The Afrosphere Action Coalition (AAC) calls upon the Government of the United States to take such steps as are necessary to guarantee that all those in the United States who are in need of medical treatment shall promptly receive such treatment and care as is medically necessary, without being required to pay for it beforehand, at the time of service, or individually thereafter.
Please sign the petition now.
The Afrosphere Action Coalition calls upon the US Government to institute a national system of medical care that guarantees that medically necessary treatment, pharmaceuticals and other related medical goods and services are readily available, accessible and provided through a Government-operated system of doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics and private providers, paid for from the US Treasury, and redirecting as necessary such funding as is now spent on medical care in order to achieve this purpose, and provide subsidies as necessary for such care in the private system.
Please sign the petition now!
The AAC further calls upon the US Government to cease and desist obstructing medical patients from seeking and receiving quality medical care, pharmaceuticals and treatments wherever they may be most economical, refraining in particular from prohibitions on the importation of identical or essentially similar pharmaceuticals from foreign low-cost pharmacies and manufacturers overseas.
Please add your voice now!
The Afrosphere Action Coalition urges that NO PERSON OR PERSONS BE COMPELLED TO RECEIVE SERVICES UNDER THE ABOVE PROVISIONS, but that such services be available as of right to those who request them, in every region and portion of the United States and its territories and dependencies, without intentional, accidental, or incidental discrimination on the basis of skin color, ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, religion, reproductive treatment necessities, psychiatric requirements, or on any other basis or pretext.
Please click here to sign now!
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Sign Petition for National Health Care Now!
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
US Supreme Court to Weigh Troy Davis' Death Sentence
Supreme Court To Decide Fate of Troy Davis:
 |  |  |
| Wednesday, 24 September 2008 | |
by Black Agenda Report Managing Editor Bruce Dixon Yesterday, with less than two hours left till his scheduled execution, The US Supreme Court intervened in the case of Troy Anthony Davis of Savannah GA. Davis was convicted of murder in the killing of a policeman in 1989. Seven of the nine non-police witnesses have recanted their testimony against Troy, all alleging threats and coercion from prosecutors and/or police. The question raised by the campaign to free Troy Davis, which the Supreme Court will decide soon --- does innocence matter? Supreme Court To Decide Fate of Troy Davis: Does Innocence Matter? by BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixon With hundreds of supporters of Troy Anthony Davis gathering at the state capital building in Atlanta, and multiple suburban locations as well as Savannah and Athens GA and outside the prison where the execution had been scheduled, and less than two hours remaining before the execution, the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday overruled Georgia authorities and granted a stay. The execution will be delayed at least a week, while the Supreme Court decides whether or not to consider his case. Should they decline to do so, Georgia authorities will set a new date for speedy execution, and the death watch will begin again. And of course if the Supreme Court decides to consider the case all bets are off until their deliberations are completed. Keep up the pressure! Over the past few weeks there have been several public meetings and demonstrations in Atlanta atended by thousands of people, including a sit-in outside the governor's office demanding a new trial for Davis, convicted in the 1989 slaying of a cop in Savannah. Last Friday, about a thousand people marched from Atlanta's Woodruff Park to historic Ebeneezer Baptist Church to pray and demand a new trial for Troy Davis. “Dr. King opposed the death penalty, and it's only appropriate that we meet here at his church to pray for and to demand justice for Troy Davis,” offered Rev. Timothy McDonald of Atlanta's First Iconium Baptist Church. “The seven out of nine witnesses repudiating their own stories, that should have been enough by itself to merit a new trial,” he declared. The slogan of the demonstrators is “innocence matters”. Black Agenda Report asked Martina Correia, Davis's sister what this meant. “They're telling us that recanted testimony is not as important as trial testimony. What's happening is that my brother Troy is being denied access to the court. They're saying that if you had a 'fair trial' evidence proving your innocence that comes to light afterward does not matter... That's why our campaign is called 'Innocence Matters.'” The Atlanta Progressive News reported that seven of the nine non-police witnesses against Davis went before the GA Bureau of Pardons and Paroles to recant their testimony on the basis that they were coached and threatened by police and prosecutors into lying. The Bureau, all former prosecutors and law enforcement personnel, are appointed by the governor, and have the power to set aside death penalties and to order a new trial. But despite seven of nine witnesses alleging threats on the part of police to coerce their testimony, and despite a commitment from the US Supreme Court to rule on whether it will take the case in early October, judges from lower courts up to the GA State Supreme Court have refused to reopen the case. Evidence of innocence that surfaces after a trial, they have effectively ruled, is inadmissible and irrelevant. The parole board ruled likewise, and set the September 23 execution date, which the high court has now delayed. “We were the only news agency that was talking about the witness recantation” Cardinale pointed out.. “You would just see in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the corporate TV and newspapers that Troy Davis was about to be executed, that he killed a cop, and that was it... particularly the TV stations. They'd run a one minute clip, the same as they do before every execution. But in the media we have a responsibility to treat a claim that comes from the government as a claiM, rather than as an established fact. They did the same thing with Katherine Johnson, the 92 year old woman (shot to death by police in her Atlanta home) who we were told was dealing marijuana out of her house. It turned out of course, that the police were the criminals in that case, but the corporate news media for days uncritically defended them.” Before the stay of execution, we asked the sister of Troy Anthnoy Davis what else people could do who wanted to see justice in this case. “You can call or fax letters to the governor's offce and the GA Bureau of Pardons and Paroles. You can visit Amnesty International's web site and www.troyanthonydavis.org. You can send a text message “troy” to 90999.” For his part, it is reported that Troy Anthony Davis was calm and composed in the hours and minutes leading up to his last minute stay of execution. He remains hopeful and optomistic, and grateful for the support he has received from people of conscience in Georgia, acrss the country, and around the world. And as always, the Atlanta Progressive News remains the best and most reliable source for ongoing breaking news about the case of Troy Anthony Davis, and much more. BAR Managing Editor Bruce Dixon is based in Atlanta, and can be reached at bruce.dixon(at)blackagendareport.com |
Friday, September 19, 2008
Join the AAC's National Black Voter Registration Push
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 Yobachi at lionrunner777 @ yahoo dot com
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Contribute To Voter Supression Wiki
Thurston writes:
the point
1. Learn what voter suppression is
2. Report incidents of voter suppression
3. Act to combat and prevent it
You can go to the Voter Supression Wiki here.
Intro blog posts:
On Jack & Jill Politics
http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/09/announcing-the-launch-of-t...
On DailyKos (recommend!!)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/18/13101/8066/280/602811
On Huffington Post
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/baratunde-thurston/announcing-the-launc...
And a great intro from Jon Pincus who helped a lot with the concept and setup
http://www.talesfromthe.net/jon/?p=209
YouTube video intro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0aMMqvZ69s
THANK YOU ALL for your suggestions and connections. This was done in
about 24 hours. I love the Internet. Let's go protect some votes!
- saving democracy one wiki at a time
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Help Haitian Hurricane Victims
A Little Help Can Go A Long Way
I’ve been telling you the last couple of weeks about the absolute devastation in Haiti from being hit by 4 tropical storms and Hurricanes with in less than three weeks. If you missed that, you can read here and here as well.
This morning I made a donation to Food For The Poor, directed to Haitian relief. It was only a mere 20 dollars, it’s what I have for the time being. It’s not much, but I understand that things add up.
If you have a few bucks you can spare, and you’ll put your 20 dollars with mine, and on and on then it won’t be just $20.
Some 1,400 of you read this blog every week. If I could get just 10% of you to make the same donation to which ever relief effort of your choosing; collectively it would be 2,800 dollars we would be providing in relief.
If everyone just does a little, a lot can be accomplished.
~Yobachi
Other donation information
Food For The Poor, Inc:
Pan America Relief
You can check out charities and how they spend donations at Charity Navigator
Monday, September 15, 2008
Get The Word Out About Voter Registration
Get the word out to all you know. Send your entire email inbox the link.
From Pround Black Voter Blog:
State-by-State Voter Registration Links
At this site people will be able to find out if they are registered to vote; get registered to vote; apply to vote absentee; plus find early vote locations.
Registering someone can be a pretty quick and simple process. It literally takes about two minutes to get a registration form completed. If, you’re going to try to register voters, be sure to find out registration requirements for your area and also please remind people about the IMPORTANCE OF BRINGING PROPER I.D. WITH A CORRECT ADDRESS ON VOTING DAY.
Below is the link for each state's Voter Registration Site with information on the requirements to get registered. Also, with so much voter "trickery" many of these sites allow you to check to ensure that you are still registered and to check your polling place.
- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Hampshire
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- Vote From Abroad
Finally, check the link for your state to ensure that it is still accurate!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Hurricane Crisis In Haiti Needs Your Attention and Your Help
After Hurricane Hanna caused floods and mudslides at the end of last week, Ike dumped more water on the besieged island Monday.
Last week I asked people to donate, and you should still give what you can; if it's just $10 or $20 dollars. But we should also ask our government to help, via cargo helicopters that can airlift in supplies and so forth.
We need to target someone for focused intensity. You should always contact your own legislative representatives; but there needs to be a single entity hit by everyone who would participate, and I think House Speaker Nancy Pelosi makes the most sense.
See the bottom of the page for contact info and donation info
- Humanitarian disaster unfolds in Haiti
By Jacques Guillon in Gonaives, Haiti
September 10, 2008 10:01am
HAITI'S third largest city is at the centre of a humanitarian disaster after being hit hard by four major storms in less than a month.
Supplies slowly trickling into waterlogged Gonaives, but they were nowhere near the amount needed for flood victims who have gone for days without food or clean water.
The UN Mission in Haiti said 101 bodies have been found in Gonaives, the Haitian city hardest hit by Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike, since yesterday.
Four major storms, two of them hurricanes, have struck Haiti in less than four weeks.
More than 600 Haitians have died and the disaster is still unfolding due to the challenge of delivering aid in the impoverished and waterlogged Caribbean country.
"If we don't find a way to deliver massive humanitarian aid, we will see fights and riots that will kill more people than the cyclone did," warned UN spokeswoman Vicky Delore-Ndjeuga.
Gonaives was flooded when Tropical Storm Hanna lashed the low-lying northern city surrounded by deforested hillsides at the beginning of the month.
Across Haiti, 800,000 people are in urgent need of humanitarian aide, almost half children…
go here for the rest of news.com.au's story
An AP Story on the issue
Congressional Contact and Donation Information
House Democratic Leadersip:
Nancy Pelosi - House Speaker 202-225-4965 / AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov, sf.nancy@mail.house.gov
General Switch Board for the House of Representatives, where you can get anyones number 202-224-3121
House website: www.house.gov/ (can find anyones website to get emails and other contact info).
Food For The Poor, Inc:
Pan America Relief
You can check out charities and how they spend donations at Charity Navigator
As the information in this article demonstrates the U.S. military has provided a decent amount of airlifted aid and medical support; but the issue is that the asset resources need to match the size of the crisis. We can do more, so why not do what we can to relieve human suffering?
From www.blackperspective.net
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Action Alert: On 9/23, Georgia to Execute Wrong Man in Killing of Police Officer
Amnesty International USA says, “The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even during the trial,” and Amnesty urgest us to write automated letters online to the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles. They provide a sample letter. The European Parliament says, “there is abundant proof of his innocence, material evidence against him has never been produced and seven witnesses for the prosecution have retracted their testimony.”
The evidence presented by Amnesty International and the European Parliament indicated that police arrested and charged the wrong man, and Georgia will now execute an innocent man while a police killer goes unpunished for his crime.
The AfroSpear's Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) informs us that:
Georgians for the Abolition of the Death Penalty and Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) will hold a rally for Davis on September 11, 2008, from 6 to 8pm on the steps of the Georgia Capitol. (Source: http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/news/0372.html)This is just one of the many activities that will surely occur between now and September 23 to stop or postpone the execution of a man who many informed human rights organizations say must not be guilty.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008: Day of Blogging for Community Organizing Justice: "I Am a Community Organizer"
The AfroSpear and afrosphere announce a Day of Blogging for Community Organizing Justice: "I Am a Community Organizer", to be held on Monday, September 8, 2008.
AfroSpear and afrosphere bloggers involved are encouraged to each contact five additional bloggers and request their participation.
"The AfroSpear and afrosphere have heeded the call for community organizing within the Black community, both online and in our day jobs, as teachers, church deacons, and in other community building efforts. We condemn statements that criticize community organizing - statements that challenge the value of the "one thousand points of light" volunteerism, non-profit and charitable work that George H. W. Bush made a centerpiece of his social programs.Rather than attempt to score political points by attacking charitable and non-profit sector efforts, those who seek to lead America should join those community organizers in churches, schools, PTA's, Girls and Boys Clubs, and all those who work tirelessly to make America a better place, every day of the week.We in the AfroSpear and afrosphere therefore dedicate this Monday, September 8, 2008 to highlighting the crucial community-organizing efforts online and in our own communities. Even a church choir is a community organization and no one should belittle such efforts simply to score political points."
Francis L. Holland, Esq.
Coordinator
Afrosphere Action Coalition
francislholland@yahoo.com
Monday, September 1, 2008
September, 2008: Register to Vote and Request Absentee Ballots
Living abroad, absentee ballots are a pain in the butt - but they're all we have. And they DO count.
Too often, we hear "Oh, they don't even count absentee ballots unless it's close." WRONG! Every ballot validly cast is counted. That is a
fact. Your vote will count whether youcast it in Paris, France, or Paris, Texas.
OK, so it's true that a victor is usually called before every last vote has been tallied. But that's true for hometown voters, too! On election night, the networks are naming winners with just a small fraction of votes counted. Absentee ballots are all counted before an election result can be "certified". Remember the Florida fiasco? The vote count must be certified by the Secretary of State before it is official. That is the law.
Your vote WILL count. And if it's a very close race, the whole world will be waiting to know how YOU voted.
Here's a list of states and when they count their absentee ballots.
