Afrosphere Action Alerts

Americans Protesting Greedy Capitalism - Join Them Today!

2011-10-31T21:36:00.000-07:00

All over the United States and the world, people are realizing that giving capitalist bankers complete freedom to destroy economies, home equity and jobs is the road to ruin and not the road to riches for 99% of people in the world's societies. People are fed up because they realize that countries in Europe are slipping off the economic cliffs and normal people who bought into card-table capitalism and losing all of their cards.

At least in Europe, the European Union has told bank investors that they will have to take a bath and lose their equity as an inevitable part of making banks solvent again, preventing economic chaos and a break up of the European Union. In the United States, the Bush and Obama Administrations have refused to announce this bad news to banks, with the result being that the US economy remains awash in bad debts that prevent the economy from improving and keeps the economy one day away from a crash, with big insurers joining the great depression and their stock-holders looking for Government handouts at the expense of the jobless "under-water."

Three years after the banks' near total crash and what should have been their utter and final discredit, banks continue holding the US economy hostage, insisting that no solution to American mortgage indebtedness can cost banks and their investors a dime. It's "Day 900 or so" in the Bankers' Hostage Crisis and the banks continue refusing to negotiate. The Obama Administration coddles bankers because they own the Obama Adminitration as sure as they own and even begin to bulldoze the homes in which Americans lived in, underwater.

Now, when white people are protesting because they realize that following capitalists will not lead to joining them in capitalist wealth, it's time for Blacks to increase millions of voices to the protests, because Blacks have lost a larger share of jobs and wealth than anyone else has over the the last three years. Meanwhile, the stalemate with the capitalist who refuse to lose means that the depression is likely to worsen, with the middle and working class continually losing what little ground remains under fewer and fewer feet.

Join the protesters today, because what little we have left is all that we have left to lose.

CoC Requests Donations for GA Ad Buys to Stop Troy Davis 9/21+ Execution

2011-09-11T02:20:00.000-07:00

Despite major questions about his guilt, Georgia just scheduled an execution date for Troy Davis.

Everyone in Georgia needs to know about this injustice. Help us tell Troy's story:

I've received this e-mail from Color of Change for action, contributing to an advertising fund targeting Georgia, where Troy David is to be executed as soon as September 21, 2011.

Dear Atty,

The day we’ve dreaded is finally here. On Tuesday, a Georgia judge issued a death warrant for Troy Davis. It shocks the conscience, but despite all the doubt hanging over the case — all the evidence that Troy is likely innocent — Troy is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection as soon as September 21.¹

At this point, the last body capable of stopping the execution is the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole. There’s no doubt that we need to keep them in the national spotlight to help save Troy’s life. But the Pardon Board will likely be most swayed by the voices of Georgia citizens, many of whom either aren't aware of Troy’s story or haven't been asked to speak out.

In the coming weeks, we will buy ads that will reach thousands of Georgia residents and create a critical new level of scrutiny on the Pardon Board's actions — but we need to raise at least $10,000 to buy enough space for our message to make a difference. Can you chip in $10, $20, or $50 to help save Troy Davis’ life?

https://act.colorofchange.org/donate/troydavis

The same judge who rejected Troy’s innocence claims in a hearing last year conceded that the case against Troy is not “ironclad.” But ironclad is exactly what the case should be in order to put someone to death.

When the case isn’t totally solid, the process is prone to human error, and innocent people may die. That’s what evidence suggests happened to Cameron Todd Willingham, a Texas man who was sentenced to die after being accused of starting a fire that killed his children. A new review of the evidence used to convict him shows that Willingham was executed despite overwhelming evidence that he was convicted on false pretenses. But now it’s too late to do anything about it.²

It will take all of our combined efforts to make sure Troy Davis isn’t the next Cameron Willingham. It starts with a donation of whatever you can afford.

https://act.colorofchange.org/donate/troydavis

Thanks and Peace,

-- Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
September 8th, 2011

References:

1. "Order Signed for Sept. Execution of Troy Davis," ABCNews.com, 9-7-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/957?akid=2181.202094.B3vQ_q&t=6

2. "The Haunting of Rick Perry," The New York Times, 6-22-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/958?akid=2181.202094.B3vQ_q&t=8

CoC Urges Phone Calls to Chicago Prosecutor to Free DNA-Innocent Black Men

2011-09-10T09:17:00.000-07:00

Afrosphere Action Alerts has received the following e-mail from Color of Change (and added some information for the geographically challenged). I have called Cook County (Chicago.IL) State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez' office (312 325-9200), demanding that she move to release Black men whom DNA has proved innocent, even after confessions that may have been the result of rampant and notorious torture by the Chicago Police Department.

Here is the letter from Color of Change:

Dear Atty,
You and more than 64,000 ColorOfChange.org members have demanded that Cook County (Chicago.IL) State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez immediately acknowledge the innocence of 10 falsely accused Black men and vacate their convictions.
Last week, we delivered the petition signatures at Alvarez's office in downtown Chicago. But Alvarez so far remains silent. We need to step up the pressure.
Can you make a quick call to Alvarez's office (312 325-9200) and demand that she vacate the convictions of these innocent men? If enough of us call, it will let her know we're not going away and increase the pressure on her to act. Just click the link to make your call — we'll give you the number and a short script you can use:
http://act.colorofchange.org/call/alvarez
Attorney Alvarez needs to know that we will hold her accountable for blocking justice and supporting law enforcement practices that compromise all of our safety. Please take a moment now to call Alvarez and ask her to immediately correct these outrageous wrongs.
http://act.colorofchange.org/call/alvarez
Thanks and Peace,
-- Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
September 9th, 2011
Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU--your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:
http://www.colorofchange.org/donate

Sign CoC Petition to Stop AT&T's Dangerous Merger Lies

2011-08-26T14:56:00.000-07:00

Color of Change urges members and the broader public to stop AT&T's lies that put Net Neutrality (open access to the Web) in danger. The post below is up at Jack and Jill Politics and Daily Kos. The most important action is to go to this link and sign the Color of Change petition against the merger between AT&T and T-Mobile.

What good will our free speech blogs be if the public has to pay an extra fee to access blogs, the way they pay a special fee to access ESPN and Disney on cable television? And how many of us will start and continue blogging if we have to pay an extra AT&T advertising fee to get our blogs posted on their Web?

Is the Web a free speech zone or is it a magazine/newspaper where others decide what gets published and where our communication with each other is something for which we have to pay extra fees, after what we say has been approved by the editors (censors)?

WilliamWinters at Color of Change says:

In June, thousands of ColorOfChange members spoke out against a proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, arguing that the deal is likely to destroy jobs, raise the price of cellular service, and threaten net neutrality for wireless high-speed Internet.

Now, there’s one more reason to oppose the merger — and AT&T gave it to us. The company has repeatedly claimed that merging with T-Mobile is the only way it would make good business sense to cover 97% of Americans with the latest mobile broadband technology.

But according to a letter filed by AT&T, the cost of building its 4G wireless system to the entire nation is $3.8 billion — a mere one tenth the cost of the $39 billion merger! And if the merger isn’t approved, AT&T will be obligated to pay T-Mobile a $3 billion fee, more than 75% of the cost of extending 4G coverage to 97% of Americans.

This new revelation makes clear that AT&T’s major public interest rationale for merging with T-Mobile amounts to nothing more than fuzzy math. But Democratic 76 members of Congress, led by North Carolina Rep. G.K. Butterfield, have signed a letter advancing AT&T’s false rationale.

In response, we’ve launched a campaign calling on these members to withdraw their support for the deal. Here’s the message we sent to ColorOfChange members on Wednesday. I hope you’ll consider signing the petition and spreading the word to your friends and family.

Dear friend,
There’s just one problem with AT&T’s claim that buying T-Mobile is the only way it would be able to give 97% of Americans access to its high-speed mobile network: it isn’t true, and a letter filed recently by AT&T proves it.¹
Seventy-six House Democrats wrote a public letter supporting the merger, largely based on the argument that purchasing T-Mobile was necessary in order for AT&T to expand its high-speed mobile Internet service to underserved communities.² We now know that argument is false.
If history is any guide, the other claim made in the letter for supporting the merger — that the merger would protect jobs — is false as well, and what’s most likely is that the reduction in competition that would result would raise the cost of wireless services for everybody and harm Internet freedom.³
Join us in demanding that these members of Congress publicly renounce their support for the merger. Together we can expose AT&T’s lies and make it impossible to justify approving this dangerous merger. It takes just a moment of your time:
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/attcongress
In June, Congressman G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina worked with Congressman Gene Green of Texas to organize Democratic support for AT&T’s merger with T-Mobile. The resulting letter to the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice — the two federal agencies responsible for approving or rejecting the acquisition — argues that the merger would benefit the public for two reasons: 1) it would enable AT&T to expand high-speed wireless Internet to low-income and rural customers, and 2) the required build-out would result in new jobs.⁴
Thanks to a letter filed by AT&T’s attorneys that contained confidential information, we now know with certainty that AT&T could easily upgrade its wireless networks without buying T-Mobile — it has simply chosen not to do so.
The letter pegs the price of covering 97% of Americans with advanced 4G LTE wireless service at $3.8 billion, less than one tenth the cost of the $39 billion merger.⁵
And as we’ve stated before, the merger is likely to be bad for consumers. The merger wouldn’t just allow AT&T to raise prices on its customers — every wireless carrier would be subject to fewer competitive pressures to keep prices low.⁶ If that happens, more poor people, Black Americans, and Latinos — who disproportionately rely on wireless broadband to access the Internet — would be subject to higher prices and undue economic hardship just to get online. There are also major implications for Internet freedom. Without competition from other wireless carriers or effective regulation by the FCC, AT&T and Verizon — net neutrality opponents who would together control nearly 80% of the wireless market — would have an unacceptable level of control over what we can and can’t access on the mobile web.⁷
The 76 members of Congress who signed Rep. Butterfield’s letter now have an opportunity to correct the record. With the letter’s rationale for supporting the merger undermined, these representatives should publicly walk back their support for the merger.
Please join us in calling on them to do exactly that. Your action won’t only protect consumers and the open Internet — together, we’ll make it more likely that members of Congress take pause before supporting corporate positions that could harm our communities.
http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/attcongress
Thanks and Peace,
– Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team

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Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU–your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don’t share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:
http://www.colorofchange.org/donate
References:
1. “Leaked AT&T Letter Demolishes Case For T-Mobile Merger Lawyer Accidentally Decimates AT&T’s #1 Talking Point,” DSLReports.com, 8-12-2011

http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Leaked-ATT-Letter-Demolishes-Case-For-TMobile-Merger-115652
2. “71 AT&T-Funded Democrats Endorse Merger,” The Bilerico Project, 6-28-2011

http://www.bilerico.com/2011/06/70_att-funded_democrats_endorse_attt-mobile_merger.php
3. “Free Press Anti-Trust Letter,” Free Press, 5-10-2011

http://www.freepress.net/files/Free_Press_May_2011_Antitrust_Letter_ATT_TMobile.pdf
4. See reference 2
5. AT&T Filing with Federal Communications Commission, 8-8-2011
http://www.dslreports.com/r0/download/1678331~018ee90413e657e412818181a5d840ff/DOC.pdf
6. “AT&T-T-Mobile merger will hurt wireless market, says Yankee Group”, Network World, 8-17-2011

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2011/081711-att-wireless-249823.html
7. “The net neutrality threat of the T-Mobile merger with AT&T,” The Guardian, 4-1-2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/01/net-neutrality-mobilephones
8. See Reference 4

--
William Winters
Campaign Manager
ColorOfChange.org
(o)510-875-2136 (c)337-335-8705
Twitter: @ColorOfChange

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/colorofchange

CoC Urges Letters to Congress re Net Neutrality

2011-08-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

From: Rashad Robinson, ColorOfChange.org

New information reveals that AT&T lied about the benefits of its proposed takeover of T-Mobile.

Tell members of Congress who backed the deal to publicly renounce their support in light of this new information:

Dear Atty,

There’s just one problem with AT&T’s claim that buying T-Mobile is the only way it would be able to give 97% of Americans access to its high-speed mobile network: it isn’t true, and a letter filed recently by AT&T proves it.¹

Seventy-six House Democrats wrote a public letter supporting the merger, largely based on the argument that purchasing T-Mobile was necessary in order for AT&T to expand its high-speed mobile Internet service to underserved communities.² We now know that argument is false.

If history is any guide, the other claim made in the letter for supporting the merger — that the merger would protect jobs — is false as well, and what's most likely is that the reduction in competition that would result would raise the cost of wireless services for everybody and harm Internet freedom.³

Join us in demanding that these members of Congress publicly renounce their support for the merger. Together we can expose AT&T's lies and make it impossible to justify approving this dangerous merger. It takes just a moment of your time:

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/attcongress

In June, Congressman G.K. Butterfield of South Carolina worked with Congressman Gene Green of Texas to organize Democratic support for AT&T's merger with T-Mobile. The resulting letter to the Federal Communications Commission and Department of Justice — the two federal agencies responsible for approving or rejecting the acquisition — argues that the merger would benefit the public for two reasons: 1) it would enable AT&T to expand high-speed wireless Internet to low-income and rural customers, and 2) the required build-out would result in new jobs.⁴

Thanks to a letter filed by AT&T's attorneys that contained confidential information, we now know with certainty that AT&T could easily upgrade its wireless networks without buying T-Mobile — it has simply chosen not to do so.

The letter pegs the price of covering 97% of Americans with advanced 4G LTE wireless service at $3.8 billion, less than one tenth the cost of the $39 billion merger.⁵

And as we've stated before, the merger is likely to be bad for consumers. The merger wouldn't just allow AT&T to raise prices on its customers — every wireless carrier would be subject to fewer competitive pressures to keep prices low.⁶ If that happens, more poor people, Black Americans, and Latinos — who disproportionately rely on wireless broadband to access the Internet — would be subject to higher prices and undue economic hardship just to get online. There are also major implications for Internet freedom. Without competition from other wireless carriers or effective regulation by the FCC, AT&T and Verizon — net neutrality opponents who would together control nearly 80% of the wireless market — would have an unacceptable level of control over what we can and can't access on the mobile web.⁷

The 76 members of Congress who signed Rep. Butterfield's letter now have an opportunity to correct the record. With the letter's rationale for supporting the merger undermined, these representatives should publicly walk back their support for the merger.

Please join us in calling on them to do exactly that. Your action won't only protect consumers and the open Internet — together, we'll make it more likely that members of Congress take pause before supporting corporate positions that could harm our communities.

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/attcongress

Thanks and Peace,

-- Rashad, James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
August 24th, 2011

Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU--your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:

http://www.colorofchange.org/donate

References:

1. "Leaked AT&T Letter Demolishes Case For T-Mobile Merger Lawyer Accidentally Decimates AT&T's #1 Talking Point," DSLReports.com, 8-12-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/938?akid=2129.202094._44dJD&t=7

2. "71 AT&T-Funded Democrats Endorse Merger," The Bilerico Project, 6-28-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/940?akid=2129.202094._44dJD&t=9

3. "Free Press Anti-Trust Letter," Free Press, 5-10-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/939?akid=2129.202094._44dJD&t=11

4. See reference 2

5. AT&T Filing with Federal Communications Commission, 8-8-2011 http://act.colorofchange.org/go/941?akid=2129.202094._44dJD&t=13

6. "AT&T-T-Mobile merger will hurt wireless market, says Yankee Group", Network World, 8-17-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/942?akid=2129.202094._44dJD&t=15

7. "The net neutrality threat of the T-Mobile merger with AT&T," The Guardian, 4-1-2011
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/943?akid=2129.202094._44dJD&t=17

8. See Reference 4

Help CoC Effort to stop forced confessions and wrongful convictions

2011-08-09T18:11:00.000-07:00

The following is copied verbatim from an action e-mail that Color of Change has sent to its members.

‪Recent DNA testing has proven the innocence of 10 men from Cook County, Illinois who were forced to confess as children to crimes they didn't commit. Some of them have been imprisoned for nearly 20 years. Despite the overwhelming genetic evidence, which has linked the crime to the real killers, State officials have refused to recognize their innocence.‬

‪Please join us in demanding that State's Attorney Anita Alvarez immediately agree to vacate the convictions of these men, now grown.‬

-----

Below is the petition we'll send to Attorney Alvarez on your behalf:

Dear State's Attorney Anita Alvarez,

I was troubled to learn that despite DNA results proving that all of the teenagers arrested for murders in the Dixmoor and Englewood, Cook County cases are innocent, your office has not corrected these injustices by agreeing to overturn the convictions of these men--some who have been wrongfully incarcerated for nearly 20 years.

As you know, not a trace of physical evidence connects any of these men to the respective crimes. The only evidence against the teenagers is the confessions extracted by police--confessions which have now been proven false. Sadly, coerced false confessions play a part in almost a quarter of all wrongful convictions and teenagers are particularly susceptible to falsely incriminating themselves during questioning from police.

Your office has the opportunity to ensure a speedy release for these wrongfully convicted Cook County residents. I expect that you will act on your moral and legal obligation to do what's right and what's within your authority to correct these injustices.

I urge you to immediately agree to overturn the convictions of these now-grown men, allowing them to proceed with the rest of their lives.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

CoC: Stop Georgia Execution of Troy Davis

2011-04-22T17:40:00.000-07:00

This is an emergency announcement from
Color of Change:

Dear Atty,

In 1991, Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a white police officer. Though there's major evidence that Davis didn't commit the crime, Georgia is prepared to put him to death. We have a good chance of stopping this -- but only if we speak up now.

The fact is, no physical evidence connected Davis to the murder. Seven of the original nine witnesses have recanted, with many saying their testimony was a result of law enforcement pressure. Of the remaining witnesses, one is highly suspect and the other could be the actual culprit in the officer's murder.

Now, despite these and other facts, the state of Georgia has taken the first steps toward Davis' execution -- and only the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole stands between Davis and the lethal injection chamber.

Georgia may be about to kill an innocent man. That's not justice. Please ask the Georgia Parole Board to spare Troy Davis' life, before it's too late -- and it's critical that you ask others to do the same:

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/troy/

Since Troy Davis' 1991 conviction, numerous facts have emerged that introduce significant doubt as to his guilt. These facts include:

All but two of the original witnesses against Troy Davis have signed affidavits recanting their earlier testimony. Most claim that their testimony was coerced by police officers.¹
Multiple witnesses say that another man -- one of the original witnesses against Davis -- has claimed to have slain the fallen officer.²
The weapon used in the murder was never found. The only physical evidence connecting Davis to the crime was indirect, circumstantial -- and new testimony disputes Davis's connection to that evidence.³

In light of this evidence, the Supreme Court granted Davis another chance. But instead of an actual new trial before a jury, which would mean the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt is on the prosecutor, he got an evidentiary hearing before a single federal judge where Davis' lawyers had the burden to meet an impossibly high and undefined legal standard.

In light of this, it was sad -- but no surprise -- when the judge rejected the new evidence and cleared the way for Davis' execution. However, even he acknowledged lingering doubt, noting that the case against Davis was not "ironclad."

But "ironclad" is exactly what the evidence should be in order to put someone to death. If the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole doesn't act to stop Davis' execution, they'll run a serious risk of putting an innocent man to death. That is not acceptable.

Please join us, along with our partners at Amnesty International and the NAACP, in asking the Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole to save Troy Davis' life by commuting his sentence to life in prison. And when you do, please ask your friends and family to do the same.

http://act.colorofchange.org/sign/troy/

Thanks and Peace,

-- James, Gabriel, William, Dani, Matt, Natasha and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
April 20th, 2011

http://www.colorofchange.org/donate

References:

1. “Troy Davis – Finality over Fairness,” Amnesty International USA
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/808?akid=1957.202094.Tk29Fw&t=7

2. See Reference 1

3. See Reference 1

Sup. Ct. Justice Sotomayor Criticizes Majority Ruling Undermining Miranda Rights

2010-06-04T08:32:00.000-07:00

The US Supreme Court majority, in WARDEN v. THOMPKINS, decided June 1, 2010, has effectively withdrawn much of the protection that Miranda once provided, by requiring a "clear statement" of an arrested person of his his/her decision to remain silent, before police must stop questioning a suspect.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a strongly dissenting defense of the system that has been in place for two generations, denouncing the Supreme Court majority's new requirement that a suspect must clearly say that he will not say anything, in order to invoke his right to remain silent. Justice Sotomayor criticized the US Supreme Courts June 1 WARDEN v. THOMPKINS decision, saying:

Today’s decision turns Miranda upside down. Criminal suspects must now unambiguously invoke their right to remain silent—which, counterintuitively, requires them to speak. At the same time, suspects will be legally presumed to have waived their rights even if they have given no clear expression of their intent to do so. Those results, in my view, find no basis in Miranda or our subsequent cases and are inconsistent with the fair-trial principles on which those precedents are grounded. Today’s broad new rules are all the more unfortunate because they are unnecessary to the disposition of the case before us. I respectfully dissent. WARDEN v. THOMPKINS

I personally hope this case indicates that Justice Sotomayor (soon to be joined by Justice Kagan on the Court) will defend the rights of public when faced by often brutal, atrocious and coercive police officers.

Rand Paul Motivated by PA Swim Club Case

2010-05-24T00:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Colleagues:

Please support Color of Change's initiative.

The high-profile Huntingdon Valley, whites-only Pennsylvania, swimming club case, in which whites lost their club to bankruptcy after discriminating against Black children, is the news that has color-aroused Republicans like Rand Paul animated and eager to repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The result in the swimming pool case has reminded color-aroused white antagonists of just how much they resent having to serve Blacks and eat next to us. Now Fox News is using this issue to drive up ratings while color-arousing the electorate.

They don't want to live in fear that they will discriminate against us and then be forced to pay financially for it while Blacks cheer that our rights have been vindicated. That is what is animating them.

Rand was/is saying that he doesn't agree with the result in the swimming pool case and he believes the public accommodations part of the 1964 Civil Rights Act should be repealed. The 29% of America that supported George W. Bush to the very end are probably among those who agree with Rand. It is they whom Rand and Fox News are trying to mobilize for election turnout this November and in 2012, when the Black President's name will be on the ballot.

It's like Hillary Clinton in South Carolina. Republicans first and last choice of weapons against us is the color of our skin.

Francis L. Holland

Tell Fox News, "Stop Supporting 'White's Only' Restaurants and Swimming Pools"

2010-05-24T00:10:00.000-07:00

"On Wednesday [´May 16] Rand Paul, the GOP’s US Senate candidate for Kentucky repeated his claim that a central piece of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was wrong, and that businesses should be free to discriminate against whomever they please.^{1 "}

John Stossel, a Fox News contributor and business anchor, said Thursday that a central piece of the Civil Rights Act should be repealed — the part that says businesses that serve the public can't discriminate on the basis of race. The Klu Klux Klan is back, but instead of white hoods and burning crosses, they're running for Senator from Kentucky and hosting talk shows on Fox News.

Before these Republican lunatics advocate that we backtrack on the civil rights gains of the last hundred and fifty years, they ought to remember that we fought the Civil War over these issues and the side espousing greater equality won.

Color of Change is advocating that we send the following letter below (or a letter of our own) to Rupert Murdoch, the owner of Fox News.

(Parenthetically, Rupert Murdoch who also supported Hillary Clinton as she was running toward the presidency. At the time, CBS news online reported:

The mating ritual of the unlikely allies has been under way for months. Clinton set political tongues to wagging last month by attending a Washington party celebrating the 10th anniversary of Fox News, the cable news channel owned by Murdoch.

Particularly given the recent news, I'm glad we were able to elect a Democratic Party President without making love to Rupert Murdoch.)

Meanwhile, let's participate in the effort of Color of Change by visiting this website and automatedly sending the letter below.

Dear Rupert Murdoch,

I am calling on you to fire Fox Business anchor and Fox News contributor John Stossel. His use of your platform to call for the repeal of key parts of the Civil Rights Act are an insult to Black America and to all Americans who understand the history of racism in this country and have fought for racial progress.

Stossel's remarks fit into a troubling pattern of Fox News personalities spreading misinformation about the state of race in America, and the history of racism in this country. And it follows repeated instances of personalities disparaging Black history, leaders and institutions.

Mr. Murdoch, it's time for you to take responsibility and show America that your media company has no place for the values Mr. Stossel espouses, and show definitive, tangible commitment to reining in the proliferation of ignorance and hate on your network.

Firing John Stossel would be an important first step.

Sincerely,

I can't believe the Republicans are going to run a campaign in 2010 and 2012 based on a return to Jim Crow businesses practices. They're simply organizing to get the "I hate Blacks" vote out this November and again in 2012, to replace President Obama with someone who hates Blacks, will insult us and work to undo what progress we've made over the last 50 years.

Day of Blogging for Scott Sisters 2

2010-03-25T10:58:00.000-07:00

For the second Thursday in a row the Committee to Free the Scott Sisters, and the Afrosphere Action Coalition are leading a push to bring more attention to the plight of the Scott Sisters.

My post for today: http://bit.ly/9Bnnv6

The Committee to Free the Scott Sisters press release below:

PLEASE PARTICIPATE AND SPREAD THE WORD!
3/25 DAY OF BLOGGING FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS

Thanks to the many excellent bloggers who participated in our
initial Day of Blogging for the Scott Sisters on 3/18!! The notices
didn't reach everyone in a timely manner and so we are happy to
announce a new date for bloggers to unite around this case
of Mississippi injustice and particularly to intervene in the
prison's medical malpractice being suffered by Jamie Scott!

In early January both of Jamie Scott's kidneys shut down and
she has been swiftly declining due to unprofessional medical
care that is inadequate, cut-rate and frighteningly inept. Jamie
was rushed to the hospital last week due to severe infection
and the need for prolonged medical attention. However,
Jamie continues to require ongoing close monitoring as when
she is returned to the prison it is well documented that the
medical staff there has provided abysmal health care in filthy
conditions that have put Jamie's life at risk far too many times
to be acceptable. Jamie needs to be released from prison,
period!

We ask that bloggers put out calls for students, clubs,
churches/temples/mosques, organizations, creative artists,
media, politicians, community leaders, journalists, etc. to
become aware of the case of the Scott Sisters and to make
certain that all of their contacts are informed, as well. There is
something that each person can do and we need to get Jamie
home while she still has time to be with her family!

Thanks to all who will participate in this and help to raise the call to
FREE THE SCOTT SISTERS throughout the blogosphere 3/25
and beyond! In the spirit of International Women's Month,
please support our women! Please send notification of any
blog postings to nattyreb@gmail.com!
----------------------

In conjunction with: http://www.blackperspective.net

For Immediate Release
Afrosphere Action Coalition – March 22, 2010
Contact: Marpessa Kupendua of the Committee to Free the Scott Sisters at nattyreb@gmail.com

Wrongly Convicted In Dire Health Situation
3/25 DAY OF BLOGGING FOR THE SCOTT SISTERS

On 12/24/93, the Scott County Sheriff’s Department arrested Jamie and Gladys Scott for armed robbery even though three young males, ranging from ages 14 to 18, confessed to committing the crime and the women have unwaveringly maintained their complete innocence. Despite this, the corrupt Mississippi sheriff used coercion, threats, and harassment to compel the young men to turn state’s evidence against the Scott Sisters due to a long-standing vendetta against a family member. In 10/94 the Scott Sisters were sentenced to extraordinary double-life terms each, despite the facts that no one was harmed, neither sister had prior convictions, no weapon was ever recovered, and the amount alleged to have been taken was approximately $11.00. Even if they were guilty as charged, this sentence is completely outrageous and cruel.

Jamie Scott, who entered the prison system as a healthy young woman, is now suffering from complete kidney failure and other life-threatening medical conditions. Since January, 2010 Jamie has endured almost weekly severe health setbacks that the state has either outright refused to address or handled in a slipshod manner. Jamie has had weeks of serious infections that could have taken her life, has gone into shock, been given sporadic dialysis treatments, and suffered the state's refusal to provide her with adequate nutrition as required for her serious medical condition.

The Scott Sisters are now in their 16th year of incarceration and their five children and grandchildren are being raised by their now ailing mother. The defendants and their family are wholly dependent on support from the press, organizations, and all those dedicated to justice in making this debacle as public as possible. The lengthy incarceration of these women to date and their draconian sentences are completely shocking and must be challenged, enough is enough!

Mrs. Rasco and Afrosphere Bloggers are calling on the public to press the governor's office to pardon the Scott Sisters and release them, particularly Jamie who needs to be at home with her family during her very serious illness. Please ask that the media and politicians do an investigative inquiry about this tragic situation and the outrageous case of the wrongfully convicted Scott Sisters!

CONTACT GOV. BARBOUR’S OFFICE
P.O. Box 139
Jackson, Mississippi 39205
1-877-405-0733 or 601-359-3150
Fax: 601-359-3741
(If you reach VM leave msgs, faxes, and please send letters)

Congressman Bennie Thompson
3607 Medgar Evers Blvd.
Jackson, MS 39213
601-946-9003(ph)
601-982-5337 (fx)
Benniethompson@mail.house.gov

Congressman John Conyers
2426 Rayburn H.O.B.
Washington, DC 20515
Ph: 202-225-5126
Fax: 202-225-0072
---
For Complete Information - Free the Scott Sisters: http://www.freethescottsisters.blogspot.com
Compassionate Release Petition: http://www.scribd.com/doc/26252282/COMPASSIONATE-RELEASE-FOR-JAMIE-SCOTT
Free the Scott Sisters Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/Free-Jamie-Gladys/index.html
Legal Transcripts: http://www.scribd.com/Scott%20Sisters

Color of Change Asks Why Some Black "Leaders" Oppose Net Neutrality

2010-01-28T19:41:00.000-08:00

I've received the communication below from Color of Change, wondering why so many minority groups have lined up against Net Neutrality. There is a link to the groups that signed a letter opposing Net Neutrality, but the only group name on the list that I recognize is the NAACP.

I suspect that the opponents of Net Neutrality have set up a list of astroturf fake minority groups, because I'm not familiar with ANY of the supposed minority groups on the list. And the groups I am familiar with do not have their names on the list, with the exception of one signature from the NAACP. The opponents of Net Neutrality apparently hope that the public and Congress will see words like "Latino" and believe that Latinos oppose Net Neutrality, when in fact the group was created by the Neutrality opponents exclusively for the purpose using the group name against Net Neutrality.

A little bit of research into the groups on the list will tell whether there are any cases in which this was true. In any case, I don't see on this list the names of any REAL groups that I would recognize as legitimate groups representing these minorities. I could be wrong. Look at the LIST. If any of these groups are real, then they need to be challenged by their constituents.

"[S]everal Congressional Black Caucus members were among 72 Democrats to write the FCC last fall questioning the need for Net Neutrality rules"? Each of them should explain their position, so we can evaluate the effect their stand should have on their political futures.

"We [Color of Change] just posted this at JackandJillPolitics, Daily Kos, HuffPo, FireDogLake, and OpenLeft."

From: William Winters
ColorOfChange.org

Why Are Some Civil Rights Groups & Leaders On the Wrong Side of Net Neutrality?

It’s said that politics creates strange bedfellows. I was reminded how true this can be when I traveled to D.C. in recent weeks to figure out why several advocacy groups and legislators with histories of advocating for minority interests are lining up with big telecom companies in opposition to the FCC’s efforts to pass “Net Neutrality” rules.

Net Neutrality is the principle that prevents Internet Service Providers from controlling what kind of content or applications you can access online. It sounds wonky, but for Black and other communities, an open Internet offers a transformative opportunity to truly control our own voice and image, while reaching the largest number of people possible. This dynamic is one major reason why Barack Obama was elected president and why organizations like ColorOfChange.org exist.

So I was troubled to learn that several Congressional Black Caucus members were among 72 Democrats to write the FCC last fall questioning the need for Net Neutrality rules. I was further troubled that a number of our nation’s leading civil rights groups had also taken positions questioning or against Net Neutrality, using arguments that were in step with those of the big phone and cable companies like AT&T and Comcast, which are determined to water down any new FCC rules.

Most unsettling about their position is the argument that maintaining Net Neutrality could widen the digital divide.

First, let’s be clear: the problem of the broadband digital divide is real. Already, getting a job, accessing services, managing one’s medical care—just to mention a few examples—are all facilitated online. Those who aren’t connected face a huge disadvantage in so many aspects of our society. Broadband access is a big problem — but that doesn’t mean it has anything to do with Net Neutrality.

Yet some in the civil rights community will tell you differently. They claim that if broadband providers can earn greater profits by charging content providers for access to the Internet “fast lane,” then they will lower prices to underserved areas. In other words, if Comcast — which already earns 80 percent profit margins on its broadband services — can increase its profits under a system without Net Neutrality, then they’ll all of a sudden invest in our communities. You don’t have to be a historian or economist to know that this type of trickle-down economics never works and has always failed communities of color.

Whether the phone and cable companies can make more money by acting as toll-takers on the Internet has nothing to do with whether they will invest in increased deployment of broadband. If these companies think investing in low-income communities makes good business sense, they will make the investment. Benevolence doesn’t factor into the equation.

On my trips to Washington, I met with some of the groups and congressional offices questioning or opposing Net Neutrality. I asked them what evidence they had to back up claims that undermining Net Neutrality would lead to an expansion of broadband to under-served communities, or that preserving Net Neutrality would thwart expansion. Not one could answer my question. Some CBC members hadn’t yet been presented with a counter to the industry’s arguments; others told stories about pressure from telecom companies or from other members of congress. As one CBC staffer told me, many CBC members have willingly supported the business agenda of telecom companies because the industry can be counted on to make campaign contributions, and they face no political backlash.

I also heard from people who don’t consider themselves against Net Neutrality, but who say their issue is prioritizing broadband expansion over maintaining Net Neutrality—as if the two have some intrinsic competitive relationship. When I’ve asked about the relationship, again, no one could provide anything concrete.

To those taking positions against Net Neutrality, I ask what sense it makes to undermine the very power of the Internet, especially for our communities, in order to provide access to everyone, presuming for a second the two were even connected. It’s like what we have with cable — our communities are saturated with programming that they cannot control, with no benefit of empowerment for anyone. Again, no one with whom I talked had an answer to this point.

Thankfully, there are an array of grassroots, media and social justice organizations that have not followed this line of reasoning and are actively supporting Network Neutrality, such as the Center for Media Justice and the Applied Research Center. Black and brown journalists and media groups who understand the need for unconstrained expression on the part of our communities are on the same page as well: the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, UNITY: Journalists of Color, the National Association of Latino Independent Producers, the National Association of Black Journalists, and the National Hispanic Media Coalition have all been vocal supporters of Net Neutrality.

Prominent lawmakers, including CBC members Reps. John Conyers, Maxine Waters, and Donna Edwards are vocal supporters, as are House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama — who has pledged to “take a back seat to no one” on the issue. And last week, Mignon Clyburn, a commissioner at the FCC, called out advocacy groups entrusted by many to represent our communities, for making half-baked arguments that completely miss the boat on the importance of Net Neutrality to our communities.

As Clyburn pointed out, far from being just a concern of the digital elite, Net Neutrality is essential to what makes the Internet a place where people of color and marginalized communities can speak for ourselves without first asking for permission from gatekeepers, and where small blogs, businesses, and organizations operate on a level playing field with the largest corporations. Net Neutrality regulations are needed to protect the status quo, because the telecom industry sees an opportunity for profit in fundamentally altering this basic aspect of the Internet.

In the coming weeks I plan to head back to DC to continue to fight for Net Neutrality. I’m hoping that on my next trip some of the anti-Net Neutrality civil rights groups or CBC members will heed my call and explain their position. I would like to believe that there is more to the “civil rights” opposition to Net Neutrality than money, politics, relationships, or just plain lack of understanding. For now, I’m doing my best to keep an open mind. But I don’t think it will stay that way for much longer.

Widget: New 'Miranda Rights' Against Taser Abuse

2010-01-02T18:41:00.000-08:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals
Restricts Police "Taser" Use

January 3, 2010

Contact: Atty. Francis L. Holland
Afrosphere Blogger
http://Electrocuted-While-Black.blogspot.com
http://Police-Brutality-Blog.blogspot.com
Rua dos Cajueiros, 165, Apt. 14
Centro - Porto Seguro
Bahia, Brazil 45810-000
Mobile Phone: 55 (73) 9123-4538
Skype: fazinformatica2005

Dear Afrosphere Opponents of Police
"Taser" Pre-trial, Extra-Judicial Shock,
Electrocution and Execution:

"These are new 'Miranda Rights' against 'taser' abuse,"
said Atty. Francis L. Holland."

There's been a ground-breaking decision by the 9th Circuit US Federal Court of Appeals against taser abuse, entitled Bryan v. McPherson. This decision was announced on December 29th, between Christmas and New Years holidays but it deserves our immediate attention and dissemination via our EasyWidgets:

The decision writes into federal caselaw many of the arguments and advocacy that we afrosphere bloggers have been making at our Days (months and years) of Blogging for Justice Against Police Pre-Trial, Extra-Judicial "Taser" Shock, Electrocution and Execution devices. The Easy-Widget HTML code below enables us to educate the public of their newly announced rights.

Tasered While Black Opposes Taser Torturegreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

The 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals agreed with us that:

". . . we must “balance the amount of force applied against the need for that force.” Bryan v. McPherson, 9th Cir. Fd. Ct. App., December 29, 2009.

This decision has direct legal effect throughout the 9th Circuit, consisting of populous California, Alaska, Washington, Montana, Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Hawaii and Guam, and influential in other parts of the country. Nearly 20% of America's population is within the jurisdiction of the 9th Circuit.

The Court announced what we have long insisted:

"A reasonable police officer . . . would have foreseen these physical injuries when confronting a shirtless individual standing on asphalt. We have held that force can be unreasonable even without physical blows or injuries." Bryan v. McPherson

We have widgets up at 123 afrosphere blogs telling the public that when "Tasers" are used, "The price is too high". Now, one of the most influential federal circuit courts of appeal in the country agrees with us that members of the public are seriously injured by Tasers unconstitutionally:

"The presence of non-minor physical injuries like those suffered by Bryan, however, is certainly relevant in evaluating the degree of the Fourth Amendment intrusion." Bryan v. McPherson

Let's celebrate! Here's a new EasyWidget that takes readers to our anti-electrocution blogs. This Easy-Widget HTML (immediately below) links to Electrocuted While Black, but there are visibly identical widgets below that lead to Tasered While Black and the Police Brutality Blog.

The result is better than that for which many of us had hoped. Instead of arguing locally for changes to voluntarily enforced police taser policy, Bryan's lawyers in this case, and bloggers making similar arguments, convinced the 9th Circuit Federal Appeals Court to write these requirements and limitations into Federal caselaw, which is faster, better and politically more acceptable than having these judicial restrictions enacted into law in a summary fashion by the US Congress. This decision requires that the facts of each case be weighed carefully, with Constitutional protections of the public in mind.

Afrosphere bloggers and the Ninth Circuit encourage other circuits to follow this example, observing that:

"We, along with our sister circuits, have held that tasers and stun guns fall into the category of non-lethal force. Non-lethal, however, is not synonymous with non-excessive; all force—lethal and non-lethal—must be justified by the need for the specific level of force employed." Bryan v. McPherson

Not everyone -- blogger or reader -- has had a chance to read the whole Bryan v. McPherson case. So, the Easy-Widget quotes the most powerful language of the decision and links to our afrosphere blogs for more information.

In Bryan v. McPherson, the 9th Circuit Federal Appeals Court basically wrote into federal caselaw many of the arguments that we taser opponents have been arguing. But this is better than what many of us had sought, because instead of it being a change in local optionally enforced "guidelines," it's a change in obligatorily obeyed federal case law for the states in the 9th Circuit, and also, as the decision alludes, the 9th Circuit has enormous influence on other "sister" circuits courts.

Please join Electrocuted While Black in celebrating this decision by posting a widget that tells readers their rights and takes them to a blog where they can learn more, be it Electrocuted While Black or the Police Brutality Blog. Installation of the Easy-Widget below is a quick and easy way to quote some of the best parts of the case for your readers.

References:

http://stoptasertorture.blogspot.com/2009/12/landmark-taser-torture-court-ruling-in.html

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/81381.html

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2009/12/28/08-55622.pdf

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Day+of+Blogging+for+Justice%22+taser&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22Tasered+While+Black%22&btnG=Search&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

http://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/content/view.php?pk_id=0000000135

http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/stop-the-electrocutions-and-executions-175px

http://police-brutality-blog.blogspot.com/2009/12/important-taser-case-is-must-read-for.html

http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2009/12/important-taser-case-is-must-read-for.html

Dec. 4 is Blogging Against "Taser" Electrocution Day

2009-11-03T10:12:00.000-08:00

On December 4, 2009, hundreds of bloggers from the USA, Brazil and Europe will be blogging simultaneously about the increase in electrocution deaths at the hands of US police departments armed with "Taser" brand name massive shock devices.

The Electronic Village blog has composed and posted a list of the names, ages and skin color/national origins of 45 electrocution victims from across the United States, and these names are being republished at blogs from across America, like the Vietnam Wall in Washington, DC graphically recalls the cost of the war in human lives.

AfroSpear and afrosphere participants are also circulating an online petition calling for Congressional hearings into the increasing number of "Taser" electrocution deaths, and into video evidence that "Tasers" are being used as torture devices and devices of summary extra-judicial executions.

What has not been clarified is whether the blogging community will call upon its readers to engage in additional action whose purpose is to end "Taser torture". For example, the favorable outcome in the Jena Six case came not merely from blogging and reading about the Jena Six, but also from a march that mobilized as many as 30,000 people and captured media attention worldwide, focused on an inexplicably anachronistic "white tree" and nooses at a public Louisiana high school.

The Bloggers Against "Taser" Electrocution action effectively poses the question, "What will be the functional equivalent of the Jena Six march in protest of the 45 electrocution deaths in the United States since the beginning of the year?" Bloggers know as a matter of historical fact that they were effective in the Jena Six action, in conjunction with Color of Change and the Chicago Tribune, by informing the public and calling the public to action, while the action of a much broader outraged and disgusted public, including Black students from universities throughout America, really brought justice for the Jena Six, in conjunction with Color of Change's very effective legal resources fundraising.

So the December 4 Bloggers Against Taser Electrocution action of writing and informing about Taser torture is not and end in itself, but a catalyst for the type of national mobilization needed to exercise political pressure.

Below are the names of those electrocuted (killed by electric force) by police this year without the benefit of trial or judicial process:

Electronic Village

"has documented 45 taser-related deaths in the United States since the beginning of the year:
Jan 9, 2009: Derrick Jones, 17, Black, Martinsville, Virginia

Jan 11, 2009: Rodolfo Lepe, 31, Hispanic, Bakersfield, California

Jan 22, 2009: Roger Redden, 52, Caucasian, Soddy Daisy, Tennessee

Feb 2, 2009: Garrett Jones, 45, Caucasian, Stockton, California

Feb 11, 2009: Richard Lua, 28, Hispanic, San Jose, California

Feb 13, 2009: Rudolph Byrd, 37, Black, Thomasville, Georgia

Feb 13, 2009: Michael Jones, 43, Black, Iberia, Louisiana

Feb 14, 2009: Chenard Kierre Winfield, 32, Black, Los Angeles, California

Feb 28, 2009: Robert Lee Welch, 40, Caucasian, Conroe, Texas

Mar 22, 2009: Brett Elder, 15, Caucasian, Bay City, Michigan

Mar 26, 2009: Marcus D. Moore, 40, Black, Freeport, Illinois

Apr 1, 2009: John J. Meier Jr., 48, Caucasian, Tamarac, Florida

Apr 6, 2009: Ricardo Varela, 41, Hispanic, Fresno, California

Apr 10, 2009: Robert Mitchell, 16, Black, Detroit, Michigan

Apr 13, 2009: Craig Prescott, 38, Black, Modesto, California

Apr 16, 2009: Gary A. Decker, 50, Black, Tuscon, Arizona

Apr 18, 2009: Michael Jacobs Jr., 24, Black, Fort Worth, Texas

Apr 30, 2009: Kevin LaDay, 35, Black, Lumberton, Texas

May 4, 2009: Gilbert Tafoya, 53, Caucasian, Holbrook, Arizona

May 17, 2009: Jamaal Valentine, 27, Black, La Marque, Texas

May 23, 2009: Gregory Rold, 37, Black, Salem, Oregon

Jun 9, 2009: Brian Cardall, 32, Caucasian, Hurricane, Utah

Jun 13, 2009: Dwight Madison, 48, Black, Bel Air, Maryland

Jun 20, 2009 Derrek Kairney, 36, [skin color, natl. origin]: Unknown, South Windsor, Connecticut

Jun 30, 2009, Shawn Iinuma, 37, [skin color, natl. origin]: Unknown, Fontana, California

Jul 2, 2009, Rory McKenzie, 25, Black, Bakersfield, California

Jul 20, 2009, Charles Anthony Torrence, 35, Caucasion, Simi Valley, California

Jul 30, 2009, Johnathan Michael Nelson, 27, Caucasion, Riverside County, California

Aug 9, 2009, Terrace Clifton Smith, 52, Race: Unknown, Moreno Valley, California

Aug 12, 2009, Ernest Ridlehuber, 53, [skin color, natl. origin]: Unknown, Greenville, South Carolina

Aug 14, 2009, Hakim Jackson, 31, Black, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Aug 18, 2009, Ronald Eugene Cobbs, 38, Black, Greensboro, North Carolina

Aug 20, 2009, Francisco Sesate, 36, Hispanic, Mesa, Arizona

Aug 22, 2009, T.J. Nance, 37, Race: Unknown, Arizona City, Arizona

Aug 26, 2009, Miguel Molina, 27, Hispanic, Los Angeles, California

Aug 27, 2009, Manuel Dante Dent, 27, Hispanic, Modesto, California

Sep 3, 2009, Shane Ledbetter, 38, Caucasian, Aurora, Colorado

Sep 16, 2009, Alton Warren Ham, 45, Caucasian, Modesto, California

Sep 19, 2009, Yuceff W. Young II, 21, Black, Brooklyn, Ohio

Sep 21, 2009, Richard Battistata, 44, Hispanic, Laredo, Texas

Sep 28, 2009, Derrick Humbert, 38, Black, Bradenton, Florida

Oct 2, 2009, Rickey Massey, 38, Black, Panama City, Florida

Oct 12, 2009, Christopher John Belknap, 36, Race: Unknown, Ukiah, California

Oct 16, 2009, Frank Cleo Sutphin, 19, [skin color, natl. origin]: Unknown, San Bernadino, California

Oct 27, 2009, Jeffrey Woodward, 33, [skin color, natl. origin]: Unknown, Gallatin, Tennessee

I think it is worth noting that 42% of these taser-torture killings occurred against Afri can American men. We make up about 6% of the total population, yet 42% of the taser-related deaths in America this year are Black men.

However, nothing seems to be able to stop the continued taser-related killings. I remain convinced that the 'Use of Force Continuum' needs to show tasers as 'near-lethal' ... definitely an error to claim that they are 'non-lethal'.

Something is wrong. Join us in asking for congressional hearings on taser torture."

I personally do not understand why Electronic Village prepares a list of 45 electrocution deaths and then says that "Tasers" should be classified as "near lethal". The Merriam Webster online dictionary defines lethal as "capable of producing death." If Tasers were not "capable of producing death", they would not have produced the 45 deaths documented by Electronic Village. I also question whether attacking the semantics of police guidelines that police obviously are not following anyway will be a successful strategy for attacking pre-trial, extra-judicial electrocutions and executions.

Torture devices do not need to be reclassified; they need to be banned and eradicated.

Since tasers have produced the death of 45 people in ten months, the devices are not merely "near-lethal", which would mean "almost" capable of producing death. They are in fact, and without meaningful dispute, "capable of producing death," and therefore they are "lethal" by definition, and not merely "near lethal".

Electrocution Deaths Increasing as "Taser" Use Becomes Widespread

2009-11-03T09:53:00.000-08:00

I have copied the article below virtually verbatim from Pandagon, except I oppose the use of the term "race" unknown and have replaced it with "[skin color, natl. origin]" It has been proved as a matter of scientific fact that "race" does not exist, and so I'm not going to perpetuate the use of this divisive and confusing concept when other clearer and scientifically valid concepts are available, such as "skin color" "skin color group" and "national origin."

• Crime • Personal Security

I point you over to Electronic Village, where Villager is keeping track of some sobering stats—the number of deaths due to the misuse or abuse of the Taser. We're up to 36 deaths this year, with 39% of the pre-trial, extra-judicial electrocutions and executions were perpetrated against black men, who represent only 6% of the population in the U.S.

Jan 9, 2009: Derrick Jones, 17, Black, Martinsville, Virginia
Jan 11, 2009: Rodolfo Lepe, 31, Hispanic, Bakersfield, California
Jan 22, 2009: Roger Redden, 52, Caucasian, Soddy Daisy, Tennessee
Feb 2, 2009: Garrett Jones, 45, Caucasian, Stockton, California
Feb 11, 2009: Richard Lua, 28, Hispanic, San Jose, California
Feb 13, 2009: Rudolph Byrd, Age ?, [skin color, natl. origin] Unknown, Quincy, Florida
Feb 13, 2009: Michael Jones, 43, Black, Iberia, Louisiana
Feb 14, 2009: Chenard Kierre Winfield, 32, Black, Los Angeles, California
Feb 28, 2009: Robert Lee Welch, 40, Caucasian, Conroe, Texas
Mar 22, 2009: Brett Elder, 15, Caucasian, Bay City, Michigan
Mar 26, 2009: Marcus D. Moore, 40, Black, Freeport, Illinois
Apr 1, 2009: John J. Meier Jr., 48, Caucasian, Tamarac, Florida
Apr 6, 2009: Ricardo Varela, 41, Hispanic, Fresno, California
Apr 10, 2009: Robert Mitchell, 16, Black, Detroit, Michigan
Apr 16, 2009: Gary A. Decker, 50, Black, Tuscon, Arizona
Apr 18, 2009: Michael Jacobs Jr., 24, Black, Fort Worth, Texas
Apr 30, 2009: Kevin LaDay, 35, Black, Lumberton, Texas
May 4, 2009: Gilbert Tafoya, 53, Caucasian, Holbrook, Arizona
May 17, 2009: Jamaal Valentine, 27, Black, La Marque, Texas

May 23, 2009: Gregory Rold, 37, Black, Salem, Oregon
Jun 9, 2009: Brian Cardall, 32, Caucasian, Hurricane, Utah
Jun 13, 2009: Dwight Madison, 48, Black, Bel Air, Maryland
Jun 20, 2009 Derrek Kairney, 36, Race: Unknown, South Windsor, Connecticut
Jun 30, 2009, Shawn Iinuma, 37, Race: Unknown, Fontana, California
Jul 2, 2009, Rory McKenzie, 25, Black, Bakersfield, California
Jul 20, 2009, Charles Anthony Torrence, 35, Caucasian, Simi Valley, California
Jul 30, 2009, Johnathan Michael Nelson, 27, Caucasian, Riverside County, California
Aug 9, 2009, Terrace Clifton Smith, 52, [skin color, natl. origin] Unknown, Moreno Valley, California
Aug 12, 2009, Ernest Ridlehuber, 53, Race: Unknown, Greenville, South Carolina
Aug 14, 2009, Hakim Jackson, 31, Black, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Aug 18, 2009, Ronald Eugene Cobbs, 38, Black, Greensboro, North Carolina
Aug 20, 2009, Francisco Sesate, 36, Hispanic, Mesa, Arizona
Aug 22, 2009, T.J. Nance, 37, Race: [skin color, natl. origin], Arizona City, Arizona
Aug 26, 2009, Unidentified Man, Age: TBD, Race: [skin color, natl. origin], Los Angeles, California
Sep 3, 2009, Shane Ledbetter, Age: 38, Caucasian, Aurora, Colorado
Sep 21, 2009, Richard Battistata, Age: 44, Race: [skin color, natl. origin], Laredo, Texas

***

In the above video, Stanley Harlen was pulled over for allegedly speeding; he stopped in front of his house. As his mother came out in her robe, she watched as officers wrestled with him. One officer fired the Taser three times for 31 seconds. For 14 minutes he received no medical attention; when paramedics arrived it was too late. He was dead. The Moberly city manager’s response is hardly reassuring. Andy Morris: Harlen’s death is ”unanticipated and unintentional. Police officers must often make split-second decisions in tense, rapidly-evolving situations.”

Ken Burton, the Police Chief of nearby Columbia, MO’s PD also has officers who use Tasers but he strictly limits their use—no fleeing subjects are allowed to be tased, and when deployed, only for 5 seconds at at time.

This CBS report showed a graph of statistics, compiled by Taser International itself, and the growth in the use of these “non-lethal” devices has skyrocketed from 500 law enforcement agencies in 2000 to 14,201 in 2009. And there are no mandatory standards or training for Taser usage. Taser International has actually put out a disingenuous statement that defies reality, considering the rising body count.

The electrical output of a taser device is incapable of causing death.

Sure, the voltage alone in one blast itself may not kill, but what about the medical condition of the tasing victim? What about shocking someone for 31 seconds? What about repeated blasts to an elderly or disabled individual? This is a situation out of control.

CoC Says Call US Senators, Demand Public Option

2009-11-02T18:45:00.000-08:00

Dear friends:

In the states of the US South, like Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi, the Black infant mortality rate is over seventeen percent, while the national infant mortality rate is around 6.7%. In fact, with Cuba's infant mortality at 6%, a Black child in Cuba has a three-times better chance of living until his first birthday than does a Black child in parts of the US South.

States with large Black populations must not be permitted to "opt out" of national health care just so they can punish Black people, as they opted out of Obama's stimulus package. That's why I'm forwarding this letter to you from Color of Change, asking you to share the letter below with others and to contact your US Senators (especially from Southern states with large Black populations), e.g. Landrieu in Louisiana.

It's time for fundamental change. Please read CoC's letter:

Color of Change Mass Circulation Letter:

Dear friends,

The Senate is closing in on a health care bill with a public health
insurance option, a key ingredient of meaningful health care reform.

But conservatives and insurance companies are fighting hard against
the public option, so Senate leadership has compromised by including
an "opt-out" clause, which would allow individual states to choose not
to participate in the program.[1]

There's a real danger here. In the stimulus fight, we saw Republican
governors and legislators refuse federal dollars for political gain.
The same thing could happen with health care reform, with everday people
in states like Lousiana, Alabama, and South Carolina -- states with
large Black, poor, and working-class populations -- left out.[2]

That's why I've joined ColorOfChange.org's campaign calling on
Congress and the White House to make the public option available
everywhere. Please join me:

http://www.colorofchange.org/optout/?id=1990-898983

I understand the need for compromise and negotiation, but I also want
to make sure that no community gets negotiated away in the process.

Including "opt-out" may be the best way to get a bill through the
Senate with a public option--but that won't be the end of the process,
and it doesn't mean "opt-out" will be in the final bill. The House
still needs to decide exactly what will be in its health care bill.
And once both the House and the Senate have passed legislation,
they'll have to negotiate with each other, and the White House, to
reconcile the differences between the two bills.

That's why we need to make it clear that we're watching and that we
will demand a public option that's available in every state. Please
join me in sending this message to Congress and the White House, and
ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/optout/?id=1990-898983

Thank you.

References:

1. "So what is the 'opt-out' compromise?" Talking Points Memo,
10-26-2009
http://tinyurl.com/yjffquq

2. "Public option opt out denies help to those who need it most," Fire
Dog Lake, 10-8-2009
http://tinyurl.com/yks5sxz

Daughter of Black City Councilman Tased In Back - While on Her Knees

2009-09-12T09:03:00.000-07:00

Copied verbatim from Tasered While Black.

Another American Post-Racial Moment

This one out of Cincinnati.

Cincinnati police say the preliminary investigations says Officer Anthony Plummer's actions were not in compliance with Cincinnati Police Departments policies and procedures. Also, the tasing investigation has been recommended to be conducted by the internal investigation section.

Cincinnati police arrested and used a Taser on Celeste Thomas, the daughter of Cincinnati city councilman Cecil Thomas, early Sunday morning.

Her arrest report indicates that Thomas had marks on her upper back from the Taser's barbs.

"It is my understanding that she was on her knees when she was Tased in the back," said Cecil Thomas.

See news video and additional information at Tasered While Black.

Color of Change Wages Campaign Against Glenn Beck's Anti-Obama Color Arousal

2009-08-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

President Obama has "hatred for white people"?

Glenn Beck is using his platform to stoke race-based hate and fear.

Help us fight back, by hitting Beck where it hurts, NOW:

Contact the shows sponsors here.

Color of change says:

More and more, right-wing talk show hosts are bringing race-based fear mongering into the mainstream, but FOX's Glenn Beck just took it to another level. On Tuesday, Beck said:

This president has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seated hatred for white people... this guy is, I believe, a racist.¹

It's part of a larger argument Beck has been making:² that President Obama is using the White House to serve the needs of Black communities at White people's expense. This kind of talk stirs up fear, hate, and it can lead to violence.^3,4
Together we can stop Glenn Beck.⁵ Starting today we're calling Beck's advertisers, asking them if they want to be associated with this kind of racist hate and fear-mongering. When they see tens of thousands of people signing on behind that question, we believe they'll move their advertising dollars elsewhere, damaging the viability of his show and possibly putting him out of business.
All it requires is you, standing up and being counted. Please take a moment to join the effort, and invite your friends and family to do the same:
http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1780-175369
Glenn Beck is appealing to the worst in America. Of course, some people refuse to accept the fact that our president is Black or the idea that he could truly serve all Americans. We know that. The only way these views will fade away is if they're not reinforced by mainstream society. Instead, folks like Glenn Beck, Lou Dobbs,⁶ and Rush Limbaugh⁷ are exploiting racism and race-based fear to bump their ratings, stirring up racial discord in the process.
The dangers of these tactics are real. We saw the same dynamic during the presidential race: by the end, the McCain/Palin campaign was unable to control the violent energy whipped up by their race-baiting. The result was an unprecedented number of threats on Obama's life, a rise in the number of hate groups, and an increase in the number of threats and crimes against immigrants and Black people.^8,9,10
FOX has had a long history of race-baiting and racism on its shows, and we've run campaigns calling them out.^11,12 But Glenn Beck appears to be taking the network to an even lower standard. He's trying to divide and distract America when we should be coming together and talking about issues that really matter--like health care and the economy.
The good news is that we have the power to stop this. All major media is funded by advertising. And advertisers, more than anything, care what consumers think. If we want to change what's happening and put an end to folks like Glenn Beck having a platform, we can do it.
It's up to us, and it can start now. Please join us:
http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/?id=1780-175369
Thanks and Peace,
-- James, Gabriel, William, Dani and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
July 30th, 2009
Help support our work. ColorOfChange.org is powered by YOU -- your energy and dollars. We take no money from lobbyists or large corporations that don't share our values, and our tiny staff ensures your contributions go a long way. You can contribute here:
https://secure.colorofchange.org/contribute/?id=1780-175369
References
1. "Beck: Obama has 'exposed himself as a guy' with 'a deep seated hatred for white people'" Media Matters, 7-28-09
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907280008
2. "Glenn Beck: Obama agenda driven by 'reparations' and desire to 'settle old racial scores'," Media Matters, 7-23-09
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907230040
3. "Palin linked to death threats against Obama," Economic Times, 11-9-2008
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3691429.cms
4. "Obama win prompts wave of hate crimes," Times Online, 11-17-2008
http://tinyurl.com/5rhf29
5. "MSNBC's Deutsch encourages viewers to demand advertisers on Beck's show spend money elsewhere," Media Matters, 7-29-09
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907290037
6. "On Television and Radio, Talk of Obama's Citizenship," The New York Times, 7-24-09
http://tinyurl.com/mb467j
7. "Rush and reparations," The Nation, 5-12-2009
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion/435392/rush_and_reparations
8. See reference 2.
9. See reference 3.
10. "Homeland Security report warns of rising right-wing extremism, Huffington Post, 4-14-2009
http://tinyurl.com/cpgx6q
11. ColorOfChange.org email on Fox's attacks on the Obamas
http://www.colorofchange.org/foxobama/message.html
12. "An overview: Fox News and its problem with African-Americans," ColorOfChange.org
http://colorofchange.org/fox/summary.html

Francis L. Holland Circulates Online Petition Supporting Confirmation of Judge Sotomayor

2009-06-07T06:56:00.000-07:00

Afrosphere blogger Atty. Francis L. Holland has prepared and is circulating an online petition supporting President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be a justice of the US Supreme Court. Atty. Holland has prepared a widget that blogs can adopt to show solidarity with the President and his US Supreme Court pick. Holland has started a group called "Americans for a Pluralistic US Supreme Court" to circulate the petition and build support for Judge Sotomayor's nomination.

Holland says,

It's obvious what the Republicans are doing. They want to repeat Judge Sotomayor's "wise Latina woman" quote over and over again, in the hopes of convincing the public that owning one's own ethnic heritage is the equivalent of "racism". Therefore the only people who should be on the Court are those who purportedly "are not part of any ethnic or gender group": white men!

This petition "owns" and exults in the fact that Sotomayor is a "wise Latina woman" and explains that historically only white men were allowed on the Court -- a white male quota system -- which is precisely why the US Senate must confirm Judge Sonia Sotomayor, in addition to Sotomayor's obviously excellent credentials.

The online petition says:

View Current Signatures - Sign the Petition

To: Members of the US Senate
I strongly support and urge immediate Senate confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nominee for the US Supreme Court: “wise Latina woman”, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who now sits on U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

At present, the US Supreme Court has nine members, of whom seven are white men. This is unfair and unbalanced. According to the US Census, the nation is less than 33% white male, while it is approximately 51% female, 15% Latino and 13% Black. Although white males are the minority of America, they remain the vast majority of the US Supreme Court, just as was the case before women and minorities gained the right to vote.

It is impossible in a pluralistic society for a Court comprised of 78% white men to make wise, reasoned and sound decisions affecting the lives of a nation which is less than 33% white male. A wise and just Supreme Court requires a diversity of experiences, with the participation of representatives of the majority of Americans.

For far too long, there has been a quota system at the United States Supreme Court. The de facto quota system required that all or the vast majority of the nine members of the Court be white males. In the history of the nation, there have never been more than three members of the court who were not white males at any one time. The anachronistic white male quota system is no longer tenable as the nation strives to treat all Americans equally and to have a government all of whose branches have the consent and participation of the nation’s diverse populace.

The US Supreme Court cannot function wisely, justly, and fairly without the full participation of wise women and wise members of the nation’s minority groups, including the nation’s largest minority – Latinos. Therefore, we urge our elected representatives in the US Senate to immediately confirm the “wise Latina woman” who has earned our respect and support: soon-to-be US Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html
Sincerely,
The Undersigned

View Current Signatures

This petition is not formally or informally a project of the Afrosphere Action Coalition per se, but it's worth announcing it to the afrosphere so that participants can support it or not, as they wish.

A Day of Blogging for Justice: Standing Up Against the Police Pre-Trial Electrocution - April 24, 2009

2009-04-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

By African American Political Pundit:

Hat Tip and Shout Out to the Villager at the blog Electronic Village for his recent blog post. Check out how the afrospear is blogging about the issue of the tasing, beating and electrocution of Black folks in America. He writes about A Day of Blogging for Justice: Standing Up Against the Police Pre-Trial Electrocution

The AfroSpear is calling on all bloggers to join us in a Day of Blogging for Justice: Standing Up Against the Police Pre-Trial Electrocution on Friday, April 24, 2009.

The rules are simple:

Share a post on your blog focused on your concerns about the tasering of Blacks folks.
Send an email to AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit@gmail.com so that we may document everyone's participation.

He gives examples of what bloggers have been reporting on the police pre-trial electrocution:

Afro-Netizen - Taser Death of Black man by White cop near Jean ...

Black Voices - 21st Century Whips

Diane Dimond - The 50-Thousand Volt Solution

Electronic Village - Police Taser 16-Year Old Robert Mitchell to Death

Electronic Village - Taser Policy Defined by 'Use of Force Continuum'

Jack and Jill Politics - A Day of Blogging for Justice - Against Extra-Judicial ...

Mondoglobo - Lousiana Police Electrocute Handcuffed Man in Grocery Store

Pam's House Blend - NC: More Freestyle Law Enforcement Death-by-Taser

Problem Chylde - Tasing as Deadly Force

Race Wire - Black Teenager Killed by Cop’s Taser

Tasered While Black - Black Man Pepper Sprayed, Batoned, Tased ...

Tasered While Black - Police Taser and Kill Black Man and Laugh About It

Tasered While Black - Black Man Tased and Beaten in Peoria, IL.

The Super Spade - Tasered While Black

Ultraviolet Underground - Electrocuted While Black

I like the villager, and so many other bloggers hope that you will participate. Please read villager's complete post on A Day of Blogging for Justice: Standing Up Against the Police Pre-Trial Electrocution

Related Blog Posts

15 Year old Detroit boy with asthma dies after being Tasered While Black

From African American Political Pundit

Fort Worth Police Tasered a Mentally Ill Black Man To Death

From African American Political Pundit

From Francis L. Holland posting at Electrocuted While Black.

New Facebook Group Urges Blacks To Scrupulously Observe Traffic Laws in Houston TX, Even if it Leads to Increased Traffic Conjestion.

2009-04-05T12:04:00.000-07:00

There is a new Black-led Facebook group, called "Slow Down Police Color Aroused Traffic Stops and Brutality," Seventy-two FaceBook members Have joined the group in its first twenty-hour Tewhe group encourages drivers in Houston, TX, particularly, and elsewhere, to scrupulously follow all traffic laws intended for public safety, even if doing so to the satisfaction of color-aroused police causes traffic to slow to a standstill in Houston, TX and elsewhere.

Phil Pierre-Paul, a young Black college student and writer for New Jersey Institute of Tecnhology Stute College Newspaper, who started the group to follow this movement, says,

Black people are tired of constantly beingegarded as [traffic] law violators . . . In response, some have started a campaign to protest police color aroused traffic stops and brutality.

The campaign is intended to raise awareness of driving carefully and to show participants determination to be law-abiding citizens. [even if the effect of such scrupulous obedience to each and every traffic law is that streets and highways slow to a crawl, or become entirely impassible.

. . . As a young black blogger, I have created this group to follow this new initiative of driving carefully.Facebook Group

This new Facebook blogs is repleat with Texas laws citations and advocacy links that suggest

strategies for driving slowly while following the applicable Houston Texas traffic laws, to avoid being stopped by police and also to demonstrate the enormous commercial, tourist, and shopping dislocations that will result from Black drivers exhibiting the level of Hoston ,TX police and elsewhere.

I certainly hope these efforts are succesful, since the only proven way to make whites concerned about Black civil rights issues is to demonstrate how they effect whites as well. The scrupulous driving that will be required t stop traffic stops of Blacks will inevitably slow down Houston, TX highways and elsewhere, making Blacks and white drivers allles in this effort to reduce unwarranted police stops and free the highways for dricing once again.

Draft Petition Against Police Color Aroused Traffic Stop Brutality

2009-04-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

To the Civil Rights Division of the US Department of Justice:

We respectfully request that the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice investigate the statistically high rates of police stop and search incidents involving Black drivers and passengers, to identify and prosecute cases in which the civil rights of these drivers and passengers are being violated.

Law-abiding Black professionals, including retired police officers and nationally recognized sports figures caring for family members in times of emergency, have been taunted, harassed and humiliated. Pregnant Black women who were rushing to the hospital have been stopped and denied medical care, leading to miscarriage, with the offending police officers asking, "How is that my problem?"

Each of these cases is but one example of the menace that Black motorists and passengers face throughout the United States, simply for "Driving While Black" (DWB).

According to a 2007 US Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics press release:

The most common reason for police contact in 2002 and 2005 was a traffic stop, accounting for about 40 percent of all contacts.
Blacks were almost three times as likely as whites to report that excessive force was used against them in contacts with law enforcement, while Latinos reported excessive force twice as often as whites.
Police searched three times as many Blacks and Hispanic drivers as white drivers.

We urge the Justice Department to adopt a policy of vigorously investigating complaints of traffic stop police brutality in every state where it occurs.

We urge that the Justice Department condition financial support for state and local police activities upon findings that such police organizations vigorously screen, discipline and terminate police officials whose color-aroused and abusive behaviors, and tolerance of such behaviors, make all police activity seem suspect in minority communities.

We further urge that police in every American jurisdiction make a sincere and sustained effort to distinguish between law abiding Americans and others, rather than treating all Black Americans as if we were guilty and inherently insusceptible of being proved innocent.

To underscore our determination that law-abiding Black drivers and passengers be perceived and treated as such, we hereby announce our intention to scrupulously observe each and every traffic law intended for the protection of the public, in every case. We are determined to willingly accept as a group -- with patience, prayer and diligent meditation -- any traffic delays that may result from our determination to be perceived and treated as models of perfect traffic-law obedience.

To prove our commitment to traffic safety as well as equal justice under the laws, we will drive at the lowest permissible speeds on the streets and highways where we live, taking each and every precaution that the police demand of us, even if it causes traffic jams as far as the eye can see, and continuing without relent until our nation realizes that it is better to end color-aroused police traffic stop persecution right now, rather than to live with perpetual color-aroused traffic jams forever and ever more.

We urge all Americans to be patient with us as we demonstrate, through rigorously and meticulously responsible driving behavior, that our greatest priority when driving, in addition to traffic safety, is that we be treated with the respect and consideration that all human beings deserve, regardless of how long it takes us to get there.

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/press/cpp05pr.htm

http://afrosphereactionalerts.blogspot.com/2009/04/draft-petition-against-police-color.html

Signed,

Color of Change Petition: States Must Distribute Unemployment Benefits Authorized by Obama

2009-03-06T07:37:00.001-08:00

Dear Readers:

Please sign the Color of Change Petition demanding that Republican governors accept the increased unemployment benefits that President Obama is offering.

Color of Change says:

The country is in real trouble right now, with unemployment spiraling out of control. President Obama's stimulus plan provides money to expand unemployment assistance. But a group of Republican governors, led by Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, is trying to score political points by blocking that assistance from reaching the people who need it. It's cynical and disgusting.

These governors are playing with people's lives. They're trying to further their political ambitions while showing they could care less about the fate of everyday folks--even in their own state.

Please join me in calling them out and forcing the media spotlight on them. I just signed ColorOfChange.org's open letter demanding they do the right thing. Together, we can help make sure that in times of hardship folks get the assistance they need. It only takes a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/govs/?id=1780-175369

It's incredible. President Obama's stimulus package provides money for states to extend unemployment benefits for people in dire need of help, but a handful of Republican governors--Bob Riley of Alabama, Mark Sanford of South Carolina, Rick Perry of Texas, Sarah Palin of Alaska, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana--are putting politics over people.

All six governors have threatened to turn down these funds. Four are 2012 presidential contenders, and they all have a vested interest in seeing Obama fail. They're attacking the President's policies to increase their own profile and cozy up to the most die-hard conservatives. They also claim that taking the stimulus money would leave their states in debt when it runs out in three years. But that argument rings hollow--state legislatures could reduce benefits to pre-stimulus levels at that point.

While these governors posture, Black folks suffer the most. In all of these states, Black unemployment is at least twice that of Whites--and in Louisiana and Mississippi, the two Blackest states in the Union, the unemployment rate among Black people approaches three times that of their White neighbors.

Please join me in telling these Republican governors to stop putting their personal and political interests above the good of all their states' citizens. Demand that they accept all of the stimulus money designated for unemployment benefits. And please ask your friends and family to do the same by passing this message on.

http://www.colorofchange.org/govs/?id=1780-175369

Thanks.

Sign Color of Change Petition, Help Provoke Federal Investigation of NY Post under 18 USC Title 18, Secs. 1751 and 373.

2009-02-21T21:43:00.001-08:00

Color of Change urges supporters to sign a petition against a "racist" image published by the New York Post in which a monkey is killed, explicitly so that he cannot "write the next stimulus bill."

Many parties have urged that the New York Post issue an apology for a publication obviously aimed at President Barack Obama, but the the Francis L. Holland Blog goes further, urging that a federal investigation be conducted to determine whether persons at the New York Post have violated 18 USC Title 18, Sec. 1751, 18 USC Title 18, Section 373 and/or other federal statutes whose penalties include potential life imprisonment or the death penalty.

The Francis L. Holland Blog urges Blacks, all Obama supporters, and everyone who oppose the assassination of American presidents, to perceive the New York Post "cartoon" for what it is: an internationally publicized call for the assassination of the President of the United States, wherein the international publication of this particular cartoon should be investigated as a possible "act to effectuate the object of the conspiracy," (18 USC Title 18, Sec. 1751) which "solicits, commands, induces, or otherwise endeavors to persuade such other person to engage in such conduct" 18 USC Title 18, Section 373.

Sign the Color of Change petition now, to provoke an federal investigation into the acts and intent of the persons at the New York Post who are responsible for the publication of this piece of graphic "persuasion".

Under "18 USC Title 18, Sec. 1751. Presidential and Presidential staff assassination, kidnapping, and assault; penalties," "any act" in furtherance of a conspiracy to assassinate a person who is president of the United States is a crime punishable by up to life imprisonment or the death penalty.

If two or more persons conspire to kill or kidnap any individual designated in subsection (a) of this section and one or more of such persons do any act to effect the object of the conspiracy, each shall be punished (1) by imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or (2) by death or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, if death results to such individual. 18 USC Title 18, Sec. 1751.

Black political figures have been assassinated in American history, and most every Black person has been called a monkey at some time. However, President Barack Obama, by virtue of his office, is specifically protected under federal statutes against acts, incitements and conspiracies aginst his life, with convicted violators potentially suffering penalties up to and including life imprisonment or the death penalty. The above statute means, at the very least, that even possible conspiracies against the life of the president should be investigated.

The New York Post's own ostensible "apology" acknowledges that the "cartoon" "has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama" assassinated on the street, with two bullets in his chest. If, as most people believe, the "cartoon" depicts both the assassination of a president and the expression and publication of a desire to see that assassination carried out, and perhaps an endeavor to create the atmosphere in which such a heinous crime is possible, then this is also cause for a federal investigation under 18 USC Title 18, Section 373: "Solicitation to commit a crime of violence."

(a) Whoever, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against property or against the person of another in violation of the laws of the United States, and under circumstances strongly corroborative of that intent, solicits, commands, induces, or otherwise endeavors to persuade such other person to engage in such conduct, shall be imprisoned not more than one-half the maximum term of imprisonment or (notwithstanding section 3571) fined not more than one-half of the maximum fine prescribed for the punishment of the crime solicited, or both; or if the crime solicited is punishable by life imprisonment or death, shall be imprisoned for not more than twenty years. 18 USC Title 18, Section 373: "Solicitation to commit a crime of violence."

With its publication of this graphic, there exists the possibility that the New York Post "solicits, commands, induces, or otherwise endeavors to persuade" members of the public to "engage in conduct constituting a felony that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against property or against the person of another in violation of the laws of the United States". The above statute surely requires that apparent "endeavors to persuade" the commitment of felonious acts of violence must be investigated.

Certainly any act that might be in furtherance such a conspiracy should be investigated by the Secret Service, the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation before the object of the potential conspiracy can be effectuated rather than after the fact.

The Francis L. Holland Blog therefore urges readers to sign the Color of Change petition as part of an effort to support an investigation of the New York Post's cartoonist, editorial staff, owner and other participants for possible violations of 18 USC Title 18, Sec. 1751, 18 USC Title 18, Section 373.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Friday, February 20, 2009

More than 75,000 emails sent through ColorOfChange.org demand real apology, firing of editor who OK'd cartoon

ColorOfChange.org rejected the New York Post's statement surrounding the uproar over its 'chimp' cartoon, calling it a "non-apology," because it did not acknowledge a mistake. The group demanded a real apology, as well as the firing of the editor who approved the cartoon. More than 50,000 members of ColorOfChange.org sent emails to New York Post Publisher Paul Carlucci on Thursday with that message. By Friday morning, that number had reached 75,000.

James Rucker, the online civil rights group's executive director, said, "The Post's recent statement about the uproar it has caused with this cartoon insults our intelligence. It acknowledges no mistake while continuing to attack those who are raising serious, legitimate concerns. If The Post thinks they can close the book on this without taking any responsibility, they're wrong."

Momentum around the petition continued to build as the civil rights organization launched online ads and began outreach on social networking sites. The group expected tens of thousands more emails would be sent through its website by the weekend.

The cartoon depicts the recent stimulus bill's "author" as a dead monkey, covered in blood after being shot by police. ColorOfChange.org is circulating an online petition that takes The Post to task for its apparent ignorance of a history of racist symbolism that depicts Black people as apes or monkeys. The organization argues that the image is particularly dangerous at a time when hate crimes are on the rise and threats against President Barack Obama abound.

"The paper's leaders need to be held accountable, and so far we've seen no sign that The Post cares about the thousands of people across the country who are rightly outraged by this cartoon," said James Rucker, the organization's executive director. "The next question we have to ask is whether advertisers feel comfortable being associated with a publication that responds so callously to readers' concerns."

An excerpt of the petition, addressed to Carlucci, reads as follows:

I am writing to ask that you publish an apology. I also ask that whichever editor approved Delonas' cartoon for publication be fired, whether it was Editorial Page Editor Bob McManus, Editor Col Allan, or another senior manager in the newsroom. I ask that you determine who was responsible and hold that person accountable.

I was particularly concerned by the Post's sole response to readers who found the image to have racist undertones. The callous statement Col Allan issued Wednesday denies a historical reality, and for him to claim ignorance of this history raises questions about his ability to effectively lead a daily newspaper geared toward a mainstream and multiracial audience.

Please publish an apology that acknowledges that it was a mistake for the Post to publish this cartoon and fire the person responsible.

With more than a half million members, ColorOfChange.org is the largest African-American online political organization in the country.

Afrosphere Bloggers Urge End to Israel's Attacks on Gaza Strip

2009-01-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

For Immediate Release

Contact: Atty. Francis L. Holland
AfroSpear Member
http://francislholland.blogspot.com
http://democratic-afrosphere.blogspot.com
55 (73) 9992-4127

Afrosphere Bloggers Urging Israel To
End Attacks On the Gaza Strip

It's being reported all over the world that Israel, with US support, is dropping white phosphorous bombs on the Gaza Strip - the same kind of incendiary skin-burning cluster bombs that Israel previously used in Lebanon and that the US used in Falujah, Iraq. African American Political Pundit attacks "the slaughter of children and women in Gaza," while Jack and Jill Politics says, referring to Israel,

We could solve a lot of things if we did one thing: cut off the funding to our 51st State. Then, maybe they’d be in the mood to listen to reason.

The Afrosphere's Black Agenda Report says,

Israel's aerial blitzkrieg and long-standing blockade of 1.5 million people is a crime against humanity for which its sponsor and champion, the United States, is equally guilty.

The Black Politics on the Web Afrosphere blogs says,

Israel has launched the deadliest bombing campaign against Palestinians in decades . . .

The outrages of Israel in Gaza are well-documented.

Human Rights Watch said Sunday that Israel's military has fired artillery shells with the incendiary agent white phosphorus into Gaza and a doctor there said the chemical was suspected in the case of 10 burn victims who had skin peeling off their faces and bodies.

( . . . )
Israel used white phosphorus in its 34-day war with Hezbollah in Lebanon in 2006. The U.S. military in Iraq used the incendiary during a November 2004 operation against insurgents in the city of Fallujah.

An AP photographer and a TV crew based in Gaza visited Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis on Sunday and recorded images of several burn patients. Yahoo News via Associated Press

The national newspaper O Globo from Brasilia reports that:

The United States is contracting a merchant ship to carry hundreds of tons of arms from Greece to Israel this month, according to documents divulged two nights ago, that cite dangerous materials, such as explosives and detonators . . .The Pentagon denied that these arms are related to the current Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The request for arms was made [by Israel] on December 31 (the offensive began on December 27) so that the first shipment would arrive before the 25th of January and the second before the end of this month. The shipment is to be effectuated by a German transporter, which would not reply to questions. The ship orginated in North Carolina and the documents stipulate that the ship must be capable of carrying 2.6 million kilos [5.2 million pounds] of explosive liquid.

President George W. Bush's position on Israel's offensive has been that "Israel has the right to defend itself." The President of "change", Barack Obama, has so far changed nothing in terms of the US's unbridled support for Israel's military incursions into the Gaza Strip:

President-Elect Barack Obama has stayed largely silent concerning the conflict in Gaza. Whether any "change" in the American stance towards the Palestinians and Israelis begins under his administration is still highly unlikely. He himself has repeated the apologist and open-ended statement that Israel has the right to defend itself, yet the American's do not have the political will to define exactly what that entails.
At the moment Israel interprets it to mean that they can take military action, whenever, wherever and by whichever means they find suitable. Obama should help to craft some tangible guidelines for what "the defense of Israel" actually means if he hopes to make any leeway with the Arab and Muslim world. Real Clear World Blog

The United States has got to change its policy toward Israel, stop providing munitions for the complete destruction of Lebanon and now the Gaza Strip, and make it clear to Israel that there are strict limits to the US public's willingness to see Israel cluster-bomb its neighbors in the name of self-defense.

In fact, based on the US provision of intelligence and munitions to Israel on an annual basis and specifically during this war, I believe that Israel is enthusiastically doing America's bidding. It's got to stop, before seemingly powerless Palestinians turn their attacks outside the Israel/Palestinian conflict and begin killing Jews and Americans at random wherever they find us.

I, personally, am disgusted and furious over Israel's apparent determination to annihilate Palestine, and I am equally disgusted that our incoming "change" president seems no different from George W. Bush in his tacit support for Israel's outrages.

What's the purpose of the urgent US shipment of explosives to Israel? It makes the United States complicit in and supportive of the destruction of Palestine, and this has got to stop. President-elect Obama has got to stop parroting the US's pro-Israel party line with respect to this conflict, or he will fail to bridge the animosities of the past and merely preside over them, as have presidents of the Democratic and Republic parties of previous generations.

As Aaron David Miller said in Newsweek recently,

Don't get me wrong. Barack Obama—as every other U.S. president before him—will protect the special relationship with Israel. But the days of America's exclusive ties to Israel may be coming to an end. Despite efforts to sound reassuring during the campaign, the new administration will have to be tough, much tougher than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush were, if it's serious about Arab-Israeli peacemaking. Newsweek

I am not anti-Semitic and I am not anti-American. It is not anti-Semitic or anti-American to demand that Israel stay within its national borders and stop dropping white phosphorous and other vile explosives on Palestine, with the support of the US Government.

The above afrosphere blogs and more are clearly expressing a preference for food over phosphorous and peace in Palestine rather than war.

Contact: Atty. Francis L. Holland
AfroSpear Member
http://francislholland.blogspot.com
http://democratic-afrosphere.blogspot.com
55 (73) 9992-4127

References:

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=white+phosphorus

http://africanamericanpoliticalpundit.com/frontPage.do;jsessionid=6D2FE1A53CD78EFD777F1D978068C8E4

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1106542/Gazas-darkest-day-40-die-Israel-bombs-safe-haven-UN-school.html

http://www.jackandjillpolitics.com/2008/12/our-51st-state-gaza/

http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=956&Itemid=1

http://blackpoliticsontheweb.com/2008/12/30/former-ga-congresswoman-cynthia-mckinney-travels-with-gaza-protest-boat-into-lebanon/

http://oglobo.globo.com/pais/noblat/post.asp?t=eua-levam-armas-israel-em-meio-crise&cod_post=152686

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/05/bush-on-gaza-fighting-isr_n_155282.html?page=8

http://www.newsweek.com/id/177716

ColorOfChange Petition Calls on La. Gov. Jindal for Investigation of White Vigilantes' Killing of Blacks in Katrina Aftermath

2008-12-20T11:16:00.000-08:00

Here is a special request from ColorOfChange:

A new report in The Nation[1] documents what many have claimed for years--for some Black New Orleanians the threat of being killed by White vigilantes in Katrina's aftermath became a bigger threat than the storm itself.

After the storm, White vigilantes roamed Algiers Point shooting and, according to their own accounts, killing Black men at will--with no threat of a police response. For the last three years, the shootings and the police force's role in them have been an open secret to many New Orleanians. To date, no one has been charged with a crime and law enforcement officials have refused to investigate.

The report is helpful, but given Lousiana's horrible record on protecting its Black citizens, justice will only come if we demand it.

I've joined ColorOfChange in calling on Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana's Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, and the U.S. Department of Justice--to conduct a full investigation of these crimes and any police cover-up. Will you join me? It takes only a moment:

http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1780-175369

In the two weeks after Hurricane Katrina made landfall, the media created a climate of fear with trumped-up stories of Black lawlessness. Meanwhile an armed group of White vigilantes took over the Algiers Point neighborhood in New Orleans and mercilessly hunted down Black people. "It was great!" said one vigilante. "It was like pheasant season in South Dakota. If it moved, you shot it."

The Nation's article tells the story of Donnell Herrington, Marcel Alexander, and Chris Collins--a group of friends who were attacked by shotgun-wielding White men as they entered Algiers Point on September 1, 2005. As they tried to escape, Herrington recalls, their attackers shouted, "Get him! Get that nigger!" He managed to get away. Alexander and Collins were told that they would be allowed to live on the condition that they told other Black folks not to come to Algiers Point. Herrington, shot in the neck, barely survived.

And there's the story of Henry Glover, who didn't survive after being shot by an unknown assailant.[2] Glover's brother flagged down a stranger for help, and the two men brought Glover to a police station. But instead of receiving aid, they were beaten by officers while Henry Glover bled to death in the back seat of the stranger's car. A police officer drove off in the car soon afterward. Both Glover's body and the car were found burnt to cinders a week later. It took DNA analysis to identify the body.

These are only a few of the stories of Black folks who were accosted in Algiers Point, and you can read more in The Nation. But unless you speak out, we may never learn the full extent of the violence. Journalists have encountered a wall of silence on the part of the authorities. The coroner had to be sued to turn over autopsy records. When he finally complied, the records were incomplete, with files on several suspicious deaths suddenly empty. The New Orleans police and the District Attorney repeatedly refused to talk to journalists about Algiers Point. And according to The Nation journalist A.C. Thompson, "the city has in nearly every case refused to investigate or prosecute people for assaults and murders committed in the wake of the storm."

The Nation article is important, but it's just a start. For more than three years now, these racist criminals have by their own admission gotten away with murder while officials in New Orleans have systematically evaded any kind of accountability. We have to demand it.

Please join me in calling on state and federal officials to investigate these brutal attacks and the conduct of Orleans Parish law enforcement agencies, and please ask your friends and family to do the same.

http://www.colorofchange.org/nation/?id=1780-175369

Thanks.

------

1. "Katrina's Hidden Race War," The Nation, 12-18-2008
http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1780-175369&cat=nation&link=1

2. "Body of Evidence," The Nation, 12-18-2008
http://www.colorofchange.org/link/?id=1780-175369&cat=nation&link=2

Cross-posted at the Francis L. Holland Blog.

BlackPerspective.net Calls For World AIDS Day Action

2008-11-23T17:04:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day Is Coming

World Aids Day is December 1st every year and last year we did a week of Black Blogging To End AIDS. This year it's just going to be Blogging to End AIDS, and we'll do something Black specific surrounding National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on February 7th.

I think it worked out well last time, and a lot of you participated so we'll keep the same format.

The purpose will be to raise AIDS awareness, most particularly to help prevention of the spread of the disease.

It will be a week long event starting December 1st and going through the 7th; which means you can do your post (or multiple post would be even better) at anytime during the week, as opposed to just on one specific day. How many post you do is optional, but you need only do one to participate.

Please sign up in the comments here, with your name or net handle and FULL clickable url so that I can keep track and do a wrap up post highlighting all the bloggers that participate.

Example: Yobachi http://www.blackperspective.net

There’s plenty of information on the web that you can research about AIDS, including the particular issues for the Black Diaspora, so it’s not necessary that you have a great amount of AIDS knowledge to participate. You can be effective by simply pulling together some information from others sources and putting it in front of people.

From the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services

About the Day
World AIDS Day is observed every year on December 1st. The World Health Organization established World AIDS Day in 1988. World AIDS Day provides governments, national AIDS programs, faith organizations, community organizations, and individuals with an opportunity to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS epidemic.

The Facts
In 2007, the estimated number of persons living with HIV worldwide was 33.2 million and there were 2.7 million people newly infected.

Help Black Bloggers Raise Money For School Projects

2008-10-16T19:34:00.000-07:00

Some Black Bloggers in the Afrospear , spurred on by science educator The Urban Scientist, have recently come together to help raise money for various students and school projects.

You may already be familiar with the Donor's Choice website. As describe at the site:

"DonorsChoose.org is a simple way to provide students in need with resources that our public schools often lack. At this not-for-profit web site, teachers submit project proposals for materials or experiences their students need to learn. These ideas become classroom reality when concerned individuals, whom we call Citizen Philanthropists, choose projects to fund."

Well during October, Donors Choice is holding a blogger challenge; a friendly competition, as it is described, to raise some early school year funds for kids.

Various Afrospear bloggers have come together under the group Black Bloggers for Education. They have set up pages at the site promoting different projects that you can choose from to donate to.

BlackPerspective.net and the Eddie Griffin blog are helping to promote the effort.

So if you have even five bucks to spare, please go by and give to education; and show that Black folks do indeed care about more than just athletic achievement or kicking a flow.

Last Day To Register Voters In Some Key States

2008-10-14T10:09:00.000-07:00

Neveda and West Virgina are very close, and Wisconson is still kind of in play. Do what you ccan to push registration of our folks.

State by state polling analysis

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14th
Maine (or on Election Day at polling place)
Maryland
Nevada
New Jersey
Oregon

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15th
Massachusetts
West Virginia
Wisconsin (or on Election Day at polling place)

A Lady's Perspective has the rest of the registration dates

In conjunction with the Afrosphere Action Coalition, Black Bloggers are asked to continue working to encourage voter registration until the last state's deadline.

Register People To Vote - Oct 6 Last Day In 19 States

2008-10-05T18:32:00.000-07:00

Get everyone you know or may come in contact with registered on time.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6th
Arizona
Arkansas
Colorado
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Michigan
Mississippi
Montana (or same day at elections office)
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Tennessee
Texas
Utah (or in person Tuesday, October 28th)
Virginia

A Lady's Perspective has the rest of the registration dates

In conjunction with the Afrosphere Action Coalition, Black Bloggers are asked to continue working to encourage voter registration until the last state's deadline.

Sign Petition for National Health Care Now!

2008-09-27T12:24:00.000-07:00

National Health Care Now!great free widgetsWidgetbox

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!

US Supreme Court to Weigh Troy Davis' Death Sentence

2008-09-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Supreme Court To Decide Fate of Troy Davis:

Does Innocence Matter?

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

Join the AAC's National Black Voter Registration Push

2008-09-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

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 Yobachi at lionrunner777 @ yahoo dot com

Contribute To Voter Supression Wiki

2008-09-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Baratunde Thurston of Jack and Jill Politics has created this place to log incidents of voter supression throughout the U.S.

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

Help Haitian Hurricane Victims

2008-09-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Yobachi of BlackPerspective.net sends out personal call

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

Get The Word Out About Voter Registration

2008-09-15T09:12:00.000-07:00

In most places you have less than a month to get registered.

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

Brothers and sisters ... TIME IS GETTING SHORT for you to register to vote in the November 2008 election! Some registration deadlines are just a few weeks away. Please encourage people to visit the new VOTE FOR CHANGE website.

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

Please share this information with others. We want to increase voter participation by everyone in the 2008 election cycle.

Finally, check the link for your state to ensure that it is still accurate!

Hurricane Crisis In Haiti Needs Your Attention and Your Help

2008-09-11T09:55:00.000-07:00

The second disaster to what is transpiring in Haiti, is the disaster that is, again, America's major media giving little attention to this developing humanitarian crisis that is just 700 miles off of our own shores. Of course they need the airtime to talk about what Britney was wearing at the VMA's.

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

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

Action Alert: On 9/23, Georgia to Execute Wrong Man in Killing of Police Officer

2008-09-09T23:17:00.001-07:00

Afrosphere Action Alert

Villager at the AfroSpear’s Electronic Village blog urgently brings to our attention the case of Troy Davis, a Black man who is scheduled to be executed just twelve days from now in Georgia, “even though his serious claims of innocence have never been heard in court.”

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.

Monday, September 8, 2008: Day of Blogging for Community Organizing Justice: "I Am a Community Organizer"

2008-09-05T22:57:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

September, 2008: Register to Vote and Request Absentee Ballots

2008-09-01T14:38:00.000-07:00

Reposted from the AfroSpear's Proud Black Voter Blog.

The Truth About Absentee Ballots -- They Count!

Crosspointed from Vote From Abroad Campaign Blog.

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 you
cast 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.

Action Alert: Wednesday, July 30, 2008 - Day of Blogging for Justice Against Extra-Judicial Electrocutions

2008-07-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

First published at the Afrosphere Action Coalition blog.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Afrosphere Action Coalition

July 31, 2008

Contact: Francis Holland 55 (73) 3288-1716, Yobachi Boswell 615-478-5204, L.N. Rock africanamericanpoliticalpundit@gmail.com

Stop Police Pre-Trial Extra-Judicial
Electrocutions and Executions

On Wednesday, July 30th 2008, the Afrosphere Action Coalition; which helped organize bloggers for the Jena march last year, began conducting a taser abuse awareness campaign which kicked off with "A Day of Blogging for Justice - Blogging Against Pre-Trial Extra-Judicial Electrocution (Tasers)". Several dozen Black blogs, as well as others of diverse communities nationally and internationally are participating.

See the linked list of participating bloggers here: http://electrocutedwhileblack.blogspot.com/2008/07/partial-list-of-participants-day-of.html

The use of tasering on even nonviolent persons who are often those who are incoherent, hallucinating, wheelchair bound, suicidal, unarmed, deaf, handcuffed, blind, pregnant, foreign non-English speakers, or just didn’t move fast enough for an officers liking; is continuously growing not only in volume, but in the level of how liberally, unwarrantedly, and excessively tasering is being used across the country.

Both Black and White, poor and middle-class, & others have been subject to such abuse, and sentenced to death on the street. Yet, we cannot let go unnoticed that Black and the disadvantaged are even most subject to ‘electrocute first, ask questions later’.

Many Americans have seen the outrageous police tasing of an unarmed suicidal man; causing him to fall OFF AN OVERPASS AND ONTO THE HIGHWAY, in clear violation of tasing instructions! Phillip McDuffy was suicidal before, but with the help of his local police, he is now in critical condition.

Or, the 9-times tasering to death of the cousin of Jena 6 defendant Mychael Bell, Barron “Scooter” Pikes, while he was handcuffed; killing him in the back of a patrol car.

The blog Tasered While Black has been tracking the issue of black folks being tased for some time now. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now is tracking the death of Mr. Pikes. We are blogging today against police and other security entities across America, Canada and around the world involved in Extra-Judicial Electrocution by Tasers. African American political Pundit has called it a campaign against "on the spot pre-trial electrocution" of members of the public.

Francis L. Holland, Esq., a coordinator of the Afrosphere Action Coalition (AAC)says,

The Francis L. Holland Blog is calling for a moratorium on the pre-trial, extra-judicial electrocution of members of the public, at least until it can be demonstrated that these electrocutions are not potentially lethal, are not being used to torture subjects in custody, and are not being used disproportionately and gratuitously on Black people as a form of modern-day lynching.

http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2008/07/calling-for-moratorium-on-police-pre.html

The U.N. says: Tasers Are A Form Of Torture.

Today we want to give you and other members of the general public, awareness on the issue of taser abuse by police. It's important that the general public understand the 'use of force continuum' used by law enforcement officials, and how it is abused by many in the law enforcement community. (See the use-of-force-continuum provided by Villager at Electronic Village: http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/2008/02/use-of-force-continuum.html) Although there is a Justice Department Review of TASER-related Deaths the on-the-spot pre-trial electrocutions continue.

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Francis L. Holland, Esq.

Coordinator, Afrosphere Action Coalition

francislholland@yahoo.com
55 (73) 3288-1716
http://francislholland.blogspot.com

D. Yobachi Boswell
Coordinator, Afrosphere Action Coalition
lionrunner777@yahoo.com
615-478-5204
http://www.blackperspective.net/

Daz Wilson
Coordinator, Afrosphere Action Coalition
Purple Zoe
http://purplezoe.blogspot.com/

L.N. Rock
Anti-Electrocution Coordinator, Afrosphere Action Coalition
http://africanamericanpoliticalpundit.com/

Additional Information:

Top 13 Cases of Pre-Trial Electrocution, Execution Via Taser

Here are thirteen of the worst cases involving black Americans receiving pre-trial electrocutions, including the outrageous police tasing causing a suicidal Black man to fall 15 feet off a bridge.

Case #1
It's the case of the black man getting tased to death in Georgia (while in police custody) with almost a dozen police holding him down as he is tased.

Here is an actual video (below) of a black man who received "Extra-Judicial Electrocution" (tasered to death) in Georgia.

Acceptable Use of Torture in the USA [Gwinnett County, Georgia] The use of electric shock as a method of torture was first documented in Nazi, Germany, but today it is still used as an acceptable use of force. Why? WATCH THIS VIDEO IF YOU DARE!

Case #2
Pregnant Black Women Tasered In Ohio Hat Tip: Villager at Electronic Village for breaking this story to the afrospear.November 29, 2007 TROTWOOD, Ohio --

The FBI is investigating after a Trotwood police officer used a Taser on a pregnant woman. Trotwood Public Safety Director Michael Etter said the incident happened on Nov. 18. He said the woman arrived at the police department asking to give up custody of her 1-year-old son. Etter said an officer spoke with the woman as she held onto the child outside the police department. "(He) attempted to obtain information on both the mother and the child, at which time the mother refused to give any information and became very agitated," Etter said. Surveillance video from the police department shows the woman trying to leave with the child. The officer then grabs her coat in an effort to get her to stop. Etter said the officer was doing what he thought was in the best interest of the boy.The video shows the woman struggling with the officer, who then takes the child from her and gives the boy to another officer. The first officer then forces the woman down on her stomach, and he then uses a Taser on her neck. Etter said the officer did not know the woman was pregnant."She did not disclose, even after she was arrested, that she was pregnant," Etter said. He said the woman was wearing a large winter coat and had her child on her lap when she was talking to the officer. Etter said the department is cooperating with the FBI investigation, and there is also an ongoing internal investigation to see if the use of force was warranted for the situation.Etter said the officer involved is still on duty. Trotwood's policy on use of force states that officers should "greatly evaluate each situation with discretion when anticipating the deployment of the Taser on young children, elderly persons and pregnant females."The woman involved in the case declined to make a statement, saying only that she feels "unjustly served," the television station reported. Officers said the 1-year-old boy was put into the custody of a family member after the incident.

Case # 3 - 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner - Killed While at Work Over Argument with Supervisor at grocery Store. Release the surveillance videotape - Stop The Coverup! Why did the 17-year-old Black Kid Bagging Groceries have to die?

Source: The Charlotte Observer

Here's what we know about how 17-year-old Darryl Wayne Turner died: He had cardiac arrest after a Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officer shot him with a Taser gun.
Yet what we don't know about that shooting is just as important. Police and prosecutors should say how many times Mr. Turner was shot and make public a surveillance videotape that captured much of the confrontation. That's the only way to settle questions about what happened.

Prosecutors announced last week that Police Officer Jerry Dawson acted appropriately when he shocked Mr. Turner during a March confrontation at a north Charlotte grocery store. Officials said Mr. Turner was shocked more than once after he advanced on the officer.

Yet police and prosecutors have refused to reveal how many times the officer shot Mr. Turner and refused to air a videotape that showed what happened leading up to the shooting.
That secrecy doesn't make sense. If the investigation cleared the officer, those key details would only reinforce that finding.

For one thing, knowing how many times Mr. Turner was shot gives the public a way to evaluate the officer's response in light of some disturbing facts.

A June study by the U.S. Department of Justice reviewed Taser deaths and found that many of them are associated with repeated shocks. It cautioned law enforcement agencies against repeated shockings, saying the medical risks are unknown.

Mr. Turner's autopsy showed the teen's heart was pumping so fast and chaotically from the Taser shot and the confrontation that it stopped pumping blood properly.
In addition, sharing the surveillance video with the public would resolve conflicting accounts of what it shows. A lawyer representing Mr. Turner's family has viewed videotape. He disputes the police account that Mr. Turner walked or advanced aggressively toward the officer before he was shot. More HERE

Case # 4 - 21 year old Barron Scooter Collins,

Tased to death nine times over the course of 30 minutes
www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-taser_witt-web-jul19,0,2201847.story First cousin to Mychal Bell, of the Jena Six, killed after being tased nine times over the course of 30 minutes.
He was in restraints- in police custody when he died. And the certificate labels the death a homicide.A News Broadcaster reports, "The two other Winnfield Officers who were involved in the incident: Alan Marsdin and Cargyle Junior Branch-- Both are still on the force. Neither one has been disciplined."What's up with the News Channel 5. Check out the report they make on the death of of a black man. They start of the report saying, "It's been five and a half months since the death of 21 year old Barron Scooter Collins, a convicted drug dealer. News Channel 5 has learned Collins birth name is Barron Pikes. And he was first cousin to Mychal Bell, of the Jena Six. Scooter died after being in police custody and being tased. The incident prompted over 100 blacks in Winnfield to protest downtown.
Video
Photos

Tasered While Black says: Why was it so important to say:
"The 21 year old Barron Scooter Collins, a convicted drug dealer. "

OK, so News Channel 5 says it has learned Collins birth name is Barron Pikes. And he was first cousin to Mychal Bell, of the Jena Six. Scooter died after being in police custody and being tased. The incident prompted over 100 blacks in Winnfield to protest downtown. The Winn Parish Coroner, Dr. Randolph Williams, actually concluded his report 3 weeks ago and for the past 3 weeks News Channel 5 has been trying to get a copy of the report. Dr. Williams has refused to release anything to the media. But Radio Talk Show Host Tony Brown has provided News Channel 5 a copy of the death certificate. Tony Brown has been in close contact with Scooters relatives. The Pikes gave Brown the death certificate—and permission for him to give it to us.

Tasered While Black: big hat tip to Tony brown for standing in the gap with this family.
That document explains Scooter died after being tased nine times over the course of 30 minutes. He went into cardiac arrest. The certificate also confirms Collins was in restraints- in police custody when he died. And the certificate labels the death a homicide.

This is Scott Nugent, son of former Winnfield Chief of Police Gleason Nugent. Scott Nugent is the officer who tased Scooter after a foot chase. Nugent says Scooter was resisting arrest. But relatives of Scooter told NC5 that Nugent and Scooter went to high school together in Winnfield and had a bumpy personal history that they never liked each other. By the way, Nugent's record with Winnfield PD also has a major bump. In 2007 Nugent arrested a man for DWI--while the man was in Nugent's custody he somehow managed to steal Nugent's police cruiser—he crashed the car and died in the wreck.

Because the coroner was taking such a long time with his investigation, the Winnfield city council held an emergency meeting back in May. Nugent had been on paid suspension since the incident. But under an officer's bill of rights, there's only so much time that can pass until the officer is either allowed back to work or fired. The deadline was fast approaching so the city council voted 3 to 2 to terminate Nugent.

Nugent can appeal his termination to the local civil services board to try to get his job back. But job aside, Nugent could be facing criminal charges for the death. State Police Investigators are reviewing the incident and will present a report to the Winn Parish District Attorney. After that the case could go before a grand jury and then possibly a trial. Meanwhile Scooter's family is consulting with a lawyer about a lawsuit. Scooter had a 4 year old son named Kadarien.

Case # 5 - Black Man Tasered, Dies After Asking For Help From Police
Man dies after being Tasered by police
FayObserver.com - Fayetteville,NC,USA

A man died early this morning after being Tasered by Fayetteville Police Department officers.
The dead man's name has not been released. The State Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate. Fayetteville police also are conducting an internal investigation.
According to the Fayetteville police, a black male flagged down an officer at 5525 Murchison Road about 12:51 a.m. and said that he had overdosed on crack cocaine. When the officer tried to help, the subject fled.About 10 minutes later, officers responded to 5555 Murchison Road in reference to a business alarm. According to police, it was the same man. He became combative and officers tried to Taser him, but did not strike him with both darts. More HERE
FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- The State Bureau of Investigations in looking into the death of a man after being tasered by a Fayetteville Police officer.

Otis Anderson's family members say he was released from prison Sunday.
The incident between police and Anderson happened around midnight Wednesday at a convenience store on Murchison Road. More HERE

Case # 6 - Black Man pepper-sprayed, punched then Tased from behind by Seattle Police even after he complied with their orders and he was down on his knees. SEATTLE - The King County Sheriff's Office is investigating a scuffle that erupted when Seattle police tried to make an arrest on New Year's Eve.Police officers ended up using a Taser on the man who, at that time, was on his hands and knees.

A KOMO 4 News photographer captured exclusive video of the arrest as officers were struggling with Marcel Richardson. Nearly a dozen police officers and at least one firefighter chased and tackled the man. (Watch the raw video of the arrest) Police say Richardson, 23, had a simple choice -- comply or get arrested, and he chose the latter. But Richardson's aunt claims the police took it one step too far when they didn't have to, with her nephew already on the ground.The scuffle broke out in the packed streets near the Space Needle when a computer glitch suddenly stopped the planned fireworks, sending the excited crowds on the ground over the edge.The footage shows Richardson being pepper-sprayed, punched then Tased from behind while he was down on his knees."He was beat in the back of the head with a baton, he was kicked, he was punched in the face (and) for what?" said Michelle King, his aunt.King, who works for Seattle's Municipal Court, says she knows the justice system and is sure the officers went too far."To me, the police department is nothing but a licensed gang and I stand by my son. And no matter what happens after today, I'm going to stand by my son and my nephew until the end," she said.Case

# 7 - Pregnant Black Woman Tased Here is a older report but still relevant. Why are men still being allowed to abuse black woman like this and get away with it. Black Pregnant Woman 'Tasered' by police is convicted

She was rushing her son to school. She was eight months pregnant.
By HECTOR CASTROSEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Police used Taser on pregnant driver

She was rushing her son to school. She was eight months pregnant. And she was about to get a speeding ticket she didn't think she deserved.
So when a Seattle police officer presented the ticket to Malaika Brooks, she refused to sign it. In the ensuing confrontation, she suffered burns from a police Taser, an electric stun device that delivers 50,000 volts.

"Probably the worst thing that ever happened to me," Brooks said, in describing that morning during her criminal trial last week on charges of refusing to obey an officer and resisting arrest.

She was found guilty of the first charge because she never signed the ticket, but the Seattle Municipal Court jury could not decide whether she resisted arrest, the reason the Taser was applied. To her attorneys and critics of police use of Tasers, Brooks' case is an example of police overreaction.

"It's pretty extraordinary that they should have used a Taser in this case," said Lisa Daugaard, a public defender familiar with the case. Law enforcement officers have said they see Tasers as a tool that can benefit the public by reducing injuries to police and the citizens they arrest. Seattle police officials declined to comment on this case, citing concerns that Brooks might file a civil lawsuit. But King County sheriff's Sgt. Donald Davis, who works on the county's Taser policy, said the use of force is a balancing act for law enforcement.

"It just doesn't look good to the public," he said. Brooks' run-in with police Nov. 23 came six months before Seattle adopted a new policy on Taser use that guides officers on how to deal with pregnant women, the very young, the very old and the infirm. When used on such subjects, the policy states, "the need to stop the behavior should clearly justify the potential for additional risks." "Obviously, (law enforcement agencies) don't want to use a Taser on young children, pregnant woman or elderly people," Davis said. "But if in your policy you deliberately exclude a segment of the population, then you have potentially closed off a tool that could have ended a confrontation." Brooks was stopped in the 8300 block of Beacon Avenue South, just outside the African American Academy, while dropping her son off for school. In a two-day trial that ended Friday, the officer involved, Officer Juan Ornelas, testified he clocked Brooks' Dodge Intrepid doing 32 mph in a 20-mph school zone. He motioned her over and tried to write her a ticket, but she wouldn't sign it, even when he explained that signing it didn't mean she was admitting guilt. Brooks, in her testimony, said she believed she could accept a ticket without signing for it, which she had done once before. "I said, 'Well, I'll take the ticket, but I won't sign it,' " Brooks testified.
Officer Donald Jones joined Ornelas in trying to persuade Brooks to sign the ticket. They then called on their supervisor, Sgt. Steve Daman. More HERE

More about this story below:
Pregnant Woman tazered after being pulled over for speeding in ...If Andrew Meyer Was Bad Then a Pregnant Black Woman is Worse
Death by Taser - TalkLeft: The Politics Of Crime
half a bubble off plumb: Taser it before it grows

Case # 8 - Sunday, December 9, 2007
59 Year old black Veteran dies of spinal cord fracture after being "Tasered While Black." Another Black American Veteran Dead at the hands of Law EnforcementWill one of your family members be next?
Samuel Baker
Hat Tip: Community Freespeech.org

What really happened? We the people may never know. Where were the Chief of Police and other elected officials during the meeting on October 9, 2007? They had promised to be there to provide answers. Is it because our Republic is quickly becoming a Police State?
A state, Wherein the news media refuse to report the truth, and where investigative reporting has become a thing of the past—in the so-called land of the free, and the home of too many graves?

News Media Whiteout machines, and Law Enforcement reports are all similar. This death of a 59-year-old American Veterans is no different from hundreds of others by the hands of Law Enforcement for whatever reasons. More HEREResults are expected to be finalized Friday, investigators said. The results will now be turned over to the district attorney's office, which will determine whether charges are filed against anyone involved in the incident. More HERE
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Baker, who passed away during an altercation with a Quitman Police officer, died from a spinal cord fracture and dislocation he suffered when he fell to the ground after being tased. Additionally, the GBI said that Baker's enlarged heart, due to hypertension, played a role in his death.
Hundreds of Quitman Residents March for Samuel Baker

Case # 9 -Tasered While Black, and Sleeping in North Braddock, Pittsburgh
Tasered at his own home: The Shawn Hicks Story By Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette -

When Shawn Hicks returned to his North Braddock home on Stokes Avenue after a Saturday night out on the town with friends, he didn't bother turning on the lights. Instead of heading to his bedroom, Mr. Hicks, a 29-year-old business major at Point Park University, plopped himself face down and fully dressed on his cream-colored leather sofa in his living room. He also neglected to deactivate his home security system, which has a silent alarm. Surrounded by the darkness and familiar comforts of his home, Mr. Hicks was asleep within five minutes. He didn't know it at the time, but he was not destined to have sweet dreams that night. "I felt a lot of voltage going through my body," Mr. Hicks said recalling the events of that late July weekend. "That's what woke me up." Jumping to his feet, Mr. Hicks was aware of an intense sensation between the shoulder blades of his 150-pound body. It didn't stop there. His whole body felt as if it were on fire. When his eyes finally adjusted to the light, his heart skipped yet another beat. Two North Braddock police officers, Gerard Kraly and Lukas Laeuricia, were standing in his living room. To this day, Mr. Hicks still doesn't know which is Kraly and which Laeuricia. The shorter of the two officers did most of the talking. His mustached partner was a burly over-6-footer in his late 30s or early 40s. He held the Taser, the prongs of which were sticking in Mr. Hicks' back. The polite family newspaper version of what Mr. Hicks said in response to being electrified translates roughly as "What's going on here?" The shorter cop, whom Mr. Hicks remembers as blond, asked him to calm down. The officer said that North Braddock police received a call from the security company monitoring Mr. Hicks' home. They believed a break-in was in progress More HERE. There is still more. The FBI reviewing Tasering of sleeping man. Hat Tip blogger Another Opinionated Youth who reports, Back in September, a man living in North Braddock, Pittsburgh, was tasered in his own home, while sleeping on the couch. The story is summed up below: Shawn Hicks had come back from a night out and plopped down on his own couch in his own home. Unfortunately, he failed to deactivate the silent alarm on his home security system. According to Hicks, two police officers responded to the alarm, entered his home, and woke him with a taser between the shoulder blades. When Hicks tried to explain that the whole thing was a misunderstanding, and that the officers were in his own home, they tasered him again. They next checked his wallet and ID, which confirmed his name and address. Then they tasered him again. The police then removed the taser pellets from Hicks' bloody back, refused to get him medical treatment, and arrested him for "being belligerent." They threw him in a holding cell until 5 am the next morning, when they released him without filing any charges. More HERE

Case # 10 - Retired Black Police Lt. Son Tasered While Black

Tasered while Black - NYPD StyleH/T Police Brutality Blog for reporting on the 17-year old Alex Lombard, III still has burn marks from the stun gun. He was stun-gunned four (4) times in one incident. His father, a retired police Lieutenant from the same New York City Police force, said, "I was just hurt by what happened, to think that members of the service, of the police department I worked on, could do this to my son." More HERE

Case # 11 - Woman Dies After Being Handcuffed, Tasered By Police
Here is another one. This happened back in May of 2007 in Oklahoma.
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ A mentally ill homeless woman died after she was arrested outside a shelter and stunned with a Taser while she was on the ground in handcuffs, authorities and witnesses said. An autopsy was performed on Milisha Thompson, 35, but her cause of death has not been determined pending toxicology tests, police Sgt. Paco Balderrama said Tuesday. One witness, Edwin Davis, said onlookers began yelling, ``You killed her! You killed her!'' as Thompson slipped out of consciousness during Saturday's confrontation outside the City Rescue Mission. But Balderrama said Thompson repeatedly kicked and attacked officers, even after being stunned with the Taser. After she lost consciousness, officers began CPR and she was taken by ambulance to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. More HERERelated coverage below:
5/20/2007 Woman Dies After Police Shoot Her With Taser
5/22/2007 Woman Dies After Being Handcuffed, Stunned With Taser By Police 5/31/2007 Police Release Video, Answer Questions In Taser Death

Case # 12 - Wichita Police Taser deaf man who could not hear verbal commands
Wichita NAACP Holding Wichita Police Department AccountableWPD Officer uses a Taser gun on a deaf man who could not hear verbal commands On November 20th, a man by the name of Donnell Williams, 39, was at home alone . Mr. Williams is hearing impaired, has a glass eye, and walks with a slight limp. He was taking a shower when 4 officers responding to a call of 'shots fired' knocked on his door. Mr. Williams did not (and could not) hear them and he continued to shower.When he exited the shower, he walked into his living room, dressed only in a towel to find 4 Wichita Police Officers, one of which was carrying a bullet proof shield. Mr. Williams saw the officers gesturing to him, but could not hear what they were saying so he motioned towards his hearing aid which was sitting on his dining room table.When Mr. Williams turned to get his hearing aid from the table, he was shot with a taser gun by one of the officers. (remember; he was wearing only a towel, and motioning towards his hearing aid which was sitting on the table) more HERE and HERE - Hearing Impaired Man Tased by Police more HERE

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Case # 13 - Don't forget the tasing of black folks is international. "Taser Profiling" or being "Tasered While Black" is not limited to the U.S. - Enter Digby (Nova Scotia) .

September 20, 2007: Afrosphere's Action Alerts Bring 50,000 Marchers to Jena, Louisiana

2007-09-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release

AfroSpear activist blogger Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) foresees 50,000 marchers in Jena, Louisiana on September 20, demanding justice for six Blacks youths who were charged criminally after opposing segregation in Jena, Louisiana. Addressing Jena, Barack Obama says:

"When nooses are being hung in high schools in the 21st century, it’s a tragedy. It shows that we still have a lot of work to do as a nation to heal our racial tensions. This isn’t just Jena’s problem; it’s America’s problem." Eddie G. Griffin (BASG): Obama Demands Fairness in Jena Six Case

The 50,000 marchers at the September 20 Jena Six Justice March will exceed the population of Jena, Louisiana by a factor of 16:1. Even if Jena were not antagonistic toward the rights of Black citizens and those who march in their support (they supported David Duke's senate campaign by a wide margin), Jena's public safety officials - traffic, police, fire and ambulance - would not be equipped to provide public safety services for a march this large. In fact, this will be the largest public gathering in the history of Jena, Louisiana.

We in the AfroSpear proactively demand that Louisiana's Governor Blanco organize state level public safety preparations for this march, just as she should have done but failed to do in advance of Hurricane Katrina. It is foreseen that tens of thousands of people will march for justice in Jena, and the state government must make public safety provisions for the marchers and local citizens.

AfroSpear bloggers who are going to Jena are being asked to bring digital cameras and video recorders so that we can immediately post stories on the Internet and provide footage to major news organizations, immediately distributing photographs and links to Youtube film footage through the AfroSpear associated press newsgroup. Photographs and film footage will immediately be distributed nationally and internationally through AfroSpear blogs.

The September 20 Jena Justice March will be the largest march of historic proportions both organized and reported by the Afrosphere to date. The AfroSpear is making every preparation for a safe and orderly march. We call upon Governor Blanco to assume responsibility for public safety with equal seriousness and diligence.

Francis L. Holland, Esq., AfroSpear Blogger
francislholland@yahoo.com