Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol.
8 Issue 19…Dedicated to the Dialogue
on Race…May 13, 2005
Intuit’s
Vibe
Builder
By
Unknown
A builder built a temple,
He wrought it with care and skill,
Pillars and groins and arches,
Were fashioned to meet his will
And men said when they saw its beauty:
“It shall never know decay,
Great is thy skill, O, builder,
Thy fame shall endure for aye.”
A teacher built a temple,
She wrought with skill and care,
Forming each pillar with patience,
Laying each stone with care.
None knew of the marvelous plan,
For the temple the teacher built
Was unseen by the eyes of man.
Gone is the builder’s temple,
Crumbled into dust,
Pillars and groins and arches,
Food for consuming rust.
But the temple the teacher built
Shall endure while the ages roll,
For the beautiful unseen temple
Was the child’s immortal soul.
The Dark Knight-Batman/White
Ninja/Zorro has completed his annual school tests. Pupils, teachers and
administrators agree; this school year is over, even though the doors do not officially
close until May 20th. When queried for comments, the Dark One/Ninja/Zorro
enthused, "I can't wait for summer vacation!"
Hood Notes
Three Strikes and Mandatory Minimums
Rather than build schools and improve the public education system, the US is
building prisons and filling them to capacity with three strike laws and
mandatory minimum sentences. Mandatory minimums are fixed sentences for certain
offenses; judges must impose these prison sentences without parole, regardless
of the defendants criminal record or lack thereof. Under three strikes’ laws, defendants found guilty of a third
offense are automatically sentenced to life in prison.
Like the death penalty, three
strikes laws and mandatory minimums disproportionately impact poor and minority
defendants. Recent Supreme Court rulings in United States v. Booker and United
States v. Fanfan give Congress an opportunity to revisit the issue. Bills under
consideration, if passed, redefine criminal street gangs and increase federal
penalties for gang-related crimes. In general, like conservative right
responses on other social issues, proposed laws impose harsher penalties,
rather take the more measured approach called for by opponents of mandatory
minimums, including former judges, attorneys generals and civil rights groups.
Families
of felons serving life sentences under the three strikes rule have formed a
group called Families to Amend California Three Strikes (FACTS). With
overcrowded prisons exerting their own pressure, FACTS members hope reforms
will soon change a system that imprisons for life non-violent offenders.
Prison
reform advocates point to the fact that mandatory minimums and three strikes
mean more tax dollars spent building prisons for non-violent offenders with
fewer dollars left for other social needs, including education. With public
schools doing such a poor job of educating children, some worry they
increasingly serve as holding pens for the criminal justice system; this situation
does not bode well for the larger society.
Bit of History
Assata Shakur
Black
American writer and folk hero Assata Olugbala Shakur was born JoAnee Deborah
Byron in New York on July 14, 1947. For most of her early life, Shakur resided
with maternal grandparents Lula and Frank Hill, first in Jamaica, New York,
then in Wilmington, North Carolina, where her grandparents opened a business on
their beachfront property. Shakur acquired a love of the written word from her
grandfather. In addition to working in her grandparents' restaurant, she spent
a great deal of time reading.
Shakur
returned to New York to live with her mother and stepfather in Queens. It is
there that her political education began as she confronted the issues of racism
and discrimination. A troubled teen, Shakur ran away from home shortly after
her parents' divorce. While she returned, Shakur eventually dropped out of
school at seventeen and left her mother's house.
A product of the turbulent
1960's, Shakur joined the Black Panther Party and became a Black Liberation
Army (BLA) leader in the early 1970s. With these associations, her political
problems began in earnest, and Shakur became a target of the FBI's Counter
Intelligence Program. Code-named COINTELPRO, this FBI operation sought to
discredit, kill or other neutralize those affiliated with the black liberation
struggle. Labeled terrorists and criminals, black activists faced trumped up
charges that tied them up in courts for long periods and ended in incarceration
whenever possible.
Shakur was no exception. Indicted ten times and tried for bank robbery,
kidnapping and attempted murder, she was acquitted of all charges or they were
dismissed for a lack of evidence. This changed with a May 2, 1973 "driving
while black" incident. Shakur and two companions, Malik Zayad Shakur, no
relation, and Sundiata Acoli, were stopped on the New Jersey State Turnpike for
a broken headlight. The vehicle's occupants appeared "suspicious"
because the car had a Vermont license plate. Shots were fired. State Trooper Werner
Foerster and Malik Shakur were killed.
Assata Shakur, seriously injured in the melee, and Sundiata Acoli were
arrested, tortured and charged with the trooper's death. An all white jury in
1977 found Shakur guilty, even though forensic evidence showed she had not
fired a weapon and the state's star witness perjured himself. Sentenced to life
plus 33 years in prison, Shakur gave birth to her daughter Kakuya during two
years of solitary confinement. In 1979, after nearly six years in prison, she
escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women.
Shakur fled the USA, applied for and received asylum in Cuba. She has continued
her education and remains active in the equal rights struggle. In 1987, she
published Assata Shakur: An Autobiography, which tells her side of events
before, during, and after the 1973 incident. She also writes on global issues
facing women, youth, and people of color. The subject of books, movies, music
and poetry, Shakur is a freedom fighter whose name means "she who
struggles." (Sources: www.aaregistry.com, www.assatashakur.org
and www.afrocubaweb.com)
Kudos! Kudos!
Innocent Projects
The Supreme Court in Roper v.
Simmons overturned the death penalty for juvenile offenders. Many, especially mental health
professionals and youth advocacy groups that recognize adolescents do not weigh
benefits and risks the same as adults, applauded this decision. Unfortunately, some right wing nuts
assailed the Court's ruling as another example of activist judges based solely
on the fact that the majority opinion, written by Justice Kennedy, mentioned
that the rest of the civilized world has outlawed the practice of killing kids
that kill. Seems that what the rest of the world does should not matter in the
USA. Kudos to the Court!
Kudos are definitely in order for Innocent Projects that work tirelessly for
the release from prison those wrongly convicted. Their work has revealed the
very real possibility that innocent people may be put to death, and it has
forced the nation to reexamine the death penalty's application and process as
more than one hundred wrongly convicted men have been freed through Innocent
Projects efforts. Moreover, Innocent Projects have shed light on other
disturbing aspects of the death penalty, including statistics that show it is
applied differently depending on race and economic status. Poor and minority
defendants are far more likely to receive a death sentence, if their victim is
white.
Most of the work to free the wrongly convicted is performed by law students,
under the guidance of dedicated attorneys/professors and investigators, that
are willing to reexamine evidence, fight for DNA testing and, in general, go
the extra mile to save a life. Kudos!
Hands
Off Assata Campaign
On May 2, 2005, the 32nd
anniversary of the death of State Trooper Werner Foerster, the US Department of
Justice posted a $1 million bounty for the capture of social justice activist,
poet and grandmother Assata Shakur (Joanne Chesimard), who lives under
political asylum in Cuba. This reward invites "soldiers of fortune"
to kidnap and kill Shakur and to engage in espionage against Cuba. The Justice
Department also added Shakur to international terrorist watch lists.
The $1 million bounty on Shakur is the largest ever set by the US on a New
Jersey fugitive. Since 1998, New Jersey has offered a reward for Shakur's
capture. In September 1998, Congress passed House Resolution 254, which called
on Cuba to extradite Assata Shakur as a condition of normalizing relations
between the US and the island nation.
Outraged over these renewed efforts, a coalition of organizations, which
includes The Talking Drum Collective, Black Radical Congress, Global Exchange,
Jericho, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, National Conference of Black Lawyers,
IfCO/Pastors for Peace, Venceremos Brigade, Women's International League for
Peace and Freedom, Prisoners of Conscience Committee and New Black Panther
Party, and individuals formed the Hands Off Assata Campaign (HOA-Campaign).
Organizers are calling on Congress to hold public hearings on the past and
current impact of COINTELPRO, which targeted Assata Shakur and other activists.
HOA is also calling on the US to end its economic blockade and normalize
relations with Cuba.
Things
you can do to assist this campaign include: (1) Add your organization's name to
the endorsement list. (2) Contact your US congressional representatives. Demand
that Congress rescind HR 254 and support congressional hearings on COINTELPRO.
(3) Download, print and disseminate the "Hands Off Assata Shakur"
Flyer. (4) Plan a showing of the film Eyes of the Rainbow (1997), which
portrays the life and struggles of freedom fighter Assata Shakur. (5) Visit www.assatashakur.org for up-to-date
HOA-Campaign information and ways you can participate. (6) Organize around The
Hands Off Assata Shakur Campaign Rally and Teach-In June 4, 2005 hosted by you
in your respective cities and towns. (7) For questions, use the contact form at
www.assatashakur.org.
Disgruntled feels:
Chided! Though
touted as the world's greatest democracy, a Supreme Court decision brought the
USA's current leader, George W. Bush, to power. His second 'win' was also
marred by serious problems from computer malfunctions and uncounted votes to
millions of disenfranchised felons across the country. Of course, US corporate
media have neither exposed nor explored these flaws; they are paid to push
propaganda for the faction that installed Bush. Of late, Bush talks less about
his ill-conceived war on terror. Instead, he advocates spreading democracy,
even at gunpoint, around the world. In a recent interview, Russian President
Vladimir Putin reminded Bush of his ignoble ascent to power and the need to
advance democracy at home. He mentioned the Electoral College, which selects US
presidents rather than its citizens. Bush probably did not get Putin's points,
but the rest of the world understood Bush was chided!
Disgruntled wants to know: In March, the Conference of US Roman
Catholic Bishops reiterated its opposition to the death penalty. Cardinal
Theodore McCarrick, the archbishop of Washington, DC, announced the conference
was beginning a campaign for "greater urgency and unity, increased energy
and advocacy" in the fight to end capital punishment. According to
Cardinal McCarrick, "We cannot teach killing is wrong by killing. We
cannot defend life by taking life." The Church's view is a positive
statement in support of a "culture of life. Would someone please inform
"religious" fanatics and the White House resident, who support the
death penalty and war, that what they advocate is a culture of death?
Disgruntled says: On Tuesday, George W. Bush delivered
his cookie-cutter democracy speech to a Freedom Plaza audience in the
Democratic Republic of Georgia, a country of about 5 million people. Despite
"airtight" security, someone managed to lob an explosive device onto
the dais. Thank goodness, it was also a dud that failed to detonate, so no one
was injured. Besides the security lapse, the most noteworthy thing about this
event was the crowd. Rare for Bush events, the camera panned the plaza to
capture the throng. One could not help but compare this to Bush domestic venues
that are relatively minuscule, as audiences are vetted, frisked and limited to
staunch supporters.
By John
Burl Smith
Best
known for big political contributions to Richard Milhous Nixon, Robert Vesco
fled the US to avoid prosecution for defrauding Investors Overseas Service
(IOS). A mutual fund in deep financial trouble with the SEC, IOS and the
individual funds it managed, like Fund of Funds (FOF), were under
investigation. The SEC audit revealed IOS lacked operating capital, prompting
foreign governments to halt its operations.
The
relationship of IOS/FOF to King Resources exemplified its problems. King
Resources invested FOF funds. It represented oil reserves and well leases as
though FOF owned them outright! The $80 million invested by King Resources for
FOF simply disappeared. SEC records indicated Vesco controlled FOF and
transferred about $600,000,000 from the Fund into his personal accounts. Vesco
fled to South America and enjoy his ill-gotten gains. Today, they say, he is
serving 13 years for fraud in Cuba.
Today,
Assata Shakur is a poet, mother and grandmother living in Cuba as a political
exile. An activist for social justice, member of the Black Panther Party and
Black Liberation Army in the 1960s, she was targeted by the FBI's Counter
Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO). The Church Committee of the Senate Select
Committee to Study Government Operations and the Domestic Intelligence
Subcommittee investigated COINTELPRO. The Church Committee found that the US
government used a disinformation campaign to discredit civil and human rights
activists. The FBI monitored activities, infiltrated organizations and
conspired to set activists up for criminal prosecution. In some instances,
black activists were killed outright.
On
the run like most black power advocates during the 1970s, COINTELPRO marked
Shakur for death. Driving while black on the New Jersey turnpike, police
stopped the car in which she was riding. A shoot out ensued. Shakur was wounded
and a policeman lay dead. Emblematic of Mumia Abu-Jamal, Leonard Peltier and
many others, Shakur was incarcerated and prosecuted for the officer's death.
She was convicted of the Turnpike killing and sentenced to life + 33 years in
prison. In 1979, Shakur escaped and fled to Cuba, which granted her political
asylum. Today, Shakur is still fighting the US government for her freedom.
A
tale of two fugitives, one is a slave descendant and the other a white
well-connected thief. Although, Vesco bilked thousands out of over $600M,
powerful friends, like the Chairman of the Board of FOF C. Henry Buhl III of
the Fisher Body company (GM cars) family, other Board members included former
California Governor Pat Brown; James Roosevelt (son of Franklin D. Roosevelt);
Wilson Wyatt (former Kentucky Lieutenant Governor); Alan Conwill of Willkie,
Farr and Gallagher; John King President of King Resources and Arthur Lipper,
prevented any serious attempt to bring Vesco back to the US for trial.
Conversely,
the entire apparatus of government, foreign and domestic, has been employed to
apprehend Shakur, including a $1 million reward for her capture. This bounty is
a new Fugitive Slave Law. Moreover, Vesco and FOF are like Ken Lay and ENRON or
Dick Cheney and Haliburton; they can steal millions or kill thousands and never
serve time in prison because they are the privileged protected by the system.
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls
Email palast@gregpalast.com Impeachment Time:
"Facts Were Fixed." Here it is. The smoking gun. The memo that has
"IMPEACH HIM" written all over it. The top-level government memo
marked "SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL," dated eight months before Bush
sent us into Iraq, following a closed meeting with the President, reads,
"Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam
through military action justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But
the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy." Read that
again: "The intelligence and facts were being fixed...."
Email jneff@newsobserver.com The
N.C. State Bar on Friday (9-24-04) reprimanded two former assistant attorney
generals for withholding evidence at trial that pointed to the innocence of
former death row inmate Alan Gell, who spent nine years behind bars, half on
death row. A three-member panel concluded that David Hoke and Debra Graves
broke three rules of the State Bar. The panel then imposed the least discipline
possible in this case, a reprimand -- a formal written scolding. The choice of
the reprimand, however, was consistent with previous cases involving
prosecutorial misconduct that was not found to be deliberate.
Email egodfried@hotmail.com Folks in the USA are so gullible! They
actually believe "bad apples" were responsible for the prisoner abuse
at Abu Ghraib!
|| 2005
Issues || The DISH ||