BlackPerspective.net Calls For World AIDS Day Action

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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