Black Talk Radio News

LL COOL J TWEET AND HOW BLACKS PAID TO HAVE TRAYVON MARTIN KILLED

2012-05-31T22:21:17.628Z

BY Jerome Almon, news, opinion

On Memorial Day, LL Cool J sent out the following Tweet, "Just arrived in Canada. Immigration treated us like criminals..." A few hours later, a story went out around the globe that stated LL "downplayed an incident with Canada Customs at Pearson International Airport on Monday that prompted him to tweet: Immigration treated us like criminals".

http://starsincanada.blogspot.com/2012/05/ll-cool-j.html

The problem with this is that LL Cool J is the latest Black celebrity and athlete to receive this treatment, ranging from Jay Z, 50 Cent, a host of NBA players, Black Jamaicans, Brits, and tons of Black firemen, cops, grandmothers, and children-yet not one of the celebrities has stood up for us the way we stand up for them. Why is that? There is a simple reason, they like the rest of the world-and particularly Canada Border Services has ZERO respect for Black people. There is not way a Chinese, Indian, Arab, Jewish, or any other group would let this go down without immediately calling out Canada and with is people backing him. That is why Canada would not dare pull this on any of these groups.

Examine how India's leading male actor, Shah Rukh Khan reacted when he was profiled by Homeland Security in April of this year vs. how LL folded up on us like a cheap wallet. Mr. Khan called out the troops and not only did his highest government officials immediately jump to his defense, but ours did too, all the way up to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-17699074

This as she sold Black Americans down the river by giving Canada and Germany the green light to target Black Americans as they are fighting and dying in the fields of Afghanistan to defend her office and American freedom-but not African American freedom. Therefore, while we are supporting the likes of LL, Russell Simmons, Spike Lee, and ALLOWING them to have an incredible lifestyle, they are sellouts of the worse kind. They are able to maintain their positions in show business by "delivering" us to the corporations that run the entertainment industry like the BLACK leadership that sold us into slavery, sat down, drank liquor with the Klan, and worked against Dr. King. (Did you know that many of these Black celebrities worked against President Obama's election?)

This is WHY Canada targets Blacks, Black celebrities sell us out, and we have NO respect at home or abroad. Who respects MC Hammer or the Black celebrities and athletes who go out and make $50 million, $100 million, and in the case of Mike Tyson $450 million dollars in a very short period of time and ends up flat broke?! Nobody, especially Black folk. It is impossible-admit it as hard as you try to you can't, I guarantee the FIRST word that comes to your mind when MC Hammer's name is mentioned is stupid right? Well Black Americans as a whole seemed to be even worse examine these 3 facts:

1) There are more Africans in America than there are Canadians on Earth (42 million vs. 34 million)

2) Black American earn more, and according to the University of Georgia spend more money than the size of the entire Canadian economy, meaning we could buy everything from paper clips to factory built and every service from waiter to executive Canada produces in a year.

3) Blacks Americans account for 20% of Canada's economy, without us their economy would go into beyond depression. For example we spend the majority of the half a billion dollars spent in one weekend in Toronto for the annual Caribana Festival. 3/4 Canadian exports go to the US, with 50% of it going through Detroit an 85% BLACK city.

This is why Trayvon Martin and so many other nameless Blacks are murdered and jailed without justification each year-people see us as WORTHLESS because we have no standards when it comes to money and holding our people accountable. Black Americans taking this treatment from Canada and our own celebrities is like Donald Trump or Bill Gates taking orders from their janitors.

As Tony Montana said in the movie Scarface, "The only one in this world that gives orders is BOSS"-we are the BOSS, start acting like it. Join us in our plan of ACTION to end this BS right now by bringing Canada to its knees.

(Contact Mr. Jerome Almon at POWER@OPERATIONBLAKKOUT.COM).

SOURCES:

1)US CENSUS BUREAU http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/cb12-ff01.html and Statistics Canadahttp://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/a26?lang=eng&retrLang=eng&id=0510005&paSer=&pattern=&stByVal=2&p1=-1&p2=31&tabMode=dataTable&csid=

2) http://www.terry.uga.edu/news/releases/2007/minority_buying_power_report.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2119rank.html

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html

3) http://www.thestar.com/opinion/letters/article/839991--caribana-a-victim-of-cultural-racism

http://www.thestar.com/news/article/992414--don-t-call-it-caribana-toronto-festival-forced-to-find-new-moniker

http://www.detroitchamber.com/component/content/article/14-about-detroit/1006-transportatoin-a-logistics

http://www.blackeconomicdevelopment.com/is-former-caribana-a-victim-of-cultural-racism-in-canada/

Re-electing President Obama Trumps Black Resistance to Same Sex Marriage

2012-05-30T18:16:32.601Z

By Cleo Manago, CEO and founder of the Black Men's Xchange (BMX)

For the last few weeks since President Obama became the first sitting president to endorse same-sex marriage, pundits have been obsessed with what this support will mean for this year's election. Specifically, will Obama's rock-solid support in the black community waiver?

Of course, this obsession is predicated on the false belief by nearly everyone in the media that African Americans are somehow more homophobic than other ethnic groups. However, how exactly African Americans feel about homosexuality and why has rarely been investigated.

Yet, when fire and brimstone preachers like Eddie Long or James David Manning surface, they are often treated as poster children for African-American attitudes on homosexuality. Since Long's "homosexual" scandal, many of us now realize or suspect that the minister was talking out of both sides of his neck. A closer look
will reveal that the very "manly," and "strong black male" image that Long promoted is really just another example of the conflict between masculinity and homosexuality frequent in African-American communities.

But we must remember that this conflict is not an independent, African-American phenomenon, but the outcome of a history of brutal attacks on African-American males from slavery all the way up to now with what recently happened to young Trayvon Martin in Florida even. Disproportionately, African American males have been under deadly, compromising or stigmatizing siege for centuries. The list of "accidentally" killed, harmless, African-American males is almost endless.

As a result of this constant trauma, African Americans are deeply concerned about the "state of African-American males" and about Black men'scapacity to be "real men" in a society where their lives can be forfeit at any time. There has been a litany of African-American personalities, once including Rev. Al Sharpton, involved in a reactionary "Black male resurrection" campaign to justifiably compensate for what has and does destructively happen to the African American male. Notables like Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam (NOI) - in the recent past - have been hard-core proponents of African American males being "strong" and "not homosexual" - though his views have softened somewhat over the past few years.

But, what the pundits don't seem to understand is that African American's desire to see Obama win a second term trumps any feelings that African Americans may have about same-sex marriage. And it does so because African Americans, like all Americans, have priorities. Even if some African Americans have concerns about same-sex marriage, we are more concerned about the record unemployment, the high rates of incarceration, and large numbers of Black people without health care in our communities.

We also understand the important symbolic role that President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama play in the lives of African Americans. African Americans (and all Americans) are now living in an era once unimaginable because of America's history of, and continuing struggles with, racism. But it did happen. The U.S. does have a Black first family, and many African Americans (and others) are not willing to give that up and want to savor and experience this for as long as possible.

One of the rarely articulated benefits to the Black community of the Obamas being in the White House is that they symbolically defy the perception and once believed idea of absolute limitation - in terms of possibility - among African Americans. Obama, in particular, is a daily reminder of Black male greatness that will have enduring impact on Black boys for generations to come. "I can be president" is now a thought that does reverberate within African-American minds. That is incredibly valuable to African Americans even if they object to his support for same-sex marriage.

That Obama is a symbol that assuages and soothes some of that male insecurity that fuels a lot of the anti-homosexual sentiment in the Black community is important. The conversations that were had in the Black community after his announcement are important. But even though this isn't a deal-breaker for African Americans, we shouldn't think that the work of dealing with Black male trauma, black manhood insecurity, and anti-homosexual sentiments is over. Obama is an important symbol, but he's just that, a symbol.

We should remember that not all African Americans are politically naive or stupid. Despite any blunders Obama may have made in his first four years, few of them have been significant enough for most African Americans to let him go. We know that he has more on his agenda that he wants to get done and much of that agenda could benefit us.

And we know what the alternative is. Another white man who wants to destroy everything that has been built during the last century to help African Americans and others move up the economic ladder. African Americans have always been socially conservative and politically progressive. That wouldn't change now. Certainly not because President Obama endorsed same-sex marriage.

Cleo Manago is founder and CEO of the Black Men's Xchange (BMX) (http://www.bmxnational.org/), the nation's oldest and largest community-based movement devoted to promoting healthy self-concept and behavior among same gender loving (SGL), gay-identifying and bisexual African-descended males.

Occupy Philly Activists Go to Trial, Maybe to Jail

2012-04-26T18:31:05.285Z

By Michael Coard, 4/14/2012, news, opinion

On April 26, 2012, several defendants could be sent to prison for what they did outside a government facility on November 29th last year, prior to the police arriving and catching them in the act. Sounds like a gang of terrorists caught red-handed, doesn’t it? But words, like appearances, can be deceiving. These were no terrorists. And they weren’t gangsters either. They weren’t even criminals. They were simply a group of nonviolent and selfless activists who, in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., social reformer Maggie Kuhn, homeless advocate Mitch Snyder, and labor leader Dolores Huerta, did what justice demanded.

Known as the “City Hall 31,” the group was doing nothing more than exercising their First Amendment rights of free speech, peaceful assembly and government petitioning. They all, past and present, did so to expose the greedy corporate pimps and their shameless political whores who have impoverished the masses, destroyed the environment, advocated constant warfare, condoned racism, ignored police brutality, and jailed Americans to historic proportions. And for that, the “City Hall 31” were arrested. And for that, several of them could be jailed.

These men, these women, these whites, these blacks and other people of color, these straights, these gays, these old folks, these young folks, these employed, these underemployed, and these unemployed—in other words, these 99 percenters—decided they could not stand idly by and watch the corporate and political criminality of the one percenters to continue to run amok. Accordingly, they took justifiable action as part of the Occupy mobilization.

I could say more about these selfless, non-violent and progressive members of the “City Hall 31,” but they said it much better in their recent press release.

(W)e will stand trial … on charges of obstruction, failure to disperse, and … conspiracy for our participation in peaceful protests on the night of Occupy’s forceful eviction from Dilworth Plaza at City Hall … This constitutes the largest group trial yet to result from police actions against Occupy Philadelphia, and one of the largest trials to date in the international Occupy movement. We believe that our arrests, like those at other Occupy sites across the country, are an organized attempt by city governments to dissuade people from assembling, protesting, and making themselves heard in public spaces. … [When we were arrested], we were declaring our solidarity with the Occupy movement and all that it stands for. We were calling attention to the manner in which corporate greed … has impoverished this nation and undermined the natural resources of the planet. We were calling attention to how the military industrial complex has instigated, supported, and profited from wars that have resulted in the loss of countless lives. We were calling attention to the excesses of a state that undermines the ability of marginalized communities of color to engage in civil society by surveilling them constantly, unleashing brutal police actions on them on a daily basis, and incarcerating them in numbers that have never been matched in the history of the human race … We reject the charge that we were “purposeless,” “obstructionist” or “criminal conspirators.” We reject the charge that resisting injustice nonviolently is in any way illegal … We assert our right to channel the currents that have energized Arab Spring and the Jasmine Revolution and connect Philadelphians to global movements for social justice …

That’s all these activists were doing and are doing, just constitutionally demanding social justice. What could be criminal about that? Absolutely nothing. But several of them nonetheless risk conviction and incarceration. And if that happens, I know what they’ll say when you visit them in prison and ask what these good and reputable folks are doing in jail. They’ll tell you what the imprisoned, non-violent, anti-slavery, boycotting activist Henry David Thoreau reportedly told Ralph Waldo Emerson when Emerson visited him in jail and asked “Henry, what are you doing in there?” Thoreau replied: “Waldo, the question is ‘What are you doing out there?’”

Even if you’re unwilling to risk being “in there” (which is perfectly understandable), I, as one of the proud members of the pro-bono legal defense team representing these justice-seekers, encourage you all to at least play a role by not being “out there” on the sidelines but instead by being “in the fight.” And you can easily do that by attending the trial of the “City Hall 31” in Criminal Justice Center courtroom 305 on April 26th at 9 a.m.

To paraphrase Edmund Burke, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men and good women do nothing by ignoring this trial for economic, social, and political justice.”

Michael Coard is a Philadelphia criminal defense attorney, community activist, founding member of Avenging the Ancestors Coalition and self-described angriest black man in America. He also teaches at Temple and writes for the Philly Post about race, politics and the American justice system.

NJ Weedman: “I refuse to be another John Ray Wilson”

2012-04-25T15:23:28.008Z

Ed Forchion aka NJ Weedman, 4/25/2012, op-ed, news, politics

My Prosecution - On May 1st, 2012 I go on trial in Burlington County Superior Court before Judge Delehey. In most cases a defendant is told not to talk about the case, the facts and follow attorney advice to keep quiet. In my case I refuse to keep quiet, I’m telling the facts and I’m representing myself. While most defendants are afraid; I’m looking forward to confronting the State of New Jersey in court over the “FLAWED” State criminal marijuana law I’ve been “Indicted” for clearly violating. I openly admit I had a pound of medical marijuana I obtained legally in California, it was mine, for me and I not only want to be found not guilty but want the state to give me back my medicine and the money I had in my pocket! A lot has been discussed in the media recently about medical marijuana and of imprisoned medical marijuana patient John Ray Wilson; I refuse to be another John Ray Wilson. His mistake was following the advice of lawyers and letting them speak for him.

My plan of defense to this INDICTMENT is simple and straight forward. I wish only to tell the truth to my Jury, it is the State that is trying to present a LIE as Law. I’m utilizing a open avocation of Jury Nullification (http://home.njweedman.com/node/17) as my defense, I’m openly going to encourage the Jury to disregard the law and acquit me, because the law is wrong not I. That is my defense; the LAW is wrong, it’s a lie and the Jury can dis-regard this bogus, outdated law and simply say “Not Guilty”. Burlington County Prosecutor Michael Luciano and Judge Delehey have tried numerous tactics to prevent me from utilizing this constitutionally legal tactic. Luciano at every hearing complains that I shouldn’t be allowed to do this, at one point Judge Delehey in attempting to appease Luciano removed me from self representation supporting LUCIANOs attempt to protect the law from my Truth defense. Only to re-instatement me later as it was clear his action of removing me was UNCONSTITUTIONAL. Luciano and other state officials in the Christie Administration contacted the U.S. (in)Justice Department DEA agents in Los Angeles and had them raid and ruin my business ( The Liberty Bell Temple ) in Los Angeleson Dec 13th, putting me out of business in another attempt to undermine my ability to defend myself against these charges. This case will not only be a test of Christie’s Marijuana Policies but of the legality of Jury Nullification.

The truth is the NJ Constitution gives a Jury the right and power to nullify a law, for the Jury has the power to utilize its own conscience, to judge a law, and to render a verdict/decision reflective of that. The legal establishment tries to hide this fact from jurors and defendants. Unfortunately for Christie, Luciano I’m informed and plan on informing my jury.

NJ Const., Article 1 paragraph 6 – “In all prosecutions or indictments .…the truth may be given in evidence to the jury; ….and the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact”.

HOW DID WE GET HERE

On Jan 18th 2010 outgoing NJ Governor Corzine signed into law NJ Medical Marijuana Compassionate Use Act which recognized the fact that marijuana has medical value. Incoming Governor Christie immediately began to undermine and blocked implementation of it. Two years later Christie and his policy of impeding the medical marijuana act has been successful. Not one patient has received medical marijuana thru legal state channels, not one (ATC) alternative treatment center has opened, no patient has been approved to receive marijuana thru our state system and there isn’t any marijuana being grown for the program. While Mr. Wilson sits in prison for growing his own medicine the Governor questions Mr. Wilson’s illness! In all honesty many still get their marijuana thru the black-market anyway and the marijuana they get is better than the inferior marijuana that Christie envisions will be grown thru the state system. Christies “goofy” marijuana policies do nothing but encourage those like myself with the means, knowledge and ability to supply them. On May 1st his policies go before my JURY too.

At the time of the passage of the Medical marijuana Act I said it was a step in the right direction but I openly criticized it as being seriously flawed and unworkable and many of my fellow marijuana activist criticized me for saying it, but like usual I was just ahead of my time and here we are over two years later and everything I predicted has come true. I vowed to challenge the LAW with a JURY.

God blessed me and made it happen

Three months after the passage of the NJ Medical Marijuana Act on April 1st(April fools ) 2010 I was arrested by a NJ State Trooper after I arrived from California carrying my own medicine. The BC Prosecutors Office didn’t charge me with violating an aspect of the newly passed medical marijuana act, they “INDICTED” me with violating the state’s criminal marijuana statute (N.J.S.2C:43-3 ). WTF? Which was a serious legal error, the criminal marijuana statute I’ve been indicted for violating statutorily describes marijuana as a schedule 1 drug (having no medical value)! This criminal LAW is clearly outdated and was rendered moot with the passage of the medical marijuana act, it’s obviously a LIE that the Burlington County Prosecutors Office is attempting to ease past the jury. The law is clearly flawed and the Jury has the right to be presented THE TRUTH. My arrest unlike John Ray Wilson who’s arrest (10/2009) was three months prior to passage of the Medical Marijuana Act was 3 months after NJ recognized marijuana’s medical value with the passage of the medical marijuana act. The State is attempting to have it both ways yet I have a constitutional right to present this FACT to the Jury.

I'm a dual citizen of NJ and Ca and I have a federal Right to Travel “medical marijuana patient” or not. Do patients who use Aspirin, Hydrocordone or Vicodin have to switch medicines or discard them when crossing state lines? My jury has the right to know the marijuana I had, was obtained in California legally, I had a medical marijuana recommendation from a California doctor and I have a medical marijuana patient card issued by the State of California. At time of my arrest I said it was the State of New Jersey that had made the APRIL FOOLISH mistake of arresting me; “NJWEEDMAN SUPER-HERO of the POTHEADS”. These are the facts I plan on presenting to my jury as the NJ Constitution says “the jury shall have the right to determine the law and the fact”

Not Everyone With an Illegal Gun Deserves Jail Time

2012-04-15T15:51:29.235Z

By Michael Coard, 4/14/2012, news, opinion

Most Philadelphians believe that violent crime is the city’s biggest problem. As a result, you might think severe punishment for anyone who illegally possesses a gun—regardless of whether the person committed a separate non-violent crime with it—is part of the solution. Mere unlawful possession, you’d argue, is enough to warrant mandatory imprisonment. No probation. No fine. No community service. No parole without a required minimum jail sentence. Good, you say. Bullshit, I say.

Mandatory imprisonment for any non-violent crime, including simple firearm possession, is wrong. Pennsylvania crime code section 6106 is titled “Firearms Not to Be Carried Without a License” and involves having a gun in a car or concealed outside one’s residence or place of employment anywhere in the Commonwealth. If an offender has no license to carry and isn’t eligible for such, it’s a third degree felony, which means he or she could face up to seven years in jail plus a $15,000 fine. Section 6108 is titled “Carrying Firearms on Public Streets or Public Property in Philadelphia” and involves possessing a gun without a license anywhere in the county. It’s a first degree misdemeanor, which means an offender could face up to five years in jail plus a $10,000 fine.

Neither crime requires a mandatory jail sentence, and that’s a good thing. In other words, a judge could, should, and often does simply impose a probationary sentence, a fine, court costs, and a supervision fee. And the reasoning is simple. No one was shot. No one was shot at. No one was injured. No one was threatened. The defendant did nothing more than possess a gun illegally. And as every reasonable person agrees, punishment should always fit the crime and the criminal.

Not Everyone Carrying a Gun Without a Permit Is a Violent Criminal

If 43-year-old father, husband, accountant, and recreation center basketball coach Joe Blow carried a gun to protect himself and his family as they travel throughout his notoriously violent neighborhood, but he never got a license due to a 20-year-old conviction for smoking and passing out joints at a college frat party, even the “Greek Father of Draconian Punishment” wouldn’t feel obligated to throw him in jail. In this situation, judges and Draco himself (often the same thing) would consider Mr. Blow’s mitigating circumstances, employment, family relationships, age, character, reputation, and likelihood of future criminality. Specifically, they would factor in what we lawyers call the Prior Record Score, which pertains to any previous convictions, and the Offense Gravity Score, which pertains to the seriousness (or lack thereof) of the current charge.

A mandatory jail sentence for this Joe Blow and many like him would be unjust, regardless of Philly’s violent crime problem. Sending a message, ostensibly a message of deterrence, by locking him up would be shortsighted, ineffective and just plain wrong. Penologists and criminologists have made it crystal clear that incarceration should be used only when restitution, fines, community service, probation and house arrest are insufficient to protect society primarily (but not exclusively) from violence or threat of violence. (By the way, just as no alcohol drinker or possessor should ever be jailed, neither should any drug user or possessor. Remember the 18th Amendment that criminalized alcohol, jailed alcoholics and recreational drinkers, and made the Al Capones of this country rich? How’d that turn out for us?)

To those who dismiss my assertions as the mere rantings of a bleeding-heart liberal, a criminal-coddling, soft-on-crime, fancy-pants defense lawyer, I say there’s nothing fancy about my pants. I also say that this country prohibits cruel (and unusual) punishment. Mr. Blow and those like him already face the heavy sanction of designation as a convicted felon along with a fine, community service, probation and house arrest, which carry the collateral damage of loss of employment, student financial aid, professional licensure, driver’s license, social services grants (e.g., public housing), foster-parenting eligibility, and child-adopting rights, as well as preclusion/dismissal from the military.

Gun Possession Laws in Pennsylvania Can Be and Have Been Cruel

In 2007, Sue Zortman, a 43-year-old white woman in the small town of Curwensville in Clearfield County (yeah, sometimes even white folks—the poor ones—get snagged up in the criminal justice system’s injustice) pleaded guilty to a marijuana charge in order to get either probation or a short county jail sentence. But the Common Pleas judge imposed a five-year mandatory state prison sentence because a gun, although not on Ms. Zortman’s person, was—get this—merely under her bed when the weed was in her house. However, when her lawyer proved that the gun was inoperable since even the cops and the prosecutor conceded it had no firing pin, the judge reversed himself and sentenced her to only nine months in county jail plus nine years probation afterward. End of story? Nope! The DA, citing state law as enacted by the legislature in 2004, appealed. In response, the state Supreme Court last year affirmed the Superior Court by ruling that a firearm doesn’t have to be operable (and also that it doesn’t even have to be loaded or even on the defendant’s person) for the mandatory five-year state prison sentence to kick in. So Ms. Zortman, a non-violent pothead, is now doing hard time with murderers.

Mandatory Sentencing for Guns and Drugs Is Totally Unwarranted

Yes, guns are dangerous. And yes, quite often dangerous people use them. But sometimes, in their blind zeal to get elected and re-elected, most politicians, both the legislative and judicial kind, cravenly pander to the many misled and emotional members of the voting public with superficial, sound-bite, tough-on-crime, quick-fix, knee-jerk (and regular jerk) so-called solutions to gun crimes.

Think about it: Not many, if any, politicians would have the courage to say it’s cruel, unjust and wrong to mandate five years in state prison in every single case in which “at the time of the … (drug) offense,” meaning when a few joints from the bedroom closet were handed out, your son/daughter’s “accomplice,” i.e., meaning his/her roommate in their one-bedroom apartment, has hidden or “concealed” under the bed his/her ex-boyfriend’s/ex-girlfriend’s old unloaded trigger-less gun “in close proximity to the controlled substance” in that closet. In such cases, your son/daughter and the roommate both go directly to jail for five years and do not pass go. So says section 9712.1 of the Pennsylvania Sentencing Code.

Mandatory sentencing, whether for guns, drugs, or most everything else is totally unwarranted. In regard to drug crimes, President George H. W. Bush said eliminating mandatory minimums “will result in better justice and more appropriate sentences.” Ronald Reagan-appointed Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy stated “I’m against mandatory sentences. Mandatory minimums are harsh and in many cases unjust.” Richard Nixon-appointed Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist noted that “(T)hese mandatory minimums impose unduly harsh punishment for first time offenders.” And he previously pointed out that “Our resources are misspent, our punishments too severe, (and) our sentences too long.” What? Some old conservative white guys and a middle-aged leftist black guy saying the same thing? I guess that means mandatory sentencing must be abolished immediately—especially for gun possession crimes in Philly.

Detroit’s top prosecutor Kym L. Worthy fails to turn over all recorded confessions in Sanford murder case

2012-04-14T00:36:15.838Z

Black Talk Radio News, 4/13/2012, news,

In response to a FOIA request on the Devontae Sandford case by freedom activist Roberto Guzman, the Wayne Countyprosecutor’s office failed to turn over copies of all the taped confessions of then 14 yr-old Devontae Sanford. For now throw out the fact that Devontae had no legal counsel at the time the tapes were made.

Mr. Guzman who is also a para-legal and works on other cases of injustice, said that the department press secretary Marie Miller and the FOIA officer Suzy Taweel did not provide him with all materials requested in preparation for an upcoming rally April 23rd in front of Frank Murphy Hall of Justice.

Mr. Guzman told Black Talk Radio News that,

“I noticed in reviewing Davontae Sanford's statements and the audio video of his interrogation that they did not provide me one or two other audio videos relative to his interrogation with Detroit Police.”

Mr. Guzman provided a copy of the email inquiry he sent to Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy’s office about the missing dvds exclusive to Black Talk Radio News,

“Ms. Miller and Ms. Taweel:

I had a chance to review everything that was provided to me in the Sanford case.

I believe I am missing a video or two of Davontae's interrogations. In the September 19, 2007 interrogation session, Sgt. Russell makes reference to an interrogation session he had with Davontae earlier that day. As there are two statements from Davontae, there was no doubt two separate interrogations.

I was given two DVDs of Davontae's interrogations, but they are duplicates of his interview with Sgt. Russell.

I will tell you what I have. One DVD entitled Sanford Interview Full Copy. Only one interrogation session is on that interview and that is where Sgt. Russell went over Davontae's second statement on September 19, 2007.

I have another DVD entitled Davontae Sanford Interview with OIC Sgt. C. Edwards and below that is a date of October 1, 2007. However this DVD does not contain an interview with Sgt. Edwards. It is a duplicate of Sanford's interview with Sgt. Russell on September 19, 2007.

Among the documents that were given to me by your office is a drawing of the crime scene showing four stick people done by an officer who had Davontae adopt the accuracy of the drawing by signing his name to it. That drawing was not discussed in the September 19, 2007 videotaped interrogation with Sgt. Russell, which further leads me to believe I am missing a recording of the an interrogation or two.

There is no doubt a videotaped session with Sgt. Edwards, but I don't have it. This appears to have been a copying error. I would gladly show you what was provided to me.

This just came to my attention earlier this afternoon as I attempted to watch the Sgt. Edwards interview for the first time, so I apologize for my lateness in recognizing this.”

– Roberto Guzmon

Black Talk Radio News will continue to follow this story and update you on new developments.

New book claims James Earl Ray assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. for $98,000 KKK Bounty

2012-04-12T04:28:35.877Z

By, Scotty Reid, 4/12/2012, news, opinion

A new book is exploring allegations that James Earl Ray killed Martin Luther King Jr. to collect a bounty offered by the Mississippi KKK.

According to the UK’s Mail Onlinenews website,

“Speculation has long raged that Dr King was killed in 1968 as part of a wider conspiracy, even though the FBI immediately dismissed the idea that Klansmen were responsible. But according to previously unreleased FBI reports in The Awful Grace of God, by respected U.S.historians Stuart Wexler and Larry Hancock who want the murder reinvestigated, the reality could have been very different.”

An objective reader should always consider the source and bear in mind that the information is gleaned from FBI files compiled when J Edgar Hoover’s reign of terror was still active in destroying Black organizations. The credibility of anything from FBI during time should be always questioned. These documents could be part of a disinformation campaign to cover up any actual FBI involvement. So many of Hoover’s files were destroyed after he died, there is so much Americawill never know. Do these particular records reveal if the FBI knew about the bounty and did nothing to stop the plot or arrest the conspirators? Similar accusations toward the FBI have been made concerning the assassinations of Malcolm X and John F. Kennedy as well. It is a crime in many states to do nothing to save the life of a person when it is in your power to do so, particularly if your job includes protecting the public from crime. Think of it, J Edgar Hoover was in charge of the FBI when Malcolm, Martin and John F. Kennedy were all murdered.

Yes, those who called for the bounty and contributed to it financially should be investigated, who knows, they may have become judges, mayors and governors. I imagine raising that kind money snag a few “prominent” donors. Speaking of bounties, I hope people now understand what an actual bounty is. When the New Black Panther Party offered a reward for a citizen’s arrest for George Zimmerman, something allowed for under Floridalaw, it was in no way comparable to an actual bounty. No new panther I heard uttered the words “dead or alive” in their reward offer.

To say the least, the book should renew a conversation about this past injustice and bring it to the forefront of national consciousness. After all, they did just erect a monument to the man where our Black President gave a speech who also has an Black Attorney General. If upon further investigation suspects are indentified, there should be a strong call from the Black community for accountability. Without a demand the powers that be concede nothing, that includes the Obama administration.

Miami Marlins cave to pressure from anti-Castro Cubans

2012-04-10T15:21:43.389Z

By Scotty Reid, 4/10/2010, news, opinion

The Miami Marlins have suspended manager Ozzie Guillen for comments he made about the resilience of Cuban leader Fidel Castro.

Guillen who is from Venezuela, a country which has friendly ties with the Cuban government, said that he "loves" Castro and respects him for being able to say in power for more than 50 years when so many people have been trying to kill him. While it is against U.S. law, the CIA has attempted to assasinate the Fidel Castro numerous times.

Guillen was suspended for five games by the Marlins who caved to pressure from the large Cuban dissident community that resides in the Miami area. His suspension is raising questions about whether the Marlins violated their manager's first amendment right to free speech however unpopular his comments may have been to a small population of the United States. Ironically or more accurately hypocritically, the anti-Castro Cubans in Miami have often criticized and accused the Cuban government for not allowing free speech.

It is hypocritical for anyone who wants to demonize the Castro government for alleged atrocities committed after the successful revolution in which the brutal U.S. and mob backed dictator Fulgencio Batista was driven from the island nation. The US government and the vast majority of its past and present Presidents have committed numerous crimes against humanity, including Ronald Reagan who sponsored murderous death squads in South America while the CIA distributed cheap cocaine in the United States to fund their black-ops which led to a crack epidemic in urban areas of the country

When Castro came to power in 1959, segregation and Jim Crow was still being practiced in the United States and racism is still a major problem today.

It is doubtful that Guillen will appeal his suspension or stand up for his Constitutional rights as a citizen of the United States. Hugo Chavez, the leader of Venezuela who has a personal friendship with Castro has yet to weigh in on the controversy.

Was Mike Wallace a tool of CointelPro?

2012-04-08T20:39:49.327Z

By Scotty Reid, 4/8/2012, news, opinion

From a Wall Street Journal piece on the passing of Mike Wallace,

"Wallace didn't just interview people. He interrogated them. He cross-examined them. Sometimes he eviscerated them. His weapons were many: thorough research, a cocked eyebrow, a skeptical "Come on" and a question so direct sometimes it took your breath away."

In fact some of his questions were too direct. So direct, they seemed to come straight from J. Edgar Hoover’s Counter Intelligence Program against every Negro organization in America.

The notion struck me while reviewing many of the YouTube videos of Malcolm X speeches and interviews. In one of the clips, Mike Wallace interviewed and interrogated Malcolm X on an issue that is still plaguing the Black community today, police brutality. Mike Wallace asked Minister Malcolm X about the kinds of “movements” happening in the Black community that he does not know about. He asked what kinds of actions these “movements” might take. Wallace then allows the subject, in this case Malcolm X, speak on for minutes while a FBI agent somewhere wrote down every word.

To doubt that the FBI’s CointelPro media operations would not recruit someone of Mike Wallace’s high profile and with one of the most watched news shows of the day is naive. Wallace interviewed a number of people in the Black power struggle, spent hours with them. He would be an ideal gatherer of information on Black “movements” for the FBI.

The FBI use of the media is nothing new; media propaganda has always been a part of war since the invention of the printing press and not just for the dissemination of propaganda.

If you think that news media organizations are incorruptible or above politics, one only need look to Fox News and any of the media holdings of right wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch.

Malcolm X was well aware of the manipulative powers of the “news media” and he said,

“The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

Mike Wallace was a part of that media machine.

According to PublicEye.org,

“An analysis of CointelPro documents showed the FBI's use of newspapers, radio stations, and television stations was much greater than previously suspected. A separate CointelPro media program was in operation from at least 1956 to 1971; and documents reveal FBI offices in 16 cities were requested to compile lists of cooperative and reliable reporters for CointelPro use.”

As the corporate media laments the loss of one of their long time colleagues survived by his son and a current Fox News host Chris Wallace, I will be wondering if there is a list of CointelPro media collaborators with the name Mike Wallace on it.

Eyewitness who saw Trayvon Martin slaying says it was Trayvon calling for help

2012-04-07T20:49:22.372Z

Courtesy AC360

Last night on AC360, Ashleigh Banfield - filling in for Anderson Cooper - spoke exclusively with an eyewitness to the Trayvon Martin shooting. The woman, who asked that her identity be concealed, said she witnessed the entire incident take place 25 feet from her window and that she was on the phone with 9-1-1 the entire time.

The woman said she heard two yells for help that night, the second she described as "a devastating, desperate type of yell for help." Asked if she could distinguish who was screaming for help, she said that "from the very beginning, and I still do feel it was the young boy...I definitely could tell it was a younger, youthful voice than it was the deep voice I heard when they were arguing."

According to the women although the police interviewed her in her apartment they turned down her offer to take them to the location of the shooting and to show them what she saw. After her interviewed she told the police that she would never forget those cries for help and she wished she could have done something, and according to her the lead investigator said "well, if it makes you feel better, the person yelling for help is alive."

Black Talk Blogs,

The Orlando Sentinel hired two voice analyst technicians using two different forms of technology and both come to the same conclusion, the voice heard the 911 calls pleading for help was not George Michael Zimmerman.

Tom Owen, forensic consultant for Owen Forensic Services LLC and chair emeritus for the American Board of Recorded Evidence, used voice identification software to rule out Zimmerman. Another expert contacted by the Sentinel, utilizing different techniques, came to the same conclusion.

Progressing towards freedom in Palestine: Targeting Israel's system of Apartheid

2012-04-06T16:38:39.062Z

By Anisa Abd el Fattah, news, opinion

We so often hear people speak of ending Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine, yet outside of the negotiated settlement peace process, we don’t hear much about how one would go about liberating Palestine, without falling into the current peace process scheme, which is a land for peace model. In response to this obvious deficiency in respect to options, or alternative plans to achieve Palestinian’ liberation, it might serve our purpose to look at a dismantlement of the system of apartheid as a first tactical step towards liberation.

Israel has positioned its checkpoints in a strategic pattern, the purpose of which is to control and limit the movement of the Palestinian population. This control is accomplished by militarizing the checkpoints and implementing a rigid policy, the aim of which is to protect the checkpoints and also to deter Palestinians from any effort to bypass or to seek to breech the checkpoints as in forcing their way through or overcoming any physical barriers. The policy that dictates the control and protection of the checkpoints is so strict, that many deaths have occurred at checkpoints and also many births, due to the fact that the seemingly arbitrary process of identifying and clearing Palestinian travelers is purposefully long, humiliating and unpredictable.

There has been lots of conversation about the effectiveness of the checkpoints and their real aim. Many argue that the checkpoints are not effective in respect to providing Israel with security from resistance attacks and they cite the incident in Dimona as an example. People also argue that the checkpoints cause unnecessary hardship for Palestinians, while making life more secure for Israelis simply because they separate Palestinians from one another, which inhibits opportunities to plan and organize resistance operations and to move weapons. They also effectively create separate areas of living for Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank. This creates a sense of security for the illegal settlers and other Israelis, while facilitating the Israelis economic control of the West Bank resources, trade and commerce.

All of this makes it very clear that the checkpoints are a major aspect of Israel’s system of apartheid and occupation. Even Israel’s military experts and policy makers admit that the checkpoints are not really part of Israel’s actual security apparatus, yet they do effectively separate the two peoples, who are divided mostly due to religious and not security reasons. Zionism which is the Talmudic religion or ideology, strictly prohibits Jewish Zionists from sharing the land with what they refer to as Goyim, or Gentiles. What this also means in respect to international law, including the Geneva Conventions, is that the checkpoints are legal targets for any Palestinian entity that is interested in eliminating the system of apartheid and occupation in Palestine.

Unfortunately international and Palestinian political pressure to remove the checkpoints has failed, with even US policy makers complaining that Israel’s refusal to dismantle at least the supposedly temporary checkpoints is a violation of its failed peace process agreements.

What this recalcitrance on the part of Israel suggests is that the illegal checkpoints are fair and legal targets for forcible removal by the Palestinian people. Since the checkpoints are manned by armed Israeli soldiers who will use likely lethal force against civilians who attempt to remove the checkpoints, it probably is not a good idea for civilians to target the checkpoints for armed operations. It does suggest that the checkpoints are perfect targets for nonviolent takeovers by mass numbers of Palestinians who have the legal right to peacefully retake their land and to dismantle the checkpoints.

Of course once dismantled by force of numbers, the question is how to keep the roads and land under Palestinian control. Since Israel is already dismantling and abandoning some of the checkpoints, it might be possible for Palestinians to first take control of the abandoned checkpoints, prohibiting Israeli soldiers from using the checkpoints, and also preventing them from becoming operative again. This would require the cooperation of the PA security which is questionable. They mostly serve the occupation.

It also appears completely legal for the Palestinians, with the possible cooperation of the PA, to dismantle the abandoned checkpoints and to reclaim the land upon which they were established. How? By pressuring the checkpoints. Of course, only the Palestinian people can actually answer that question, but what is certain is that the removal of illegal checkpoints, and reclamation of land are key to ending the occupation overall, since the checkpoints and the system of apartheid, while they may not lend much to Israel by way of actual security, they are a major psychological and strategic barrier to Palestinian freedom and unity and essential to sustaining the occupation. The same is true for segments of the illegal wall that Israel has been ordered to remove, but stubbornly refuses.

There are of course those who will argue that such efforts will only lead to Palestinian deaths and Israel tightening the noose on Palestinian villages to prevent future efforts to dismantle, or at least to pressure the occupation at its seams. Consider that Israel will be hard pressed to explain to the international community why it can dismantle checkpoints, but Palestinians can’t dismantle abandoned checkpoints and why Palestinians cannot reclaim the land, especially since it is illegally occupied land. For Israel to resort to massacres or excessive force is not likely or wise, since it would cause Israel to loose the security argument and there are not many people who will accept that Israel has a right to kill Palestinian people in mass at checkpoints, to preserve an illegal system of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and occupation. Also, people frustrated by Israel's arrogance and stubbornness in respect to ending the illegal occupation, might even see the removal of the checkpoints and reclamation of the land by the Palestinians as major and much needed progress towards peace.

If the right strategy is employed, the occupying entity might realize that its system of checkpoints is not sustainable without the use of excessive force and experiencing losses of its own, most importantly, it will loose much of the dwindling support it presently enjoys.That alone would be a major victory for the people of Palestine.There is a good chance that it could also loose some of its security aide from patrons if the case can be made successfully that Israel is in violation human rights law and do is not eligible for continued aide according to the laws of some countries.

References:
http://www.nad-plo.org/print.php?id=72
http://itisapartheid.org/Documents_pdf_etc/IsraelViolationsInternationalLaw.pdf
http://www.israelpolicyforum.org/analysis/understanding-checkpoints
http://www.kabobfest.com/2009/07/removal-of-israeli-checkpoints-just-an-illusion.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEpkGZ0KbcY

2012 Presidential Candidate Anisa Abd el Fattah was born in 1955 into a “family of Baptist ministers.” When her parents divorced, she began attending Catholic schools. She credits this experience with fostering in her “an interest in religion and particularly how religions impact people and the world that we live in and share.” She converted to Islam in the 1980s and began her career in Muslim community work in 1989 as the business director for the Jamaat Ibad el Rahman private school in Jersey City, New Jersey. Prior to joining the school, she had worked as an independent local community activist, working with immigrant Muslim women and families in the New York metro area. It was while employed at the Jammat Ibad el Rahman that Anisa founded the National Association of Muslim Women which became the National Association of Muslim American Women (NAMAW) in 1994.

Who is the vigilante, Zimmerman, the New Black Panthers or Trayvon Martin?

2012-04-01T21:28:35.233Z

By Scotty Reid, 4/1/2012, news, opinion

Edward Wyckoff Williams of The Root published an insightful article examining the different treatment by Sanford officials and others in the state of Florida of George Zimmerman and the New Black Panther Party members who offered a reward for the apprehension of Zimmerman with the intent to turn him over to federal authorities.

While the article is constructive in pointing out the apparent racism/white supremacy in the City of Sanford’s response to Zimmerman contrasted with the treatment of members of the Panthers, he should be more careful in his word choices.

Zimmerman, a white Hispanic male has been referred to by Williams and other members of the press as a vigilante. I myself made that same mistake once during a radio report on the story until it was pointed out to me that it was incorrect word usage. A vigilante is a private individual who dishes out punishment legally or illegally in response to a crime according to the Oxford dictionary. Trayvon Martin was not in the act of nor did he commit a crime by walking in the gated community where his father lives. Therefore, Zimmerman cannot be correctly referred to as a vigilante.

The New Black Panther Party issuing a reward for the apprehension of George Zimmerman is not an act of vigilantism. It is not uncommon for private citizens to offer rewards in connection to apprehending criminals or obtaining information leading to their arrest. It is possible that the reward, which is being described incorrectly as a bounty, may encourage acts of vigilantism by private citizens, which going by the Oxford definition, may not be illegal. As pointed out in an article on the website National Review, there is not much case law on citizen’s arrests in the state of Florida but offers up the following,

A private citizen does have the common law right to arrest a person who commits a felony in his presence, or to arrest a person where a felony has been committed, and where the arresting citizen has probable cause to believe, and does believe, the person arrested to be guilty. Even though there was time to obtain a warrant, a private citizen may make such an arrest and justify his failure to obtain a warrant by proving the person arrested was actually guilty of a felony.

The Sun Sentinel says you can make a citizen’s arrest in Florida but to be careful.

Florida is among many states that follows common law regarding citizen's arrest. You can detain someone, until police arrive, if you witness a felony or have reasonable belief someone committed a felony. You should tell a person if they are under arrest, but don't worry about reading them Miranda rights.

Two important points, though: Don't use more force than needed, and call police right away, said Elaine Cohen, associate dean at the Institute of Public Safety at Broward College.

There is a new report that two independent voice analyst experts analyzed the 911 calls of someone pleading for help and concluded that it was not Zimmerman pleading for help as he claimed. This leaves us to the conclusion that it was Trayvon Martin pleading for help before the fatal gunshot is heard on the call and the cries immediately stop. It is looking more and more probable that Zimmerman executed the teen in cold blood. Throw in the fact that he called Trayvon Martin a “f-ing coon” before stalking him as he was advised not to do by the 911 dispatcher, it is logical to conclude that George Michael Zimmerman committed a felony hate crime.

In order to prevent further loss of life, Zimmerman is still armed and dangerous, the New Black Panther Party members or others who might seek to execute a legal citizen’s arrest on Zimmerman based on probable cause to believe he committed a felony act against Trayvon Martin, it may be best for them to only locate Zimmerman and track his movements. If Zimmerman attempts to pull his weapon on anyone who watches him from a distance, then Florida does have “Stand Your Ground” legislation in place that if equally applied as they were to Zimmerman based on his false claims, would allow for deadly force in self-defense.

If anyone can properly be referred to as a vigilante, it would be Trayvon Martin. If he did indeed resist George Zimmerman's attempt to unlawfully detain him which is a crime in Florida, the same crime Sanford officials have warned the Panthers not to engage in, and he did indeed break Zimmerman’s nose and pound his head into the pavement causing an injury, he was only dishing out the punishment an armed assailant in the act of committing a crime against him deserved.

However, no forensic evidence has been presented to support Zimmerman’s claim that the two got into a life and death struggle. Recent video footage does not show a bloodied nose or blood on the clothing of Zimmerman that would result from such an injury. While the right wing website The Daily Caller attempted to Photoshop an image from the video, it is still not clear if Zimmerman suffered any injuries because of Trayvon Martin defending himself. The so-called new witness who said he saw Martin on top of Zimmerman hitting him, may actually be an accomplice. The funeral director who examined Martin’s body after it had been hidden in a Sanford morgue for three days, recently stated he saw no evidence that would indicate the teen had been in a fight.

Getting back to William’s main point in his article, it is evident that the Sanford official’s responses to Zimmerman’s crimes and the New Black Panther Party’s reward offer for a citizen’s arrest and the perceived threat to arrest them clearly shows a bias that can logically be presumed to be based in racism/white supremacy.

The Daily Caller “enhances” Zimmerman photo to show head wound

2012-03-29T22:22:42.687Z

By Scotty Reid, 3/29/2012, news, opinion

Never mind the fact that George Zimmerman claimed his nose was broken and he sustained cuts to his face which there are no signs of in the Sanford Police video footage obtained by ABC NEWS. Never mind the fact that George Zimmerman appears to not have sought medical attention that would provide documentation of his injuries, neither did the Sanford Police document his injuries with photographs to support the decision to let him walk after murdering Trayvon Martin in cold blood after stalking him in the rain. Never mind the fact that George Zimmerman’s friend, Uncle Ruckus, I mean Joe Oliver was totally discredited on an interview with MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell and NY Time’s writer Charles Blow.

Never mind any of this, the right wing media is intent on not only demonizing Trayvon Martin but are willing it seems to go as far as doctoring photos to substantiate Zimmerman’s unsubstantiated claim of self defense. Is it possible that George Zimmerman sustained injuries to his head in the course of Trayvon Martin defending himself and standing his ground after being chased and cornered by Zimmerman? Yes, anything is possible but it is near impossible to tell from the video footage which a frame from was admittedly “enhanced” by The Daily Caller.

It was claimed that Zimmerman had grass stains on his back from the struggle with Trayvon Martin. Must have been some very hard grass to cause wounds from having his head repeatedly banged into it. Again, noting that it is hard to tell from this footage, do you see any grass stains on the back of Zimmerman’s jacket? By the way, unlike The Daily Caller, this image has not been “enhanced”.

The Daily Caller was “founded by Tucker Carlson, a 20-year veteran of print and broadcast media, and Neil Patel, former chief policy adviser to Vice President Cheney”. Yes, the same Dick Cheney who shoots people in the face hunting while drunk and gets away with it.

HAPPY 63RD BIRTHDAY, GIL SCOTT-HERON! AND, YES, HIS REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED

2012-03-28T17:48:51.103Z

By Attorney Michael Coard, 3/28/2012 op-ed, news

When he first told Americain 1970 that “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” after writing it in 1968 at age 19, Gil Scott-Heron set the stage for what would become part of the musical and poetic soundtrack for black, white, and brown progressives and revolutionaries. And he didn’t stop until 40 years later. Gil was the musical grandson of insurrectionist Nat Turner and liberator Harriet Tubman and the poetic son of fiery author David Walker and anti-lynching editor Ida B. Wells.

Gilbert “Gil” Scott-Heron was born April 1, 1949 in Chicago to Jamaican soccer star Giles “The Black Arrow” Heron and opera singer/teacher Robert (yes, “Robert,” as named by her father Robert), better known as Bobbie, Scott-Heron. When he was two years old, his parents separated after his father had decided to move to Scotland. The two of them didn’t speak to each other again until he was 26. Immediately following the separation, Gil’s mother moved to Puerto Rico to teach English. Before going, she sent him to Tennessee to live with her mother, a serious and religious southern woman. His grandmother was pivotal in laying the foundation for him to become the man he became. Lizzie, as she was called, loved gospel music. She made arrangements for Gil to entertain her Thursday night sewing circle by playing gospel on a broken-down piano that she bought for him for about eight dollars from the funeral parlor next door. And she hired a neighbor at the rate of ten cents per lesson to teach him to play. He learned to play, mostly by ear and, as he later put it, competently not excellently. By the time he was eight years old, he found himself attracted to what he was hearing on WDIA, a local blues-oriented radio station in Memphis. Although he couldn’t really appreciate what he heard, he definitely liked it. Accordingly, he began to mimic it on his new old prized piano- but only when grandma wasn’t around because she was no fan of the blues.

It wasn’t just music that Lillebrought into his life. It was also black consciousness. She introduced him to the literary artistry and social activism of Langston Hughes, whose work would become a motivating force in Gil’s life. She explained to him what southern racism meant for black adults and for black children, too. She became his rock, his inspiration, and his motivation, and he loved her dearly for it. One day in 1962 when he was 12, he noticed that she had not come downstairs for breakfast, so he went up to wake her. But she had died in her sleep. He was devastated. She was, as he told NME in 1986, “an issues woman, looking at things in terms of what’s fair and not fair. It’s a question of looking in your heart for the truth and not seeing whether your favorite politician goes for a particular issue. On a right or wrong type of basis, this is how my grandmother raised me, to not sit around and wait for people to guess what’s on my mind- I was gonna have to say it.”

His mother returned to New York to move them into a Bronx apartment that she would share with her brother. When Gil’s uncle left in 1965, his mom could no longer afford the rent because her job at the city housing authority didn’t pay enough. So the two of them moved to a public housing project in the run-down Chelsea section of Manhattan.

As a sophomore at the neighborhood DeWitt Clinton High School, Gil excelled academically, primarily in writing courses. In fact, one of the English teachers was so impressed that she got an interview for him at the elite Ethical Culture Fieldston School in Riverdale, a prosperous section of the Bronx. He was accepted on a full academic scholarship but was disappointed to discover that he would be just one of five African-American students in a class of one hundred.

He later enrolled at Lincoln University in Pennsylvania. He chose that school because it was where his hero Langston Hughes had attended. In fact, he actually met Langston Hughes there once. And it was at Lincoln in 1969 where he met the Last Poets and told member Abiodun Oyewole that he was so moved by their rhythmic revolutionary poetry that he “wanted to do that” in life. Although he never joined (or even tried to join) this historic spoken word and percussion group, he did begin to blossom as a musician and activist, especially when he hooked up with follow student Brian Jackson and formed the Black and Blues band. He remained at Lincoln for two years and then went on a sort of sabbatical to write two powerful and still relevant novels, The Vulture and The Nigger Factory, the former published in 1970 and the latter in 1971. In addition, he wrote a volume of poetry. And he earned a Master’s Degree in Creative Writing from Johns Hopkins Universityin 1972.

Music became his life when he began to record with small labels, and things expanded in 1975 when he was signed to Clive Davis’ Arista Records, making him the first artist ever on that mega-label. It was then that his Midnight Band debuted. Gil’s “First Minute of a New Day” album reached Billboard’s “Top Ten Soul Album” chart. And he headlined as the musical guest on Saturday Night Live- and that was at the insistence of Richard Pryor. He toured in the early 1980s with Stevie Wonder after replacing the terminally ill Bob Marley. He also performed with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Miles Davis.

Gil had become exactly what he always wanted to be- a jazzman, a soul-man, a poet, a composer, an author, and a bluesman- but not just a bluesman. He also wanted to be and did become a “bluesologist,” meaning, in his words, “a scientist who is concerned with the origin of the blues.” He listed his influences as Langston Hughes, John Coltrane, Otis Reading, Billie Holiday, Nina Simone, Richie Havens, Huey Newton, and Malcolm X.

Although many of us Hip Hop aficionados like to say that Gil is the Godfather of Hip Hop, the man himself half-seriously and half-jokingly once said in 2010 “I don’t know if I can take the blame for that.” But he was referring only to the heartless materialism, the gratuitous violence, and the cartoonish posturing of commercializedHip Hop, meaning just the bastardized and Frankenstein-created version that pollutes cable TV and FM radio and that falsely claims to be Hip Hop when the vast majority of what is aired is really nothing more than modern-day minstrelsy performed by no-talent poseurs. That’s why he had absolutely no problem with unadulterated Hip Hop, which included performing with Common and Talib Kweli, being sampled by Mos Def, Tribe Called Quest, and (the sometimes genius and sometimes asshole) Kanye West, having his songs remade by The Roots and Queen Latifah, and recording with Blackalicious. Chuck D of Public Enemy said Gil is one of “the roots of rap- taking a word and juxtaposing it into some sort of music.” He added “… we do what we do and how we do because of you.” Eminem stated “He influenced all of Hip Hop.” And Lupe Fiasco dedicated the poem “The Television Will Not Be Revolutionized” to him.

Gil’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” first recorded in 1970, was listed in the New Statesman in 2010 as one of the “Top 20 Political Songs of All Time” and The Guardian’s Jude Rogers wrote that Gil’s 2010 “I’m New Here” CD was one of the “decade’s best records.” And he posthumously received the Grammy’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012.

The drug and jail problems of Gil’s private life got more media attention than they deserved. But drugs and jail didn’t define him. They weren’t who he was permanently, only what he did temporarily. What he was and what he is is an activist musician/musical activist who in a span of four decades enlightened, activated, and, yes, entertained us with 15 studio albums, eleven compilation albums, nine live albums, and one compilation album- recordings from 1970’s “Small Talk at 125^thand Lenox” to 2010’s “I’m New Here” and 2011’s “We’re New Here.”

Gil was also a family man, with two half-brothers, Denis Heron and Kenny Heron, and a half-sister, Gayle Heron. His four children are Rumal Rackley, Gia Scott-Heron, Raquiyah Kelly Jeron, and Chegianna Newton. He was a son, a grandson, a brother, and a father. But to the public in general and me in particular, he was the musically and poetically mellifluous voice of progressivism and revolution. And not just in name, but in word, in deed, and in life- at least until he became an ancestor on May 27, 2011. Without compromise, he relentlessly performed the revolutionary music and spread the revolutionary message.

And we all can celebrate that music and that message in honor of his 63^rd birthday at a video music screening tribute on March 29 at 7:00 pm at Temple University, Anderson Hall, room 14, at 11^th and Berks. Admission is free. For more info, call 215-552-8751 or send an email to michaelcoard@msn.com. Spread the word: On March 29, Gil’s revolution will be televised- well, maybe not televised, but certainly screened.

Trayvon Martin: National call goes out for Black men to do something

2012-03-26T15:14:54.155Z

By Scotty Reid, 3/26/2012, news, opinion

Many people all over the world have expressed outrage over the shooting death of 17 yr-old Trayvon Martin. Rallies and vigils have been held across the United States demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, which starts with the arrest of George Zimmerman. When the local news announced that there would be a rally for Trayvon Martin in Charlotte, NC, I knew I had to be there to acknowledge not only the tragedy of Martin’s killing but to be united with other Black people who are fed up with this kind of thing happening to our men, women and children all over the country. While George Zimmerman was certainly not a law enforcement officer with any authority to stop and question people on the street, the Sanford, Police Department appears to have covered up the crime thus making themselves a party to it.

One of the responding officers, Ricardo Ayala, wrote in his report that Trayvon Martin was the victim of a negligible homicide offense, and either he failed to list Zimmerman as the offender or the report was changed after it was decided Zimmerman would not be charged. It does not seem logical that you can have a victim of an offense but no offender. It is difficult to say when the Sanford Police Department became an accessory to the crime after the fact. At the very least, there appears to be evidence of obstruction of justice and the number of suspects should include anyone who made the decision not to arrest George Zimmerman for the negligible homicide reported by Officer Ayala.

John Barnett, a local civil rights activist, put the rally together in Charlotte, NC and it was held at the Chapel Memorial Baptist Church in the Thomasville community. One of the speakers at the rally was Joseph Guzman. Guzman was in the car with his friends Sean Bell and Trent Benefield in Queens, New York on November 25, 2006, when plainclothes and undercover NYPD officers fired 50 rounds into the car in which they were traveling. Joesph Guzman who was hit 16 times in the hail of NYPD bullets would miraculously survive. He now lives in Charlotte, NC. Mr. Guzman still suffers from his injuries but would make his way up to the podium to speak about Trayvon and while he did not speak for long, one sentence, just one remains cemented in my mind. Guzman said, “Black men, we have to do something”. Just seven words, but words that ring true in the minds of many Black men across the country who have for the most part felt helpless to protect their communities, their families and their children from bullets often fired by police into the bodies of far too many unarmed Black men and boys and more recently, an unarmed Black woman gun downed while hanging out with friends by an off-duty Chicago cop. It seems even when off duty, cops make time to kill Black people. Her family compares the tragedy to the Trayvon Martin case.

"First you got Trayvon, now you got Rekia," said Martinez Sutton, the brother of 22-year-old Rekia Boyd.

One group of Black men is doing something. While some people in the Black community do not agree with the New Black Panther Party’s call for the capture of George Zimmerman, it seems fewer and fewer are opposing the group’s call to action. One of its leaders, Mikhail Muhammad, along with other party members are protesting in Sanford, Florida and recently announced a bounty of 1 million dollars while calling for the mobilization of 5,000 Black men to find and detain George Zimmerman. It is feared that since Zimmerman has yet to be charged with the crime of murdering Trayvon Martin, he may flee the country to escape paying for his action the night of February 26, 2012. "If the government won't do the job, we'll do it," said Mikhail Muhammad. A grand jury is not scheduled to convene on the matter until April.

Muhammad also called out President Obama who to this point has avoided speaking to racial issues in a country whose citizens have sent him thousands of death threats perhaps by people angry that a Black family occupies the White House. Muhammad said, “To President Obama, you got to do your job on this one buddy, we don’t need a beer, we don’t need to laugh and have a good time, our children are dying”. The beer comment was in reference to the only time President Obama has addressed the relationship between law enforcement and the Black community when a white cop arrested the President’s friend Skip Louis Gates. The President invited the two men to the White House for what was dubbed “the beer summit”.

Gov. Rick Scott says investigation will determine if race played a factor in Trayvon Martin killing

2012-03-25T21:05:24.436Z

CNN's State of the Union with Candy Crowley, 3/25/2012

Full Transcript

THIS IS A RUSH FDCH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

CROWLEY: George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida, told authorities he acted in self-defense when he shot and killed unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin bringing into focus a seven-year-old Florida law that reads in part, a person has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force, if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do to prevent death or great bodily harm.

Since stand your ground was enacted in Florida, the an number of Florida cases found to be justifiable homicide was nearly tripled from an average 12 a year to 33.

This week Florida Governor Rick Scott appointed a special prosecutor to oversee the Martin case and created a task force to review the stand your ground law.

And joining me now for an exclusive interview Governor Rick Scott from Florida.

Thank you, sir, for joining us.

GOV. RICK SCOTT, R-FLA.: Good morning.

Well, I want -- you just feel -- your heart goes out to that family. I had the opportunity to meet with the parents Thursday night to let them know that I appointed a new state attorney and introduced them to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents that are working on the case. And you're just -- you know, your heart goes out to them, because you just no family ever imagines this could ever happen to their child.

CROWLEY: You must have -- with the stand your ground law, which may or may not apply to this case, but certainly you must have had questions about the state law before you appointed this task force.

SCOTT: What you want to make sure is you just -- you want to make sure everybody feels comfortable with public safety in our state. And so as you know, I put together a task force led by my lieutenant governor who's African-American and I'm going to have different elected officials appoint individuals, but we'll look at all of it.

But the first thing we're going to do is really do a thorough investigation to see what happened here. We've -- no one can imagine this happened to their family. We've got to find out exactly what's going to happen. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement state attorney Angela Corey, is going to do a great job knowing what happened and make sure justice prevails. We have to do that.

CROWLEY: Governor, does this look like a race thing to you?

SCOTT: Well, you know, there's nothing I know about that. I know we'll find that -- I think we'll find that out in the investigation. You hope it's never the case, but we'll look at all these things and find out what happened. We're going to do -- there will be a thorough investigation, justice will prevail. We have got to make sure there's justice for Mr. Martin's family and also justice for George Zimmerman.

CROWLEY: Let me ask you, one of the things that -- one of the criticisms has been it took more than a month for anyone to really notice this case, and that includes you, because this week was when you appointed -- or switched attorneys and when you appointed the task force. Why did it take you this long?

SCOTT: Well, first off, I don't have the authority to appoint a new state attorney unless the existing state attorney withdraws.

CROWLEY: You could have pushed them out sooner.

SCOTT: Everything you do in life, I would love to do things faster, and you get more information and you see about problems faster. So, I would love to do things faster. The right thing happened here. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement will do a thorough investigation. They're known for that. Angela Corey is a very good state attorney who I have known for a long time, she will do a great job.

CROWLEY: And finally you mentioned George Zimmerman, the man who admitted to police that he shot, claims it was self-defense. There are various things that tell us that was not the case. There have been death threats against him. Is there some -- does the state feel that it needs to protect him while this case moves on or do you know where he is? What do you know about Zimmerman?

SCOTT: Well, you've got to make sure there's due process. You have got to make sure there's due process for somebody that's accused of a crime. You've got make sure they're safe.

CROWLEY: Which he hasn't been accused of yet.

SCOTT: He has not been accused. You have got to make sure no one feel uncomfortable that's not been accused of a crime. So if he feels unsafe, then we'll make sure nothing happens to him.

CROWLEY: Has there been any request of that sort?

SCOTT: Not at the governor's office.

CROWLEY: Not that you know of.

OK, do you expect charges in this case?

SCOTT: I'm not sure. We have to wait and see what the facts are.

Frank Taaffe, friend of Zimmerman says Trayvon Martin acted inappropriately and suggests he would be alive if he had not

2012-03-22T19:43:13.597Z

By Scotty Reid, 3/22/2012, news, opinion

Last night on Anderson Cooper 360°, a friend of George Zimmerman, the self-appointed neighborhood watch captain in Sanford, Florida blamed Trayvon Martin for being shot and killed. An except from the full transcript of Cooper’ interview with Frank Taafe courtesy Turner Broadcasting System Inc reads as follows,

AC: I guess, you know, a lot of people believe race played a factor in this. Form what you know about George Zimmerman, do you believe race played a factor?

Taaffe: Absolutely not.

AC: Why do you feel so strongly about that?

Taaffe: George is not a racist. He was just performing his duties as watch captain. Whether it be African American, Latino, Asian, or white, he would’ve done the same thing. He would have appropriate the person, asked him “What’s your business here?” and if he had just answered him in an appropriate manor, “I’m just here visiting. My mother’s house is around the corner,” and be upfront and truthful, there wouldn’t be any problem.

AC: Well Mr. Taaffe, I appreciate your perspective, thank you for being with us.

Taaffe: Thank you Anderson.

The video of the interview is posted online.

Whether or not George Zimmerman is a racist as his father and friend Frank Taaffe claim he is not is debatable even though many people have concluded that he muttered the words “f-ing coon” under his breath in reference to Trayvon Martin while on the phone with a Sanford Police dispatcher. Just because a person has Black friends or Black extended family members, or they themselves are non-white, does not mean they do not harbor racial animosity towards other ethnic groups.

In addressing Taaffe’s claim that Zimmerman was “just performing his duties as watch captain”, the parent organization of USAwatch.org addressed the actions of Zimmerman in a statement published on the website of the National Sheriff’s Association.

In the statement, NSA Executive Director Aaron D. Kennard says,

"The alleged action of a “self-appointed neighborhood watchman” last month in Sanford, FL significantly contradicts the principles of the Neighborhood Watch Program”

In fact, the statement goes on to suggest that the gated community in which Zimmerman was the so-called neighborhood watch captain does not have a registered neighborhood watch program.

“NSA has no information indicating the community where the incident occurred has ever even registered with the NSA Neighborhood Watch program.”

It seems apparent that what was operating in the gated community of “The Retreat at Twin Lakes” was a wild, wild, west style posse. The major difference is that George Zimmerman was not acting under the direction of a Sheriff or in this case the Sanford Police. It is now an established fact that Zimmerman acted against the direction of the Sanford Police dispatcher who told him not to follow Trayvon Martin and despite Zimmerman acknowledging the dispatcher’s command saying “ok” in response, went on to stalk the helpless teen in the community visiting family.

Of all the parties involved, George Zimmerman, The Sanford Police investigators and the Police Chief Bill Lee, only Trayvon Martin acted appropriately contrary to Taaffe comments blaming the victim.

Child abduction and the kidnapping of adults are an all too common occurrence across the nation. Children are taught by responsible parents from a young age to never talk to strangers, run if a stranger approaches you and scream out for help if you are attacked while fighting back. Trayvon Martin even took the extra step to call his girlfriend from his cell phone and informed her that he was being stalked. That call may turn out to be a crucial piece of evidence in disproving Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense, which is supported by Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee.

Also contrary to Taaffe’s claim that Trayvon Martin should have submitted to Zimmerman’s questioning, Zimmerman should have indentified himself to Trayvon Martin and stated what he was doing in the community. The more appropriate response would to have never left his vehicle and stalked the teen as he was told not to do in the first place.

TRAYVON MARTIN: MURDERED TWICE- FIRST BY A RACIST CRIMINAL, THEN BY A RACIST CRIMINAL SYSTEM

2012-03-20T20:19:15.138Z

By Attorney Michael Coard, 3/20/2012 op-ed, news

It’s been more than a few hours since your teenage son went out to buy some snacks during a break in a televised NBA All-Star game that you, he, and his little brother were watching. But it’s no real big deal because you know he’s a good kid. No arrests. No gang stuff. No delinquency. No drugs. In fact, he’s an A-B 11^th grade student athlete with aspirations of becoming an aviation mechanic. So you know you really don’t need to worry. Maybe he ran into a cute girl. Maybe one of his buddies called him on the cell phone he was carrying and told him about an NBA party being held by some cool neighborhood youngsters. Although you tell yourself you don’t really need to worry, you begin to worry anyway. And that’s because a few hours have turned into several hours. And the nighttime has turned into the daytime. So you call the local police department’s Missing Persons Unit, but they don’t have any info. So then you call 911, and the cops ask you for a description. Shortly afterward, they show up with a photo of a bloody-mouth kid lying dead on a morgue stretcher. Toe-tagged as John Doe. But he had his cell phone with him. And the police had found it on him. And the names and numbers of his family are in it. But the cops never called you or anyone else in it to ask anything. However, they did ask you if the battered corpse in that photo is your son. All you can do is slump to the floor, devastated by all-consuming shock and despair, and then drag yourself to your phone, call his mother, and, unable to say anything more, simply tell her “(our child) is gone.” Your innocent, unarmed boy. Murdered. With a gaping gunshot blast to the chest. Gone. That can’t be. He just went to 7-Eleven. He just went to buy some Skittles and an iced tea. But it can be, and it is. He was murdered. He is gone. Forever. But imagine that it wasn’t Trayvon Martin and his family who it happened to. Imagine instead that it was your son, your grandson, your nephew, or your little brother. Now what?

Well, before we figure out what to do, let’s start with what happened. It all began on the evening of February 26 in Sanford, Florida, 20 miles north of Orlando. Three witnesses said they heard the 140 pound, 17 year old Trayvon cry for help and then heard a sequence of sounds that contradicted the 240 pound, 28 year old George Zimmerman. And one of the three specifically mentioned that the crying stopped immediately after hearing Zimmerman’s Kel Tek 9mm dead-on, upper center mass shot. That’s probably because humans stop crying after they’re murdered. While Trayvon lay face down in grass, the still armed Zimmerman was standing straddled over the kid’s lifeless body. That was the first time the child was murdered, and it was by a racist criminal.

He was murdered a second time, and that was by a racist criminal system. The self-appointed block watch captain who continued to stalk Trayvon despite a police order to the contrary, who exited his vehicle despite no criminal activity by the unarmed child who was outweighed by 100 pounds, who confronted him, and who then shot him was not arrested because, in the words of Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee, Zimmerman had a “squeaky clean” record and claimed self-defense. But it wasn’t squeaky clean at all. In fact, he had been arrested, charged, and prosecuted in July 2005 for assaulting an Orange County police officer. The lead offense was the felony “Resisting Officer With Violence- Battery On Law Enforcement” and the second was a misdemeanor. But, for some strange (i.e., white-privilege) reason, and despite the officer’s sworn affidavit accusing Zimmerman of the violent assault, the county prosecutor on June 15, 2006 agreed to enroll Zimmerman into a program similar to Pennsylvania’s Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition, which in both (and other) states is only for “non-violent first offenders.” In Florida, it’s called Pre-Trial Diversion. Once a defendant completes that often less than one year program, the arrest record is technically expunged. Contrary to media reports, however, Zimmerman’s case was never dismissed. It was simply hidden- unless of course you have a computer and check the county court clerk’s public website.

Chief Lee continued to systemically murder Trayvon and zealously defend Zimmerman by stating “If someone asks you, ‘Hey, do you live here?’ Is it OK for you to jump on them and beat the crap out of somebody?’ It’s not.” First of all, the eye- and ear-witnesses tell a story completely different from Zimmerman’s. Moreover, self-defense, or what lawyers properly call “justification,” can’t be reasonably claimed by aggressors, especially aggressors like Zimmerman who follow a person, confront that person, outweigh that person by 100 pounds, and outgun that person by possessing a high-powered firearm compared to Skittles and iced tea. And this bullshit justification claim is no less bullshit despite Florida’s cowboy “Stand Your Ground” law. This law, which in 2005 became the first of its kind among 16 others in the nation, basically means that a person has no duty to retreat outside in public even if he’s easily able to in response to danger just as a person has no duty to retreat inside at home in response to such danger. But that shoot ‘em up law doesn’t justify Zimmerman’s murderous vigilantism, especially after he responded yes when a 911 dispatcher asked him “Are you following (Trayvon)” and then told him to stop immediately because “We don’t need you to do that.”

The aggressive Zimmerman, who had made 46 wanna-be cop assist calls to the Sanford police department during the past 14 months, had such a bad reputation among neighbors at the complex where he killed Trayvon that they had filed complaints. In fact, he was known to go door-to-door asking residents to “be on the look-out,” primarily for “young black men.”

The chief wasn’t the first to bring racism to the department. It already had a sordid history before he took over in May of last year. On July 16, 2005, another unarmed black child, 16 year old Travares McGill, was murdered inside his car by two white security guards in the parking lot of another apartment complex. One was the 28 year old son of a longtime former Sanford police officer and the other was a 26 year old Sanford police deputy volunteer. Neither was charged with murder but only with mere manslaughter and mere firing into an occupied vehicle. They, like Zimmerman, claimed self-defense. All charges were later dismissed by a judge who claimed there was a lack of evidence- despite the fact that the kid was shot in the back. Furthermore, the same officer in charge of the current Trayvon tragedy also headed the investigation of the December 2010 case of Sherman Ware, a defenseless homeless black man, who was viciously attacked by 21 year old Justin Collison, the son of a bitch, I mean the son of a white Sanford police lieutenant, Chris Collison. That same investigating officer refused to arrest that cop’s son- despite the fact that the brutal assault was videotaped. It wasn’t until after a local TV station broke the story that the son was finally arrested seven weeks later- and that was after the lieutenant’s family had paid off the homeless man in an unsuccessful attempt to get the charges dropped. That’s not all when it comes to racist law enforcement or lack thereof in “good ole boy” Seminole County. Shortly after the July 1991 claim of a crack-addicted white female that she had been gang raped, the county sheriff quickly led a raid of 29 deputies into the black community of Midway and immediately arrested and charged four black men who he described as “animals.” But all charges were later dismissed after the drug-hazed woman finally admitted that she had made up the entire story.

Chief Lee stated a few days ago that he will soon submit his investigative report in Trayvon’s case to Brevard and Seminole Counties State Attorney Norm Wolfinger, after which the state’s formal investigation will begin. But don’t hold your breath. A state spokesperson said that murder and manslaughter investigations have been known to take up to a couple years. What? In this case with these facts?

I know that you racists out there will say that, although Trayvon’s death is obviously horrible, it’s relatively minor compared to the many so-called “black-on-black” murders throughout the country. And I’d agree that you have a point as far as the numbers are concerned. However, there’s a big difference. When Tyrone in the hood kills Jamal over a drug dispute, the cops don’t refuse to arrest him. And the DAs don’t refuse to prosecute him. And the juries don’t refuse to find him guilty. And the judges don’t refuse to sentence him to a lengthy jail term. That, my racist friend, is the big difference.

While stalking Trayvon and talking to the 911 dispatcher, Zimmerman said “These assholes always get away.” Well, you know what? He was absolutely right about that. But, like all good things, all bad things also come to an end. And justice must prevail this time around so this racist asshole criminal doesn’t “get away” with the first murder and so this racist criminal justice system doesn’t “get away” with the second murder.

Now here’s what you should- I mean must- do. Call Chief Lee at 407-688-5070 and ask why he didn’t arrest Zimmerman immediately based on the facts- e.g., a stalker’s confronting and shooting death of an unarmed child who was outweighed by 100 pounds- that everyone agrees are undisputed. And call State Attorney Wolfinger at 321-617-7548 and ask how soon he will file criminal charges based on those and other undisputed facts. Also, call US Attorney Robert O’Neill at 813-274-6000 and ask him how soon he will file civil rights violation charges based on those and other undisputed facts.

George Zimmerman hunted down little Trayvon Martin as if he were a "coon"

2012-03-20T14:04:56.163Z

By Scotty Reid, 3/20/2012, news

At first it was hard to believe when people following the story on Facebook claimed that George Zimmerman the alleged racist who is not a racist because according to his father Robert Zimmerman, comes from a multi-racial family, seems like he can faintly be heard on his 911 callto the Sanford police dispatcher calling little Trayvon Martin a “f-ing coon”.

“Coon” is short for raccoon, a furry animal native to North Americaand hunted mostly in the South for food. After listening intently to the 911 call, I finally could hear what other people were saying they heard, George Zimmerman whispering the words “f-ing coon”.

According to new reports by ABC News, a teenage girl who would only speak to the Martin family attorney was on the phone with Trayvon minutes before Zimmerman would gun him down. The girl’s phone logs confirm that she was indeed on the phone with Trayvon as he described to her that a strange man was stalking him.

ABC News,

"He said this man was watching him, so he put his hoodie on. He said he lost the man," Martin's friend said. "I asked Trayvon to run, and he said he was going to walk fast. I told him to run but he said he was not going to run."

At some point Zimmerman caught up with Trayvon and the confrontation that would end the young life of Martin began.

"Trayvon said, 'What, are you following me for,' and the man said, 'What are you doing here.' Next thing I hear is somebody pushing, and somebody pushed Trayvon because the head set just fell. I called him again and he didn't answer the phone."

As many have said, Zimmerman tracked down 17-yr-old Trayvon Martin as if he were an animal and so it is simply amazing that the Sanford police department is standing by the self-defense claim backed up supposedly by the Florida law called “Stand Your Ground”. It is apparent from Zimmerman’s phone call that he was not standing his ground nor did he stand down when told by the police dispatcher not to follow Trayvon. ABC News is also reporting that the Justice Department is now investigating the killing.

New York City Council member to introduce legislation targeting NYPD Stop & Frisk

2012-02-24T19:45:55.114Z

By Scotty Reid, 2/24/2012, news, politics

New York City Council Member Jumaane D. Williams plans to introduce a three-part bill aimed at curbing civil liberty abuses under the NYPD’s Stop & Frisk program. The program has been under intense scrutiny after data was released showing NYPD officers stopped over 600,000 people in 2011, a new record. Since Mayor Bloomberg took office in 2000, the NYPD has stopped and frisked over 4.8 million people.

City Council member Williams spoke out at a City Hall news conference in May of 2010 where he accused the NYPD of targeting people with more melanin in their skin. The New York American Civil Liberties Union writes on its website concerning the latest data from the NYPD,

“The Department’s own reports on its stop-and-frisk activity confirm what many people in communities of color across the city have long known: The police are stopping hundreds of thousands of law abiding New Yorkers every year, and the vast majority are black and Latino.”

Williams plans to introduce a three-part bill that would require NYPD officers to inform detained people of their right to not consent being searched and the officers would also be required to give those stopped a business card that includes the officer’s name, rank and unit. Law enforcement officers in several cities including Portland, Oregon have been required to follow this procedure for the past two years.