American Voice

The Link Between Freeway Ricky Ross, the CIA, and the Reagan Administration (How Rick Ross Sold Cocaine for the U.S. Government)

2013-10-21T03:29:00.003-04:00

To describe the Nicaragua incident more simply, the Reagan administration and the CIA were not happy with the government that Nicaragua had in place. So, the CIA began to fund a "militia" or anti-communist rebels whose sole responsibility was to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. These anti-communist rebels were called Contras. reference

However, these U.S. government funded rebels were far from heroic.The Contras' form of warfare was "one of consistent and bloody abuse of human rights, of murder, torture, mutilation, rape, arson, destruction and kidnapping". "Contras systematically engage in violent abuses...so prevalent that these may be said to be their principal means of waging war." reference

A Human Rights Watch report found that the Contras were guilty of targeting health care clinics and health care workers for assassination; kidnapping civilians; torturing and executing civilians, including children, who were captured in combat; raping women; indiscriminately attacking civilians and civilian homes; seizing civilian property; and burning civilian houses in captured towns. reference

It is now known, from the testimonies of a number of different sources, (including CIA operatives and informants, FBI informants, undercover DEA agents, and drug smugglers) that the U.S. government would routinely send planes filled with weapons to Nicaragua, offload the weapons to the Contras, and then reload the planes with cocaine to be brought back into the U.S. These planes delivered their shipments to different "hubs" around the U.S., the cocaine was then sold to communities (ex. Watts, Los Angeles,), and the money made from these profits were used to fund the Contras with more weapons, clothing, etc.

Fourteen administration officials were indicted, including then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger. Eleven convictions resulted, some of which were vacated on appeal. The rest of those indicted or convicted were all pardoned in the final days of the presidency of George H. W. Bush, who had been vice-president at the time of the affair. Below is a list of those indicted/convicted:

Caspar Weinberger, Secretary of Defense, was indicted on two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of justice on June 16, 1992. Weinberger received a pardon from George H. W. Bush on December 24, 1992, before he was tried.
William Casey, Head of the CIA. Thought to have conceived the plan, was stricken ill hours before he would testify. Reporter Bob Woodward reported Casey knew of and approved the plan.
Robert C. McFarlane, National Security Adviser, convicted of withholding evidence, but after a plea bargain was given only two years of probation. Later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush
Elliott Abrams, Assistant Secretary of State, convicted of withholding evidence, but after a plea bargain was given only two years probation. Later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush
Alan D. Fiers Chief of the CIA's Central American Task Force, convicted of withholding evidence and sentenced to one year probation. Later pardoned by President George H. W. Bush
Clair George Chief of Covert Ops-CIA, convicted on two charges of perjury, but pardoned by President George H. W. Bush before sentencing.
Oliver North, member of the National Security Council convicted of accepting an illegal gratuity, obstruction of a congressional inquiry, and destruction of documents, but the ruling was overturned since he had been granted immunity.
Fawn Hall, Oliver North's secretary was given immunity from prosecution on charges of conspiracy and destroying documents in exchange for her testimony.
Jonathan Scott Royster Liaison to Oliver North was given immunity from prosecution on charges of conspiracy and destroying documents in exchange for his testimony.
National Security Advisor John Poindexter was convicted of five counts of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, perjury, defrauding the government, and the alteration and destruction of evidence. The Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling that overturned these convictions.
Duane Clarridge An ex-CIA senior official, he was indicted in November 1991 on seven counts of perjury and false statements relating to a November 1985 shipment to Iran. Pardoned before trial by President George H. W. Bush.
Richard V. Secord Ex-major general in the Air Force who organized the Iran arms sales and Contra aid. He pleaded guilty in November 1989 to making false statements to Congress and was sentenced to two years of probation.
Albert Hakim A businessman, he pleaded guilty in November 1989 to supplementing the salary of North by buying a $13,800 fence for North with money from "the Enterprise", which was a set of foreign companies Hakim used in Iran-Contra. In addition, Swiss company Lake Resources Inc., used for storing money from arms sales to Iran to give to the Contras, plead guilty to stealing government property. Hakim was given two years of probation and a $5,000 fine, while Lake Resources Inc. was ordered to dissolve.

Oliver North and John Poindexter were indicted on multiple charges on March 16, 1988. North, indicted on 16 counts, was found guilty by a jury of three felony counts. The convictions were vacated on appeal on the grounds that North's Fifth Amendment rights may have been violated by the indirect use of his testimony to Congress which had been given under a grant of immunity. In 1990 Poindexter was convicted on several felony counts of conspiracy, lying to Congress, obstruction of justice, and altering and destroying documents pertinent to the investigation. His convictions were also overturned on appeal on similar grounds.

Oscar Danilo Blandón Reyes

Oscar Danilo Blandon Reyes, also knows as Oscar Danilo Blandon, was born in Nicaragua in 1952. He headed Nicaragua's agricultural imports under Anastasio Somoza. When the Somoza government was overthrown in 1979, Blandon fled to the United States and raised money for the Nicaraguan Democratic Force (FDN), which was a Contra group. Blandon was also a self admitted CIA operative.

So, how did Blandon raise money in the U.S. for the FDN (Contra)? It should come as no surprise: He sold drugs and weapons. According to many sources, including reporter Gary Webb, Blandón sold drugs and weapons to the Crips in Los Angeles. Blandón claimed that the Central Intelligence Agency protected him, allowing him to operate without fear of reprisal. Blandón was a major drug trafficker, infamously supplying Ricky Ross with millions of dollars worth of cocaine on a daily basis.

In May 1992, Blandón was convicted in US District Court (San Diego) on the federal charge of "conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to distribute." He was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison, but was released due to time served. Following his imprisonment, Blandón was hired by the Drug Enforcement Administration and salaried at $42,000. Blandon was not a US Citizen/National, and is the only known foreigner in US history to not be deported following conviction on drug trafficking charges. The INS granted Blandón a green card, despite the criminal convictions, to allow him to work for the DEA. The DEA claims that Blandón is no longer on their payroll.

Gary Stephen Webb

Gary Webb was a Pulitzer prize-winning American investigative journalist and was best known for his 1996 "Dark Alliance" series of articles written for the San Jose Mercury News. Webb investigated Nicaraguans linked to the CIA-backed Contras who had smuggled cocaine into the U.S. Their smuggled cocaine was distributed as crack cocaine in Los Angeles, with the profits funneled back to the Contras.

Webb also alleged that this influx of Nicaraguan-supplied cocaine sparked, and significantly fueled, the widespread crack cocaine epidemic that swept through many U.S. cities during the 1980s. According to Webb, the CIA was aware of the cocaine transactions and the large shipments of drugs into the U.S. by Contra personnel. Webb charged that the Reagan administration shielded inner-city drug dealers from prosecution in order to raise money for the Contras, especially after Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited direct Contra funding.

In 2004, Webb was found dead from two gunshot wounds to the head, which the coroner's office judged a suicide. Although it is extremely rare, (to put it lightly), that anyone can shoot themselves TWICE in the head, Webb's death was ruled suicide.

Journalist George Sanchez states that "the CIA's internal investigation by Inspector General Frederick Hitz vindicated much of Gary's reporting and observes that despite the campaign against Webb, "the government eventually admitted to more than Gary had initially reported" over the years.

"Freeway" Rick Ross

"Freeway" Rick Ross, (real name Ricky Donnell Ross), is best known for the "drug empire" that he presided over in Los Angeles, California, in the early 1980s. It is rumored that the nickname "Freeway" came from Ross' ownership of several properties along the Los Angeles-area Harbor Freeway as well as the existence of a freeway near his childhood home.

During the height of his drug dealing, Ross claims to have sold "$3 million in one day." According to the Oakland Tribune, "In the course of his rise, prosecutors estimate that Ross exported several tons of cocaine to New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere, and made more than $600 million in the process between 1983 and 1984."

In 1996, Ross was sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted of trying to purchase more than 100 kilograms of cocaine from a federal agent. Later that year, a series of articles by journalist Gary Webb in the San Jose Mercury News brought to light a connection between one of Ross's cocaine sources, Danilo Blandon, and the CIA as part of the Iran-Contra scandal.The decision in Ross's case was brought to a federal court of appeals where his sentence was reduced to 20 years. His sentence was then reduced further due to being a model prisoner, and he was moved to a halfway house in California in March 2009. Ross was released from prison on September 29, 2009.

It was through a friend that Ross was introduced to a connection to purchase cheap Nicaraguan cocaine: two Nicaraguan exiles, Oscar Danilo Blandon and Norwin Meneses Cantarero. Ross began distributing cocaine around $10,000 less per kilo than the average street price, his point of distribution being the Bloods and Crips street gangs. Eventually, Ross purchased his cocaine directly from Blandón and Meneses.

Ross's capture was facilitated by his career-long dealer Oscar Danilo Blandon, who "set up" Ross. Blandón had close ties with the Contras, and had met with Contra leader Enrique Bermúdez on several occasions. Blandón was the link between the CIA and Contras during the Iran-Contra affair. Gary Webb also interviewed Ross several times before breaking the story in 1996. [Rick Ross interview]

So, to summarize...

To summarize, the Reagan administration and the CIA were involved in trying to overthrow the Nicaraguan government. To do this, it was decided to fund anti-government rebels in Nicaragua called Contras. To fund the Contras, planes filled with cocaine were flown in from Nicaragua to the U.S., delivered to select locations and sold to drug dealers on the street. The money that was made from these drugs was then used to purchase weapons in the U.S. Finally, those weapons were flown back to Nicaragua to the hands of the Contras.

One of the people that was involved in bringing the cocaine into the U.S. was Oscar Danilo Blandon, who was Nicaraguan born and also a CIA operative. Blandon personally sold Freeway Rick Ross cocaine on multiple occasions, and Rick Ross in turn sold the cocaine all over the U.S.

This is an extremely brief summary of how the U.S. actually distributed cocaine to its own citizens. There is a lot more that can be discussed as well, such as Freeway Rick Ross only being sentenced to 5 years for his initial drug conviction although being found with millions of dollars of cocaine, Rick Ross being set up while still in prison by Oscar Danilo Blandon, Ross being sentenced back to prison for 20 years after the Blandon set up while Blandon avoided prison time and actually was paid as a DEA informant, the fact that George H. W. Bush was CIA director before becoming Vice President under Ronald Reagan - the same CIA that was involved in bringing planes loaded with cocaine from Nicaragua, etc.

References

Declassified memos

The following are declassified memos sent to Oliver North, and record that North was repeatedly informed of Contra ties to drug trafficking.

In his entry for August 9, 1985, North summarizes a meeting with Robert Owen ("Rob"), his liaison with the contras. They discuss a plane used by Mario Calero, brother of Adolfo Calero, head of the FDN, to transport supplies from New Orleans to contras in Honduras. North writes: "Honduran DC-6 which is being used for runs out of New Orleans is probably being used for drug runs into U.S." [link here]

In a July 12, 1985 entry, North noted a call from retired Air Force general Richard Secord in which the two discussed a Honduran arms warehouse from which the contras planned to purchase weapons. (The contras did eventually buy the arms, using money the Reagan administration secretly raised from Saudi Arabia.) According to the notebook, Secord told North that "14 M to finance [the arms in the warehouse] came from drugs." [link here]

In 1987, the Senate Subcommittee on Narcotics, Terrorism and International Operations, led by Senator John Kerry, launched an investigation of allegations arising from reports, more than a decade ago, of contra-drug links. One of the incidents examined by the "Kerry Committee" was an effort to divert drug money from a counternarcotics operation to the contra war.

On July 28, 1988, two DEA agents testified before the House Subcommittee on Crime regarding a sting operation conducted against the Medellin Cartel. The two agents said that in 1985 Oliver North had wanted to take $1.5 million in Cartel bribe money that was carried by a DEA informant and give it to the contras. DEA officials rejected the idea.

The Kerry Committee report concluded that "senior U.S. policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems." [link here]

In February 1987 a contra sympathizer in California told the FBI he believed FDN officials were involved in the drug trade. Dennis Ainsworth, a Berkeley-based conservative activist who had supported the contra cause for years, gave a lengthy description of his suspicions to FBI agents. The bureau's debriefing says that Ainsworth agreed to be interviewed because "he has certain information in which he believes the Nicaraguan 'Contra' organization known as FDN (Frente Democrático Nacional) has become more involved in selling arms and cocaine for personal gain than in a military effort to overthrow the current Nicaraguan Sandinista Government." Ainsworth informed the FBI of his extensive contacts with various contra leaders and backers, and explained the basis for his belief that members of the FDN were trafficking in drugs. [link here]

On October 31, 1996, the Washington Post ran a follow up story to the San Jose Mercury News series titled "CIA, Contras and Drugs: Questions on Links Linger." The story drew on court testimony in 1990 of Fabio Ernesto Carrasco, a pilot for a major Columbian drug smuggler named George Morales. As a witness in a drug trial, Carrasco testified that in 1984 and 1985, he piloted planes loaded with weapons for contras operating in Costa Rica. The weapons were offloaded, and then drugs stored in military bags were put on the planes which flew to the United States. "I participated in two [flights] which involved weapons and cocaine at the same time," he told the court.

Carrasco also testified that Morales provided "several million dollars" to Octaviano Cesar and Adolfo "Popo" Chamorro, two rebel leaders working with the head of the contras' southern front, Eden Pastora. The Washington Post reported that Chamorro said he had called his CIA control officer to ask if the contras could accept money and arms from Morales, who was at the time under indictment for cocaine smuggling. "They said [Morales] was fine," Chamorro told the Post. [link here]

All links to documents and material can be found here.

Actual audio of Oscar Danillo Blandon below (click links to listen)

July 21, 1990: Conversation outside Bonita Store restaurant between John Arman and Oscar Danillo Blandon in San Diego. Blandon talks with Arman about his work with the blacks in Los Angeles and how much crack has been sold. [link]

BLANDON: These people have been working with me 10 years.
ARMAN: (interrupts)
B: I've sold them about 2,000 or 4,000. I don't know. I don't remember how many.

Blandon and Arman discuss who Blandon's contacts are in Los Angeles. [link]

BLANDON: These ... these are the black people.
ARMAN: Black?!
B: Yeah. They control LA. These are the people that control L.A.
A: I don't like niggers.
B: Well ...
A: They pay cash though?
B: Yeah, they pay cash.

March 7, 1996: Alan Fenster, defense attorney for Rick Ross, asks Danilo Blandon where he was "running his operation." [link]

FENSTER: So you were running his Los Angeles operation, isn't that correct?
BLANDON: Yes. Now remember, we were running, just ... whatever we were running in L.A., it goes ... the profit was going to the Contra revolution. I don't know ...
F: I'm glad you reminded me of that.

Fenster asks about a converation between Blandon and Norwin Meneses, his contact person for the Contras. [link]

FENSTER: He (Meneses) said, "Hey, I'm selling drugs and I want you to help me" ...
BLANDON: Yes.
F: ...in so many words. Is that right?
B: To raise the money for the Contra revolution.

All links to audio, as well as photos and other documents can be found here.

The Birth of the Fictitious "War On Drugs" and Ronald Reagan

2013-10-05T18:29:00.001-04:00

There may be more African American men in prison today than there were in slavery before the Emancipation Proclamation. African Americans and Latinos have been talking about these issues for years - the school to prison pipeline, the prison industrial complex, The New Jim Crow - but not many in positions of power have taken note.

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander lays out these issues in great specificity, showing how the issues of slavery and Jim Crow are even more relevant today. The postings below are directly from Alexander's book, the first chapter of The New Jim Crow. While it is important to know that the War on Drugs started with the Reagan administration, we should also recognize that all of the following presidents - Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., and Obama - have for the most part continued these policies. This is the first posting of many to come on this issue.

Michelle Alexander writes, “Since the nation’s founding, African Americans repeatedly have been controlled through institutions such as slavery and Jim Crow, which appear to die, but then are reborn in new form, tailored to the needs and constraints of the time.”

Ronald Reagan came into the presidency with the strong support of disaffected whites, (poor and working class), who felt betrayed by the Democratic Party’s civil rights agenda.

He echoed white frustration in race-neutral terms such as “welfare queens” and criminal “predators”.

When Reagan kicked off his presidential campaign, he started at the Neshoba County Fair near Philadelphia, Mississippi – where three civil rights activists were murdered in 1964. He told the crowd there, “I believe in states’ rights,” and vowed to restore states and local governments the power that belonged to them.

Reagan frequently attacked crime and welfare during his presidential campaign. One of his most often told stories was of the Chicago “welfare queen with 80 names, 30 addresses, 12 Social Security cards, and whose tax income alone is over $150,000.” He attacked the food stamp program with stories such as, “some fellow ahead of you buy a T-bone steak while you were standing in a checkout line with your package of hamburger.” These type of analogies were normally followed up with promises to be tougher on crime and to enhance federal government’s role of combating it. The result was 22 percent of Democrats voted for Ronald Reagan, and 34 percent of those Democrats believed that civil rights leaders were pushing “too fast.”

Before Reagan was elected president, street crime was traditionally fought by state and local law enforcement. Once Reagan was elected, the Justice Department announced a decision to cut the number of specialists in half that were assigned to prosecute white-collar criminals and to shift them to street crime detail, particularly drug-law enforcement. In 1982, Reagan announced his administration’s War on Drugs.

At the time that Reagan declared this War on Drugs, less than 2 percent of the nation viewed drugs as the most important issue facing the nation. However, by raging a war on drug users and dealers, Reagan made good on his campaign promise to crack down on the racially defined “others” – the undeserving.

Between 1980 and 1984, FBI antidrug funding increased from $8 million to $95 million. Between 1981 and 1991, DEA antidrug spending grew from $86 million to $1.026 billion. Yet, funding for drug treatment, prevention, and education programs were reduced. The budget for the National Institute on Drug Abuse was reduced from $274 million to $57 million from 1981 to 1984 and antidrug funds to Department of Education were reduced from $14 million to $3 million.

Crack cocaine hit the streets in 1985, a few years after Reagan’s War on Drugs was announced. The Reagan administration took the opportunity to publicize crack cocaine in order to build up support for its drug war. In 1986, Newsweek reported that crack was the biggest story since Vietnam/Watergate, while Time magazine said that crack was “the issue of the year.” Articles featured black “crack whores, crack babies, and gangbangers” simply reinforcing racial stereotypes of black women as irresponsible, selfish “welfare queens” and black men as “predators.” The media also began to use bogus claims that crack was “instantly addictive.” Between October 1988 and October 1989, the Washington Post ran 1,565 stories about crack cocaine and the drug scourge.

In 1986, with the media now eating out of the Reagan administration’s hand, the House passed legislation allowing the death penalty for some drug-related crimes. Reagan signed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 which included mandatory minimum sentences for the distribution of cocaine, and far more severe punishment for distribution for crack. Crack, of course, was (and still is) associated with blacks, while powder cocaine associated with whites.

Congress then developed a NEW Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1988 – this one with even more dire consequences. Public housing authorities were able to evict any tenant who allowed any form of drug-related criminal activity to occur on or near public housing premises while eliminating many forms of federal benefits, including student loans for anyone convicted of a drug offense. The act also expanded the death penalty for drug related offenses and imposed new mandatory minimums for drug offenses, including a five year mandatory for possession of cocaine base – whether there was intent to sell or not. This penalty would also apply to first time offenders.

You can buy Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow, here. Please read this book!

Unknown Historical Facts About the March on Washington in 1963

2013-08-30T00:25:00.000-04:00

Did you know... that there was only one woman speaker at the March on Washington in 1963? Her name was Daisy Bates; she was former president of the Arkansas chapter of the NAACP and also a longtime board member of the national NAACP. She was allowed to speak for a little over a minute. Here is her entire speech:

Mr. Randolph, friends, the women of this country, Mr. Randolph, pledge to you, to Martin Luther King, Roy Wilkins and all of you fighting for civil liberties, that we will join hands with you as women of this country. Rosa Gragg, vice president; Dorothy Height, the National Council of Negro Women; the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; the Methodist Church women—all the women—pledge that we will join hands with you. We will kneel-in, we will sit-in, until we can eat in any corner in the United States. We will walk until we are free, until we can walk to any school and take our children to any school in the United States. And we will sit-in, and we will kneel-in, and we will lie-in, if necessary, until every Negro in America can vote. This we pledge you, the women of America.

The only other woman to even touch the microphone to speak was only able to utter one word – “Hello” – before the microphone was snatched away. Her name is Gloria Richardson. Richardson was then co-founder of the Cambridge Nonviolent Action Committee in Maryland, which was in the midst of a campaign to desegregate public institutions like schools and hospitals. She went on to be friends with Malcolm X. She is now 91 years old.

In her own words: I was going to tell them, "You all just sit here until they pass that civil rights bill, even if it is a weak one." And I said, "Hello." And they took [the microphone]…

You can read/listen to her entire interview with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! here.

Did you know... that Rosa Parks, who launched Dr. Martin Luther King into stardom in Montgomery, also attended the March in Washington in ’63? Rosa Parks also was not allowed to speak at the “monumental” event.

Did you know... that during the March in 1963, the Justice Department tapped the microphone of the speakers? Amy Goodman, an investigative journalist and host of the show Democracy Now! reports that the Justice Department had control over the microphone. If there was a call for insurrection by one of the speakers, then the microphone would be cut and the song “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands” by Mahalia Jackson would be played over the loudspeakers. [read/listen here]

Here’s what Malcolm X had to say about the March in Washington a few months after the march happened:

When Martin Luther King failed to desegregate Albany, Georgia, the civil rights struggle in America reached this low point. King became bankrupt almost as a leader, plus even financially, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was in financial trouble. Plus, it was in trouble, period, with the people, when they failed to desegregate Albany, Georgia. Other Negro civil rights leaders, of so-called national stature, became fallen idols. As they became fallen idols, began to lose their prestige and influence, local Negro leaders began to stir up the masses. In Cambridge, Maryland, Gloria Richardson; in Danville, Virginia, and other parts of the country, local leaders began to stir up our people at the grassroots level. This was never done by these Negroes, whom you recognize, of national stature. They controlled you, but they never incited you or excited you. They controlled you. They contained you. They kept you on the plantation. [here]

During this same speech, Malcolm X also spoke of the “Big 6”. The "Big Six” were the six leading civil rights organizers at the time: Martin Luther King, James Farmer, John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins and Whitney Young. In Malcolm’s own words:

The Negroes were out there in the streets. They were talking about how they were going to march on Washington.... That they were going to march on Washington, march on the Senate, march on the White House, march on the Congress, and tie it up, bring it to a halt, not let the government proceed. They even said they were going out to the airport and lay down on the runway and not let any airplanes land. I'm telling you what they said. That was revolution. That was revolution. That was the black revolution.

It was the grass roots out there in the street. It scared the white man to death, scared the white power structure in Washington, D.C. to death; I was there. When they found out that this black steamroller was going to come down on the capital, they called in ... these national Negro leaders that you respect and told them, "Call it off," Kennedy said. "Look you all are letting this thing go too far." And Old Tom said, "Boss, I can't stop it because I didn't start it." I'm telling you what they said. They said, "I'm not even in it, much less at the head of it." They said, "These Negroes are doing things on their own. They're running ahead of us." And that old shrewd fox, he said, "If you all aren't in it, I'll put you in it. I'll put you at the head of it. I'll endorse it. I'll welcome it. I'll help it. I'll join it."

But the white man put the Big Six ahead of it, made them the march. They became the march. They took it over. And the first move they made after they took it over, they invited Walter Reuther, a white man. They invited a priest, a rabbi and an old white preacher. Yes, an old white preacher. The same white elements that put Kennedy in power—labor, the Catholics, the Jews and liberal Protestants—same clique that put Kennedy in power joined the march on Washington.

It’s just like when you’ve got some coffee that’s too black, which means it’s too strong. What you do? You integrate it with cream; you make it weak. If you pour too much cream in, you won’t even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it’ll put you to sleep.

This is what they did with the March on Washington. They joined it. They didn’t integrate it; they infiltrated it. They joined it, became a part of it, took it over. And as they took it over, it lost its militancy. They ceased to be angry. They ceased to be hot. They ceased to be uncompromising. Why, it even ceased to be a march. It became a picnic, a circus, nothing but a circus, with clowns and all. You had one right here in Detroit—I saw it on television—with clowns leading it, white clowns and black clowns. I know you don’t like what I’m saying, but I’m going to tell you anyway, 'cause I can prove what I'm saying. If you think I’m telling you wrong, you bring me Martin Luther King and A. Philip Randolph and James Farmer and those other three, and see if they’ll deny it over a microphone. No, it was a sellout. It was a takeover. ... They controlled it so tight, they told those Negroes what time to hit town, where to stop, what signs to carry, what song to sing, what speech they could make, and what speech they couldn't make, and then told them to get out of town by sundown.... ["A People's History of the United States" by Howard Zinn] [listen to excerpts of Malcolm X speech here]

And now you know….

CHILDREN, FOSTER CARE, AND PRISON

2013-08-21T21:30:00.000-04:00

Is there a link between children in foster care systems and the prison system of the United States? Consider this...

Within a year and a half of leaving foster care:

27% of males and 10% of females are incarcerated.
33% receive public assistance
37% have not finished high school
And a whopping 50% are unemployed

Think that's amazing? Well, also think about this - 3 of 10 of the nation's homeless are former foster care children.

Here's the kicker:

Children are 11 times more likely to be abused in state care than in their own home.
The overall child victim of maltreatment rate in 2007 was 10.6 victims per every 1,000 children. The rate for state child victim rates? Up to 26.3 victims per every 1,000 children.
It is over 5 times more likely that a child dies as a result of abuse in foster care than a child in general population
2% of all child fatalities happen in foster care - which is a horrifically high number considering that out of all the children in the general population, only .4% are in foster care. That's right - .4%.

So, is there a link between children in foster care systems and the United States prison system?

THE AMERICAN RACIAL WEALTH GAP PART 1

2013-08-21T21:10:00.000-04:00

First of all, what is wealth? Wealth is what you own minus what you owe. Your wealth is the amount left over, which allows you to start a business, buy a home, send a child to college, or save towards your retirement. (I'm sure most of us already know this, but I simply want to do a quick brush-up for my readers that may need it.)

To be able to succeed in America, the possession of wealth is extremely important. Obviously, without wealth there is no way that families or even communities can become economically secure. Our government and nation recognize this, hence the policies which provide subsidies and incentives for asset building. However, because these rewards and opportunities provided by our nation are not distributed equally, there is an ever widening wealth gap in America. Reform is needed.

INCOME EQUALITY DOES NOT LEAD TO RACIAL EQUALITY

In a study done between the dates of 1984 and 2007, data shows the greatest wealth accrued during this period accrued primarily to high income whites. The average middle income white that had an accumulation of wealth of $25,000 in 1984 amassed wealth of approximately $74,000 by the year 2007. Contrarily, the average high income African American that had an accumulation of wealth of $25,000 in 1984 actually saw a decline of wealth by the year 2007. The decline for high income African Americans dropped from $25,000 to $18,000. So, between the years of 1984 - 2007 there is a wealth gap of $56,000 between high income African Americans and middle class whites. [here]

This study places high income individuals as earning more than $50,000 in 1984 and middle income individuals as earning $30,000 in 1984.

LACK OF WEALTH LEADS TO INCREASE IN DEBT
Both low wealth whites and low wealth African Americans experience economic decline and stagnation, meaning they are unable to increase their wealth. Unfortunately, African Americans are more likely to have very low levels of wealth. One in four African American families have no assets at all.

Families that have low and negative wealth become increasingly dependent on credit in order to make ends meet. If an individual wants to start a business, they now need to take out a loan. If an individual wants to send a child to college or go to college themselves, they need to take out a loan. If an individual wants to buy a home...well you get the picture.

Low and negative wealth individuals and families now have to use credit as an emergency resource and as a means to make ends meet. One in ten African Americans owe at least $3,600. Sadly, most African Americans have more debt than they do assets. [here]

THE LENDING MARKET PREYS ON THOSE IN DEBT
It is a fact that low income people pay more for accessing credit. Because many of the minority communities are laden with low and negative wealth families, this is open field for predatory lending to take place. This is the reason why there are so many payday lending and check cashing stores in inner city neighborhoods. Low income individuals also resort to more credit card debt as well. All of these sources of lending, of course, give astronomical interest rates, which in most cases is almost impossible for low income individuals to ever pay back in full.

THE AMERICAN RACIAL WEALTH GAP PART 2 OF 2

2013-08-21T21:08:00.000-04:00

The three factors that make up the middle class are a home, healthcare, and a college education. It can be said that the middle class is what defines the American Dream. The middle class is definitely the underlying force which drives this country. Without the purchasing power and the skilled workers that the middle class provides, the United States would by no means be a global power.

Many may not know that the middle class was actually created by the U.S. in the aftermath of World War II. After the second World War, demand for U.S. products rose to as high as it had ever been. New government programs enabled more individuals to obtain home loans. New programs also enacted reforms targeting discriminatory lending practices and made mortgage interest tax deductible. Minimum wage was raised to the highest than it had ever been in 1968. [here]

That was then and this is now.The structures that provided these opportunities have now either weakened or become obsolete over the last forty years. Because of this, a growing gap between the rich and the poor has emerged. The factors that make up the middle class, (a home, healthcare, and college education), have risen to extraordinary costs, outpacing growth in incomes. Because of this, the American people are finding it increasingly difficult to enter and remain in the middle class. [here]

WHY THERE IS A WEALTH GAP

Obviously, a lack of assets make it difficult to enter into or stay in the middle class. This means that securing a financial position is almost impossible for families, their children, their children's children, and so on. Each generation does not have the ability to pull themselves up. The idea of the middle class is, of course, that security and financial stability transfers across generations. This gives the future generations the head start that is often needed to succeed in life.

As we discussed in Part 1 of this series, low wealth individuals are predominantly African Americans. Also, most African Americans own more debt than they do assets. As long as there is more debt owed than assets owned, there will continue to be a large wealth gap.

Education is a definite way to eliminate the wealth gap. The question is, how will many low wealth individuals be able to afford education?

THE LARGEST GAP IN WEALTH BETWEEN BLACK AND WHITE AMERICANS IN 23 YEARS

2013-08-21T21:07:00.000-04:00

This really surprised me. I had no idea that the economic gap between black and white Americans was so large.

A study released by Institute on Assets and Social Policy (IASP) is troubling, to say the least. The study conducted over a 23 year time span shows that the gap between African Americans and White Americans rose by $75,000, from $20,000 to $95,000.

The study doesn't stop there however. The study goes on to state that the results of these figures reflect U.S. public policy.

What are the policies that IASP are referring to?

IASP found that public policies in the US benefited the wealthiest people, through tax cuts on investment income and inheritances, and disadvantaged others through discrimination in housing, credit and labour markets.
"There continues to be a persistence of racial segregation," said Thomas Shapiro, IASP director and co-author of the paper.
Mr Shapiro said that racial segregation operated by limiting the value of property in a community that is primarily African American, in comparison to a community that is predominantly white.[here]

Wow. Straight Henny and no chaser. A little too blunt and honest for your liking? The stats and facts don't lie.

This is simply amazing. I will be sure to research this issue a lot further in the upcoming days. Please stay tuned.

THE TRAGIC LIFE AFTER FOSTER CARE

2013-08-21T21:00:00.000-04:00

The results of a study posted by the New York Times show that life after foster care is a disaster, to word it lightly. Individuals that turn 18 and have aged out of foster care, have shown on an overwhelming scale that they are unable to succeed with the tools, (or lack of tools), that are given to them.

Here are some of the numbers according to the NYT:

Only half of the youth who age out of foster care are employed by their mid twenties.
Six in ten men have been convicted of a crime.
Three in four women receive some form of public assistance (many of these women have children of their own.)
Only six in 100 have completed even a community college degree.

These are extremely disturbing statistics, especially when many of these foster homes were set into place for the improvement of the child's well being. However, there is already work being done to solve this dilemma.

There are programs that are being set up to mentor and assist these young people after they leave foster care. These kids often need a sense of direction and guidance, but have no one to turn to. But these mentor programs that are being set up are already having positive results.

The foster families shown in these pics are just one of thousands of foster families in the country. However, once many of these kids leave foster care they are virtually helpless.

(Please continue reading below...)

The NYT reports that one gentleman recently aged out of foster care is now doing quite well on his own, because of the mentor ship that was provided. The gentleman is attending a community college and works at a printer cartridge company. This is outstanding compared to the fate that many other foster children before him have met.

Mentoring these kids after leaving foster care is the first of many steps that need to be taken to ensure that our youth succeed. Remember, it not only hurts them if they fail. It hurts us as well. Think about it.

RAP MUSIC DOES NOT KILL OUR KIDS

2013-08-21T20:10:00.000-04:00

If rap music influences our youth in a negative way, then so do movies or any other sort of entertainment. When parents blame the way that their child acts on music that is being played, this is simply a crutch.

Sure, there are many rap songs that have lyrics that are vulgar or downright perverse. But it is not rap music that necessarily needs to change. It is the way the community takes care of their youth.

It takes individuals to show these youth that listen to rap music or watch gangster movies that this is for entertainment only. It also should fall on the shoulders of these rappers or entertainers to speak out to the youth of the inner cities.

When parents or others berate rap music, in hopes that it will stop a child from listening to it, they are really only making the matter worse. The more controversial something seems to anyone, adult or child, the more you want to know what it is.

Parents and community leaders should be acutely aware of one thing: These rappers have young kids undivided attention. It is not the rap music we need to be attacking. We need these rappers to speak out and influence these young inner city kids to get an education and to succeed in life. Who better to tell these kids of how to succeed than someone who already has their undivided attention?

Unfortunately, many of the rappers today are cowards. Not all, but many. They are afraid to pause for a moment to tell their listeners that rap music is strictly entertainment. They are afraid of losing their BS "street cred."

Indeed, there are some that have spoken out to the youth and still do. For example, Jay-Z, Nas, Common and quite a few others have done great work by reaching out to the inner youth. These rappers have shown that they are skilled at making the youth listen to what they have to say, but infiltrating knowledge within their lyrics at the same time. There are very few artists that do this.

But there are a multitude of rappers that basically spit in the face of these
inner city communities by not attempting to give back. The attitude is, "Screw you, Im about money."
In short, these individuals that think this way are not grown men or women at all. They are hilarious cowards. It takes an adult - a man or a woman- to stand and be a leader.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PARENTING

2013-08-21T20:04:00.000-04:00

Now per the recent poll that I posted, I am showing that 75% of you believe that education is one main reason that would most likely help our inner city youth to succeed. 25% believe that parenting is the key.

So, let's begin with parenting. It is true that any child needs the love and attention that only a parent can give. When there is no parenting or supervision, the results can be catastrophic. Teenage pregnancies, contracting STD's, hanging with the wrong crowd, drug dealing, drug using, robbing, fighting, gangs, murder...the list goes on.

There are any amount of situations or predicaments that a child may find themselves placed into, if someone is not there to tell them, "That's not a good idea," or "Why don't you try this instead?" Any type of advise that can be given a child would certainly help them avoid drastic and tragic situations.

However, what if a child does not have the proper parenting? What happens to that child then? What if that child's parent didn't have proper parenting as they were growing up and had their child as a young teenager? These are a lot of "what if's" but these are very real scenarios.

Let's paint this picture. A mother has a child as a teenager. She knows who the baby's father is, but he has never claimed the child. The mother was running in the streets before she got pregnant, while she was pregnant, so after she had her child nothing changed. The mother does what she can to feed her child including holding drugs for some of the drug dealers on her block, selling sex, and running illegal scams.

Now, this child has no real parenting, being that the mother is rarely home with the child. And when the mother is home, she doesn't give the child the proper attention that a child needs. So, the child turns to the streets. The child becomes pregnant at age 15 and, well you know the rest. The cycle repeats itself.

Let's take education, our last option. With the previous example that was used of the basically parentless household, how would we keep this child from going down the same path as her mother?

This is how. We educate the child. With the proper education, the child will be opened to new worlds beside the tumultuous world in which they live. To get this proper education, there have to be teachers put into place that will take the time and passion to teach every kid that comes through the doors of their classroom. There needs to be extra staff on hand to assist with the monitoring and mentoring of these schoolchildren. This will give the child an almost definitive chance of being successful in their life.

This has been Part II of the poll results. Part III will be posted shortly, which will include a more detailed explanation of how education can save our inner city youth.

EDUCATION BREEDS WISDOM

2013-08-21T20:03:00.000-04:00

Without a doubt, lack of education is the overwhelming and dominant reason why so many of the inner city youth do not succeed in life. Crime and the level of a person's education can and should be linked together.

But, of course, a number of issues including low income or poverty can all be attributed to the degree of education that an individual received. This is a known fact within inner circles, but as of yet nothing has been done to resolve this problem. Real legislation has not even been set into play.

This type of statistical information needs to be shown to the public. This is exactly what I intend to do. I will post extremely eye-opening information as to why there HAS to be a change in our education system in the inner city. Or else the progress will be extremely slow. Slow as in it taking 4 generations to get from high school to a college level. Remember, we as Americans should be improve each generation both educationally and financially.

Obviously, many in poverty stricken areas have been poor their entire life, as well as their parents and grandparents. So it is very much a generational aspect to this that needs to be solved.

Currently in America we have individuals that are born into wealth and others that are born into poverty. This is the same thing that happens in other countries, similar to a king and royalty, and the low down peasants. The difference is that in America, we have the opportunity to change what is not fair and just, whereas other countries never get that choice.

I will post part III of the poll results tomorrow which will include statistics to prove the correlation of lack of education and the inner city. A new poll will be posted tomorrow as well!

HOW TO SAVE OUR INNER CITY YOUTH

2013-08-21T20:02:00.000-04:00

What is it that contributes to the plight of the inner city youth? Why are these children using and selling drugs, committing petty thefts, and committing violent crimes?

Many of these youth have so much anger inside and have no care for anyone at all, not even themselves. Many of these kids have witnessed violent crimes ranging from domestic abuse to persons being beaten down in the streets to the horrific act of murder.

Some have lost family members to violent genocidal crime or have lost their loved ones to police crime. These children are sometimes void of emotion. They feel as if their situation is hopeless.

The reasons listed above may be considered as excuses to some. So, let's get to the root of the problem.

What contributes to this plight that these young kids find themselves in? There are a couple of reasons that have been tossed around and the reasons all appear to be valid.

One reason usually given is parenting. Where on earth are these kid's parents? Why don't the parents discipline their children or show their children how to love? Why are these girls becoming parents at such a young age? Why do these girls continue to have so many children, even when it is obvious that they cannot afford even one more child?

These are all honest questions that should be asked. And when all of the question asking has been done, what is left? Obviously asking questions change nothing. The parent is still no where in the child's life. The young kids are still having children of their own.

The glaring fact remains that the inner city youth are still in danger. There is no way to force these parents to to take care of their children. Sure, there are laws on the books that protect the child. But no law in the world will give a child the attention and love that he or she needs and craves.

Indeed, parenting would definitely help these children through the absurd lifestyle that they face on a daily, almost minute to minute basis. But if the parent doesn't step up, (as in 90% of the situations of kids in the inner city), what happens to the child?

Do we just write the parentless child off as a statistic? An extremely high amount of these kids who have no real guidance in their lives end up as either perpetrators of violent crimes, incarcerated, on government assistance, or a combination of all three. This means that every single taxpayer is affected by this inner city plight.

Another reason given regarding the damage of our inner city youth is the failure of the inner city education system. There is an incremental percentage of predominantly minority filled schools that are actually succeeding. For that matter, there is a small percentage of these schools that successfully graduate most of their students. A minimal amount of these schools are able to keep their students from dropping out or even deter young ladies from becoming pregnant.

Children in these schools are fighting amongst each other and fighting with the school staff. School staff have been known to abuse some of these kids, both mentally, physically, and sexually.

Many of the teachers have given up on trying to reach these kids and teach the kids properly. The morale amongst teachers is as low as the money that they are being paid. There are many teachers that actually took the job of teaching because they wanted to make a difference in a child's life.

Amongst all of this negativity, the children are learning absolutely nothing. Education is huge for a child that has nothing positive to face. Even when a child's situation is dire at home, education gives them something to look forward to. The proper education is tremendously beneficial to a child.

So, the situation and plight of the inner city can be detrimental to a kid. However, the revamping of our education system in these inner cities will save taxpayers money and save a child's life in the process.

WALK IN THE SHOES OF AN INNER CITY KID

2013-08-21T20:00:00.000-04:00

He ran as fast as his short legs would carry him. The backpack which was slung over his shoulder contained only his homework assignment, and flapped against his back as he ran. He glanced over his shoulder quickly, considering what he had just witnessed.

Only moments earlier, as he walked towards the crossing guard to leave school grounds, he heard men arguing near the store across the street. He could tell they were arguing, but not from the loud and disdainful tone of their voices. Not from the stream of curse words that seemed to flow out of both individual’s mouths. He just knew; he could tell. It was as if the men’s voices were strained and may snap at any moment. Like two pit bulls forced to fight to the death for food, brought face to face and straining against leashes, begging to either kill or be killed.

The ten year old kid stopped to watch. His mom wasn’t here again. Not unusual. He had told her that there was a thirteen year old fifth grader that kept picking on him. She said she would meet him at the school when he got out, but once again she was nowhere to be found. She was probably busy…or something.

The two men were still semi-woofing at each other, but one was walking away headed to what appeared to be his car. The other stood in front of the store front still jawing, then turned around and walked briskly into the store. The crossing guard waved at the kid as if telling him to continue on home. The show was over.

As the kid watched the man reach his car, he suddenly noticed that the man held a gun in his left hand. And he wasn’t even trying to hide it! The other man had gone inside of the store, but the gun toting individual still was talking loudly, gesturing at the door of the store with his gun.

The second part of the argument, the man inside of the store, ran out and fire shot out of his right hand. Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop!

The kid felt himself turn cold. He knew that sound all too well. He remembered looking from his bedroom window as his mother was on the porch screaming. His father trying to open the gate to run inside, but he was too late. Pop, pop, pop, pop! They had shot his father in the back, killing him. He had died still clutching the iron bars of the gate.

The ten year old tried to will his legs to move, but his feet had turned to cinderblocks. He was planted in place. The man that was about to get in his car was now crouched on the side of the car, returning fire. Bam, Bam, Bam!

Mothers were screaming to the gunmen to stop shooting. Kids were just getting out of school. Most of the children were running, seemingly terrified. There were a few children who seemed oblivious to the shooting, that were walking directly into the crossfire.

The man crouching on the side of the car opened the car door and jumped in, started the car and took off. The man in front of the store took off running around the corner. And the kid’s feet finally came to life, and he took off running.

Running until he was almost wheezing. There were about four blocks from his school to his home, and he was not planning on stopping until he reached home. He ran through the empty and deserted park. The crazy man that lived there stood in one spot staring at the kid running as if his life depended on it. He ran past the corner store where the young thugs posted all day. They stared at him quizzically as he gasping for air, but continued to run.

He ran up the two steps to his home and burst in the door. He ran to his mother’s bedroom door to tell her what he had just witnessed. Her room door was closed. Again. He tried to open the door, but it was locked. He could indistinctly hear his mother moaning then giggling.

The kid threw his book pack down at his mother’s bedroom door and ran back outside, slamming the door behind him. He sat down on the steps of the porch, placed his hands under his chin, and sighed heavily.

It was going to be a long day.

This fictional story is based on actual events. I actually witnessed two idiots began shooting across the street from a school yard precisely when the kids were leaving school. Out of all of the shots fired, not a single one of the shots found a target. Extremely fortunate for the children.

If there is no parenting at home, do we simply write these children off as a statistic?

COMMIT A CRIME OR STARVE?

2013-08-21T19:58:00.000-04:00

It's no secret. The plight of our children in the "real" inner city areas is atrocious. If the child does not grow to become either an athlete or entertainer (aka rapper), their only other viable option is to work a menial wage job or turn to a life of crime.

There are those that have done criminal acts in their past and have vowed not to return to their past behaivor.
But understand, the only reason many were introduced to a life of crime in the first place is that this is all that surrounds them. They see no other way of making money unless it is with a minimum wage paying job.

This is where the dilemma arises.Either continue doing criminal activity with about a 90% probability of being caught and going to jail, or work the minimum wage job. There is a family to support, there is rent to pay - and there is an opportunity to make at least 5 times as much money doing crime rather than working a 9 - 5.

Doing crime would break this cycle for the children and mouths to feed at home. Hopefully they won't have to live this same lifestyle and have to make these type decisions.

So...what to do?

A BLINK IN THE LIFE OF AN INNER CITY CHILD

2013-08-21T19:57:00.000-04:00

If a rose can grow from concrete...

A nine year old child leaves school and walks home, with his book pack slung over his shoulder. Upon reaching home, he discovers his mother is not there, but this is not at all unusual. He pours a bowl of cereal and plops on a chair in front of the television.

After about an hour of watching television, he becomes bored and steps outside, sitting in a chair in front of his apartment door. Inside of his apartment complex is a bustle of activity. It was like this all during the daytime and most of the night - nonstop. None of his friends are outside, however. He is sure their mother's have them all doing homework or chores or whatever else it is that mothers have their kids do.

Suddenly, a group of individuals began arguing loudly. The child watched, almost disinterested. But just as suddenly, one of the individuals pulls a black gun from his waistband and holds it to his side, the barrel pointing at the ground.

"Do we have a problem?". the gun holding man asks someone in the group.
But the arguing only intensifies and the child notices that anyone else that was outside has run inside or left the apartment complex. He decided that he should go inside as well.

A shot rings out, the sound smashing into the walls of the apartment hallway.The child almost falls out of his chair and runs inside. As he closes the door, he sees the man with the gun pointed skyward. It looks as if the man had simply shot into the air. The child slams the door and locks it. He is shaking.

Seconds later, he hears a key being inserted into the keyhole and the lock turning. His mother bursts in, with a look of concern on her face. She attempts to hide it when seeing her son sitting in a chair. But the relief on her face is obvious.

"Mom, where were you?", the child asks.
"I had to take care of some business baby."
He knew that she had probably been gambling or was with one of the men from the corner store.
"Somebody was shooting out there!" He has a story to tell his mother now.

But she dismisses it, "Don't worry about them baby. Some people are just crazy. C'mon and help me count this money."
She is in a good mood, so he knows that she has some money, which means they may be eating out tonight.
"You do your homework?" she asks as they walk into her bedroom.
"Yea."
"You sure?'
"Yea!" he exclaims, exasperated. "I did it at school!"

But in fact, he had done nothing of the sort. His teacher had sent a note home advising his mother that the child needs to improve drastically or would be flunk his grade. But the note was buried in his book bag. He could have thrown it away. But he considers this. If his mother really wanted to know about his school work, all that she had to do was look in his book bag.

The next morning, he wakes up to his friend knocking on the door.
"You ready for school?", his friend asks when the door opens.
"Hold on," he replies.
He leaves the door open and runs to his room. He puts on the same shirt and pants that he had on the day before, slings his back pack over his shoulder and runs out of the house, shutting and locking the door with his key. He knows his mother is asleep and decides not to disturb her. He and his friend walk the 7 blocks that it takes to get to school.

This example is simply an illustration of what many inner city children have to look forward to everyday after school. In fact, this is actually an extremely tame version of events compared to the harsher events that many youth face. The question is,

"What do we do when a child does not have the parenting that is needed to help them succeed?"

Our Troubled Youth

2013-08-21T19:00:00.000-04:00

He was a lightweight of a kid that probably weighed 110 pounds at the most. The eleven year old boy was spunky and arrogant. Overconfident. He took orders from no one. He despised you for even attempting to instruct him. He would hang out with all of the big drug dealers. He seemed to know them all by name. He would carry their poison for them in his jacket pocket.

Whenever I would see him, I would talk to him. And he would listen. I never reprimanded him. I didn’t say anything about the blunt he would smoke, the stench of weed penetrating the air. I would talk about life outside of the ghetto. I would talk about education. He could seem to care less about anything I said. He would never respond. But whenever he saw me, he would come around. Indeed, he began to follow me around as a puppy would.

“Where is your mother?” I asked him once. And he simply shrugged, staring at me with a smirk. Days later he told me that his mother was strung out on dope. His grandmother, he said, attempted to take care of him, but he had seen too much already. He ran in the streets now. No school at all. The streets were raising him.

One day, I saw him in the apartment hallway with a group of older thugs. One of the thugs stopped me to inform me that there may be shooting in the area sometime that day, due to a beef with another neighborhood. He then proceeded to show me two guns in his waistband.

“We ready for war,” were his words. I glanced at the kid, leaning against the wall with a smirk on his face. The eleven year old, looked at me, and then opened his long jacket, showing me its contents. Inside of the jacket was a Mac-11. The gun was as big as the kid.

I wanted to strangle the gold toothed thug who had stopped me. The thug was laughing loudly, as if the situation was hilarious. I walked away in disgust.

11 o’clock at night, there were no street lights. The streets were pitch-dark and if you had no business outside then you were in your apartment with the doors and windows shut and locked. Not this kid.

There was a knock on my apartment door. My girlfriend stirred in our bed, before dozing back to sleep. I glanced at the clock. It was after 11 pm. I flipped the porch light on and peered out of another window. It was the little kid, just standing there. He couldn’t see me however. Immediately I was suspicious. Why was he knocking on my door this late at night? Did one of the thugs send him to my door? Maybe the thugs were hiding, waiting for me to open the door. I attempted to peer out as far as I could from the window, but my view was limited. I could see no one else. So I cracked the door open, my foot and my hand behind the door, trying to pretend as if I had a gun. Upon the door opening, the kid looked up and began grinning. I stepped out onto the porch.

“What’s up homey?”

“You got a lighter?” he asked.

I stared at the child. Is that what he knocked on my door this late at night for?

“Hey, why are you knocking on my door this late?” I asked.

“You had your light on. I knew you were still up.” Simple answer. Indeed, I was still up before he knocked. I silently wondered how long he had been standing on the porch before he knocked.

I reached into my pocket and handed him a lighter. He lit a cigar and sat on the porch stoop. I sat in a chair. And all was quiet.

“You got some more spaghetti?”

The question took me by surprise. My girlfriend had made spaghetti a couple days ago, but it was long gone and devoured by me. How did he know there was spaghetti in my home?

“Your girl gave me some the other day,” he continued, as if reading my mind, and sounding exasperated.

“Nah,” I replied, finding my voice. “I’m sure we have something in there though. Hold on.”

I walked inside and retrieved a plate of leftover chicken wings from the refrigerator. I walked back to the porch holding the plate, and then remembered I should heat up the wings in the microwave.

“Wait a sec; I’m going to heat them up.”

“No, don’t worry about it,” he said, reaching for the plate. “Thank you.”

He grabbed the plate of food and began digging into the wings like a hungry stray animal.

I pretended to look away. My heart seemed to wrench in half. This poor kid! Didn’t those thugs feed him anything? How could I have been so blind? The kid was hungry!

About three minutes later, the kid stood up, and handed me the plate. After thanking me again and telling me how good my girlfriend’s cooking was he walked away down the completely black street. He didn’t even take a drink of water.

About six months later, I moved away from the neighborhood. A better way of saying it may be that I fled the area. The constant drama, fights, and sounds of gunshots did not make it a difficult decision to leave.

Two months after leaving, I watched the local news one evening after a hard day of work. The lead story flashed on the television screen.

“A young boy that was gunned down early this morning has been identified. He was twelve years old.”

A picture was shown on the television screen, and I began having trouble breathing. The kid had been killed.

Who in the world would do such a despicable thing?

I found out where the funeral would be held. But I didn’t go. I couldn’t bear to go and see the kid lying still in a casket. If only I had been more forceful with the kid. I could have made him see that the street life only held two things in store, prison and death.

***This is a fictional account based on actual events that happened in Overtown, Miami, FL. ***

PLEASE SAVE OUR INNER CITY YOUTH!

KIDS AND EDUCATION

2010-08-21T20:01:00.000-04:00

It is obvious that our inner city children need education in order to improve their current living conditions and escape the unfortunate likelihood of failure. This is a glaring fact. So why is there not much being done to reform the inner city education system?

Firing a few teachers because of poor student test scores may suffice temporarily, but this is definitely not the permanent solution. Many times, when these kids go home there is no parent waiting. Often times, these children have to be parents to their younger siblings. These kids are raising themselves.

Sure, we can easily point to the fact that it is the parent's responsibility to raise their own child. Indeed, this is very true. However, if a parent is not there for a child, what happens then?

Do we simply write that child off as another statistic?

This is where education reform comes in. These kids in our inner cities need to a mentor as well as an educator. The children need to be treated on an individual basis. They need someone to listen to them when they speak. Even if the kid does not speak, someone still needs to be there.

Teachers will have to be put in place that will take the time and effort to deal with "troubled" kids. Remember that each child that does not get the proper education, that is another child that is likely to remain living in poverty. That is another child who is probably going to be in and out of the prison system. An uneducated child does not benefit society, instead that child could be considered an endangerment to others around them as well as an endangerment to themselves.

Facts don't lie. Our inner city education system needs drastic reformation.

THE NON-EXISTENCE OF EDUCATION

2010-08-01T22:48:00.000-04:00

I'm sure that most of us would agree by now that lack of education is the primary source of lack of success for individuals in the inner cities. The statistics below simply provide visual evidence to support the argument that education is needed to bridge the gap between inner city areas and the rest of the nation.

16% of Americans have not completed high school.
75% of state prisoners have not completed high school.
67% of jailed inmates have not completed high school.

In my opinion, the three bullets listed above are painfully revealing.

Now think about this:

84% of all Americans have at least completed high school; the violent crime rate for the U.S. is 469 per 100,000 individuals.
The ten states with the largest percentage of population with a at least a high school diploma is a high 91.5%; the violent crime rate for these ten states is 305 per 100,000 individuals (below the national average.)
The ten states with the smallest percentage of population with at least a high school diploma is 80.5%; the violent crime rate for these states is 488 per 100,000 individuals (above the national average.)

The nation spends an average of $9,644 a year to educate a student. The average annual cost per inmate is $22,600. The U.S. spent almost $50 billion dollars in incarceration costs in 2004. The Coalition for Juvenile Justice reports that high school dropouts are three and a half times more likely to be arrested than high school graduates. Can you say wasteful spending?

Here is the financial status of those that lack in education:

Women who did not finish high school make an average of $10,786 a year.
Men who did not finish high school make an average of $18,990 a year.

Any questions?

HISPANIC CHILDREN'S PERSONAL AND PRIVATE INFO BREACHED AND MADE PUBLIC

2010-07-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

A list of personal information that included the names and addresses of children and pregnant women was sent to news media and law enforcement agencies throughout the state of Utah this week. Two state workers have been identified as being responsible for this horrendous breach of privacy.

Utah officials have identified at least two state workers who apparently breached a state database to create a list of 1,300 purported illegal immigrants. Gov. Gary Herbert's office said Friday that the employees work for the Department of Workforce Services, which administers food stamp programs and other public benefits.
News media, law enforcement and other government officials started receiving the list of names and personal information this week, creating widespread fear in the Hispanic community. The anonymous mailing demands that those on the list be deported, although some named have said they are in the country legally.
The list contains Social Security numbers, birth dates, workplaces, addresses and phone numbers. Names of children are included, along with due dates of pregnant women.
The governor's office has said it will give information about the breach to the state attorney general's office by Monday so it can decide whether to file charges. [here]

Now this is just frightening, especially if you are one of the individuals that has had their personal and private information reviewed by a couple of loons. Is this what the immigration scare has done to our country? Are there no limits to this illegal immigration madness?
Since these two workers accessed this information illegally, who else now has this information?

OSCAR GRANT'S MURDERER CONVICTED OF INVOLUNTARY MANSLAUGHTER

2010-07-09T01:25:00.001-04:00

Oscar Grant III who was 22 years old was murdered in cold blood on January 1, 2009 by an Oakland Bay area transit officer. Not only was Grant murdered, but he was shot in his back as he lay face down and handcuffed.

Johannes Mehserle has said he was attempting to pull his taser gun to taser Oscar. Mehserle instead pulled his gun and fired a shot into Oscar's back, killing him.

A white Bay Area transit officer was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter on Thursday by a Los Angeles jury in the shooting death of an unarmed black man on Jan. 1, 2009, ending a closely watched trial that percolated with racial tension and cries for peace in the city of Oakland, Calif., where the killing occurred. [here]

True enough, there are some who say that justice has been served because a law enforcement officer has been convicted. However, this conviction means that Mehserle may serve only 1 - 2 years of prison - if that.

Why was Mehserle attempting to taser Oscar anyway, as Oscar's hands were already tied behind his back? This is truly a sad and tragic story, especially for the Grant family who have lost a son, and no matter what the court's decision they will never get to have their son back alive.

I hesitated putting this video up because I would rather people not view this for the wrong reason. But I am deciding to post this video to let my readers make the decision themselves. Does this look like a case of involuntary manslaughter?

MY INTERVIEW WITH TEA PARTY MEMBER

2010-06-20T22:41:00.000-04:00

I had the opportunity to interview an individual affiliated with the Tea Party earlier this afternoon. His name is Ed. I was going to break the video into parts and post portions throughout the week, but I hate when people do that.

So, let me know what you think readers. Bear in mind, this is my first interview EVER. So, if it sucks then let me know. Were the questions too easy? Did I ask any of Sarah Palin's favorite "gotcha" questions?

Here goes, Part 1 and 2:

MISSISSIPPI SENDS MAN TO TRIAL 6TH TIME FOR SAME CRIME - MOST IN U.S. HISTORY

2010-06-19T23:31:00.001-04:00

How could someone be tried in a court of law 5 times for the same crime and not be convicted yet STILL imprisoned? This week made the SIXTH time that the state of Mississippi will try the individual for the same exact crime. The HuffPo reports:

An African American man, Curtis Flowers, made history this week when he became the first person in U.S. history to ever go on trial for murder six times for the same crime. Mr. Flowers has been in jail in Mississippi since 1996, accused of the murder of four people at a furniture store. Jury selection started this week in tiny Winona Mississippi, population 5,482.
Mr. Flowers has been in jail since 1996 awaiting trial and was previously tried for these murders in 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007 and 2008. All either ended in hung juries or overturned convictions. The five previous trials have already cost the State of Mississippi over $300,000. [here]

This is simply absurd. I hear of racism in the Southern court system all the time, but this took my breath away. PLEASE read this information listed below. This is as blatant as hatred can get.

The info below was retrieved from: Friends of Justice

On June 7, 2010, Curtis Flowers will become the first capital defendant in American history to go to trial six times on the same evidence.
On the morning of July 16, 1996, four people were brutally murdered at Tardy Furniture Store in Winona, Mississippi.
The victims were proprietor Bertha Tardy, aged 59, two white employees, Carmen Rigby, 45 and Bobo Stewart, 16, and a black employee, Robert Golden, 42.
The victims were killed execution-style by a bullet to the back of the head fired at close range.
In January of 1997, Curtis Flowers, a 26 year-old black man who had worked at Tardy Furniture for three days in early July, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder.
Prosecutors suggest that Flowers was enraged when the $82 cost of damaged merchandise was deducted from his pay check.
There is no fingerprint or DNA evidence in the case linking Flowers to the crime. The murder weapon was never recovered.
When eyewitnesses didn’t come forward voluntarily, a $30,000 reward was offered for evidence leading to a final conviction. Even then, investigators had to canvass the black side of town flogging the reward.
The two witnesses claiming to have seen Flower near the crime scene are an aunt and her niece who signed statements between 7 and 9 months after the crime. Neither woman had told friends and family members about seeing Curtis on the day of the Tardy murders.
Only two of the 105 interviews conducted in the Tardy investigation were videotaped. The investigative work product for most interviews consists of sketchy notes on a yellow pad.
Curtis Flowers had no criminal history when arrested and has been incarcerated for fourteen years without a single disciplinary write-up. Curtis sang in his father’s gospel group prior to arrest and currently leads the singing at prison worship services.
In mid-April, 2010, Curtis Flowers was transferred to the Leflore County Jail and placed on lockdown. Allegedly, Flowers had become too popular with the staff at the Montgomery-Carroll Corrections Facility. Prosecutor Doug Evans charges that Flowers was on such good terms with prison staff that “he had the run of the place down there.”
Curtis Flowers has been tried in 1997, 1999, 2004, 2007 and 2008.
Winona, the county seat of Montgomery County, is 50% white and 50% black.
In 1963, Fannie Lou Hamer and several other civil rights activists were brutally beaten by police officers in Winona.
Convictions in the first two Flowers trials were overturned due to prosecutorial misconduct.
During voir dire in the third trial, prosecutor Doug Evans used all fifteen strikes to eliminate African-American’s from the jury pool. The state Supreme Court saw this as evidence of racial bias and vacated the conviction.
In the fourth trial, five black jurors voted to acquit while seven white jurors voted to convict.
In the wake of the fourth trial in 2007, Winona Times editor Amanda Sexton argued that “Based on what happened in the last trial, the only way to prevent another mistrial due to a hung jury is to move the trial.”
The retired black school teacher who held out for an acquittal in trial five was charged with perjury. When the judge and prosecutor were recused from the case, the Attorney General’s office dropped the charges due to lack of evidence.
Under Mississippi law, only defense counsel can request a change of trial venue. The defense team believes that a local jury should try this case.
A bill that would enable the court to select a jury from a multi-county judicial district has been introduced in the last two sessions of the MS legislature. White legislators endorse the bill while black politicians oppose it.
Sponsors of “the Flowers bill” in the House and Senate are members of the Council of Conservative Citizens, a self-proclaimed “pro-white” organization that ended Trent Lott’s political career. The Southern Poverty Law Center has identified the CCC as a hate group.
Each trial has left the loved ones of the victims and the defendant emotionally drained. The racially divided community is desperate for resolution.

As of June 18, the defense rested and jury selections are set to began once again. [here]

ARMY SPECIALIST ARRESTED FOR LEAKING MURDER VIDEO TO WIKILEAKS

2010-06-07T23:06:00.000-04:00

Remember that WikiLeaks video that showed civilians being murdered by American soldiers? If you haven't seen the video, it's too late to now. The video has been removed from the WikiLeaks page and the person accused of leaking the video has been arrested.

Army Specialist Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Maryland, who was deployed to Baghdad, is being held in pretrial confinement in Kuwait, "for allegedly releasing classified information," according to a U.S. military statement. [here]

The video that was released by WikiLeaks caused an uproar around the world. It showed Afghan journalists and children being riddled with bullets - by American troops shooting from a helicopter.

Apparently, Manning bragged to another individual about the leaking of the video. The person Manning bragged to? Former hacker Adrian Lamao, who proved to be working undercover with the Feds.

Catch the story here.

AN IMPORTANT MOMENT IN AMERICAN HISTORY

2010-06-06T23:46:00.000-04:00

CLIP OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ERA

2010-05-30T23:14:00.000-04:00