beaten her, head-butted her in the face while she was pregnant, sent her to the hospital. One of his three arrests on domestic violence charges had been for an attack on Alexander that led to a conviction and probation. On Sept. 30, 2009, a Duval County circuit judge issued an injunction against Gray, ordering him to keep away from Alexander. (In his deposition, Gray said he was previously arrested for striking two other women in the face who, he explained, “wouldn’t shut up.”)
But on August 10, 2010, as Gray approached her in a rage, Alexander (a software firm employee with an MBA and no previous criminal record) fired a pistol twice into the air. A jury convicted her of aggravated assault with a firearm and, under Florida’s draconian mandatory minimum sentencing laws, the presiding judge was left with no discretion. So she got 20 years. Her thug husband got custody of their baby son.
Women’s groups, anti-domestic violence activists, the Jacksonville NAACP, U.S. Rep. Corinne Brown and advocates for sentencing reform have all issued outraged statements condemning the verdict and the sentence. (A “Free Marissa” demonstration planned for Tuesday in Jacksonville was postponed after the city was slammed by Tropical Storm Beryl.)
But it was the words of Gray himself, in his Nov. 22, 2010, deposition, that best illustrated the perversity of his wife’s prosecution and conviction and unyielding prison sentence.
Sitting in the State Attorney’s Office, Gray described how he had erupted in anger when he discovered text messages on his wife’s phone to another man. (Alexander had moved out, but had come home briefly that day to retrieve her clothes.) “I was in a rage. I called her a whore and bitch and . . . I told her, you know, I used to always tell her that, if I can’t have you, nobody going to have you. It was not the first time of ever saying it to her.”
Gray said he had intimated that he had unsavory friends who would carry out vengeful acts on his behalf. “I ain’t going to lie. I been on the streets before I started driving trucks, you know, so I know a lot of people and she knows I know a lot of people.”
As they argued, he recounted, Marissa retreated into the bathroom. “I don’t recall breaking the door open, but I know I beat on it hard enough where it could have been broken open. Probably had some dents.”
Once he managed to get inside, he said he pushed her into the door with enough violence to further damage the door.
Did you put your hands around her neck? “Not that particular day. No.”
They struggled. She ran out through the laundry room into the garage. “But I knew she couldn’t leave out of the garage because the garage door was locked.” She came back, he said, with a gun, yelling at him to leave. “I told her I ain’t leaving until you talk to me, I ain’t going nowhere, and so I started walking toward her and she shot in the air.”
He added details. “I start walking toward her, because she was telling me to leave the whole time and, you know, I was cursing and all that.” His two sons by a previous marriage were in the room. “If my kids wouldn’t have been there, I probably would have put my hand on her. Probably hit her. I got five baby mommas and I put my hands on every last one of them, except for one.
“I physically abused them. Emotionally. You know.”
And then came what should have been the clincher: “I honestly think she just didn’t want me to put my hands on her anymore so she did what she feel like she have to do to make sure she wouldn’t get hurt, you know. You know, she did what she had to do.”
He said, “The gun was never actually pointed at me. When she raised the gun down and raised it up, you know, the gun was never pointed at me. The fact is, you know . . . she never been violent toward me. I was always the one starting it. If she was violent toward me, it was because she was trying to get me up off her or stop me from doing.”
Gray’s deposition might have read like a confession of a husband charged with domestic violence, but it was Marissa Alexander who was convicted in April after a Duval circuit judge rejected her Stand Your Ground defense. The judge decided that Alexander could have fled instead of running into the garage and fetching the pistol from her car. “This is inconsistent with a person in genuine fear of his or her life,” the judge ruled — illustrating, if nothing else, that the effectiveness of the controversial self-defense statute varies wildly from one Florida circuit to the next.
Marissa fired the gun twice that day into the wall. No one was injured. But the State Attorney’s Office said the reckless discharge of a firearm endangered the children. A jury (never told about the mandatory 20-year sentence) agreed. Circuit Judge James Daniel, handing down the verdict, noted that because of the state law, the sentencing decision “has been entirely taken out of my hands.”
Duval State Attorney Angela Corey, the same special prosecutor brought in by the governor to oversee the Trayvon Martin case in Sanford, dismissed the growing protests against the disproportionate verdict. Corey noted that just a few days before her trial, Alexander had rejected a plea offer that would have sent her to prison for three years instead of 20.
But three years would still seem a harsh sentence for a woman whose crime was to use a firearm to fend off the likes of Rico Gray. “The way I was with women, they was like they had to walk on egg shells around me. They never knew what I was thinking. What I might say . . . What I might do . . . I hit them. Push them.”

Some victim.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/28/v-print/2821403/you-call-this-justice-not-if-its.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/05/28/2821403_p2/you-call-this-justice-not-if-its.html#storylink=cpy