MY Problem With Political Prisoner Cases

Dear Brother Kwasi,

I am using this method to respond to your problem with the cases of Black Political Prisoners.

The situation/ignorance/slave-conditioning is worse than that. Although we have many political prisoners, they and their supporters have chosen to pay white/Jewish lawyers to go into a domestic court and plead ridiculous defenses like, " I wasn't there, the evidence was tainted, and my trial lawyer was incompetent. I am not saying that these defenses do not exist, what I am saying and what I have said to their families is that these lawyers are taking you to the wrong court. /Cases of political prisoners are tried in an international arena, not the arena of the hostile government. I have represented Imam Jamil Al-Amin, and worked on the case of Sgt. Akbar, and have corresponded with Mulutu Shakur, but all of their backers have chosen to pay the white/Jewish tricksters who have all been unsuccessful. Then when this is unsuccessful the backers of the Black Liberation Army, Black Panthers and MOVE beg/plead and request the white/Jewish/Negro Parole Boards to set them free for conducting a war. You are right the letters and pleas are I am sorry I have been a bad boy and you can count on me to be good from now on? Or. I am so damn old and feeble, what harm can I do?

These heroes deserve better because you are right instead of coming out like Mandela there liberation work is being trivialized and ignored.

The shame is that most of them can be released by an International Court. Today a white political prisoner held in Peru by the name of Laurie Berensen was released by the Inter-American Human Rights Court. Most of our political prisoners can be similarly release because most of them are and have been in solitary confinement since there capture. This is a violation of the Torture Convention, and most of them have been denied procedural due Process, and get this. All of them have the right to make war against the United States, and the UN would agree with us. The UN has sent rapporteur after rapporteur to the US and has condemned the U.S Supermaxes and the oppressed state of the African descendants. They know our situation and that these brothers have the right to self-determination, but they cannot move forward with the case being presented.

This means that we have a good chance to have them released from solitary confinement and obtain a ruling that they are political prisoners instead of criminals. This would allow them to be transferred to a Federal facility or an Army base near their homes. Most of them have been so badly treated that they are in need of mental health services. They are not crazy, some of them are depressed.

So, if you want to free Mumia, Imam Jamil Al-Amin, Mutulu,Ruchell Magge, Sundiata and the others and not their lives be wasted you will contact us and stop the insanity. Insanity is doing the same thing the same way and getting the same result. I hopefully can re-engage the other international lawyers in our group who are totally frustrated with this situation, before it is too late. Comrade Bashir Hamed died 6 months ago in a prison hospital surrounded by guards. This is a shame.

--

Dr. Mustafa Ansari

Chief Justice, Indigenous African American Reparations Tribunal

Author, "Defining Change" A Reparations Guide

http://www.definingchange.us

Plebiscite and African Reconciliation Project

The Truth Minista: Coon Huntin' With Conservatives: WRDU's Pistol Packin' Mamas

Coon Huntin' With Conservatives:

WRDU's Pistol Packin' Mamas

Paul Scott

"Lay that pistol down, Babe. Lay that pistol down

Pistol packin' mama. Lay that pistol down."

Al Dexter

Back when I was a kid, Grandma used to tell me stories about coon hunting. No, I'm not talking about our furry little friends with the Zorro masks, I'm talking about the old derogatory term for black folks. See, in the South, a few generations back, when black folks got too uppity and started having delusions of grandeur about running for President or some other foolishness, the Good Ol' Boys would pack their rifles and do a little "coon hunting" to put them back in their places. I thought about Grandma's tales when I heard about Rush Radio's upcoming event.

On June 5th, Raliegh NC Clear Channel affiliate, WRDU's, Morning Rush Morning Show, will sponsor, "Girls With Guns" an event that, according to their website "will provide an overview of firearm safety and training in the basic operation of several different types of firearms." After the training the ladies will be able to perfect their "newly acquired skills at an open shoot." Don't worry, the hubbies aren't going to be left out as they are encouraged to grab their guns and participate in the "sniper shooting contest."

http://wrdu.com/cc-common/mainheadlines2.html?article=7126868

Now, it is not unusual for radio stations to do promotions. Urban stations often throw swim suit jammie jams with scantily clad women walking around in bikinis. However, conservative radio stations are different, they have target practice parties with Sarah Palin wanna-bees totin' semi-automatic weapons.

If you have listened to 106.1 FM's, Morning Rush you will know that every morning they have a list of folks whom they diss , ad nauseum; African Americans, Latinos and of course, the big man, himself, President Barack Obama.

Since, it's conversion to conservative talk, WRDU has been a haven for disgruntled white folks who feel that this country is being snatched from their clutches. Usually, the format is just Obama bashin' and folks blowin' off steam about illegal aliens and welfare cheats but when you throw guns into the picture, that's a whole 'nother story. Maybe the station owners never heard that racists and rifles don't mix.

Ever since the '08 election there have been those who believe that Blacks and Latinos are taking over America and any day now the Feds are gonna run in and start snatchin' guns, leaving the Good Ol' Boys with no way to defend themselves.

It has been reported that right after the election, gun sells rose, dramatically. Also, during that period, a Georgia store owner caused quite a stir when she held an "Obama Gun Sale."

Recently, Sarah Palin was quoted as saying, "Obama would ban guns if he could," further fueling the flames of Right Wing paranoia. This leads us to where we are now, conservative radio stations holding heavily armed group therapy sessions.

What would happen if the local Hip Hop radio station announced that they were going to sponsor a "Gangstaz with Gunz" party at a shooting range in the 'hood? You can bet that anti-violence activists would be holding prayer vigils from now till kingdom come, begging black folks to stop the violence and follow the teachings of Martin Luther King. However, when Right Wingers pick up rifles, there is no such outcry.

Fortunately for some, urban radio stations are more interested in "gun buy back programs," and trading weapons for Lil Wayne CDs than passing out ammo.

The fear of "Negroes With Guns," has always superseded the 2nd Amendment. It was not until events like Robert Williams arming his "Deacons for Defense" to protect the black folks in Monroe, NC back in the 50's or the Black Panther Party storming into the Sacramento State Capitol in 1967, that gun control even became an issue.

This double standard is a classic example of what writer, Tim Wise, refers to as white privilege. In his recent article, "Imagine if the Tea Party Were Black" he defines white privilege as " the ability to threaten others, to engage in violent and incendiary rhetoric without consequence, to be viewed as patriotic and normal no matter what you do, and never to be feared and despised as people of color would be."

Sure there are some that would argue that there is nothing sinister about a few friends getting together at a firing range to chew the fat over the issues of the day. That seems innocent enough. (And Hitler's Youth March was just a 5k run.)

I wouldn't be a bit surprised if they used a giant poster of the First Family for target practice.

Let's keep it real. Nobody buys a gun unless he prepares to use it. With the rhetoric being spewed daily on Rush Radio, I think that the intended targets are obvious.

The last thing this community needs is a bunch of paranoid, pistol packin' mamas and pappas with itchy trigger fingers.

***UPDATE***

Right Wing Radio Attacks TRUTH Minista Paul Scott

This is how the Racist Right Wing responds when you stand up for Black people. My last article exposed the fact that the local Conservative station WRDU Rush Radio in Raleigh was having a training session to teach women how to shoot. Listen to the clips below and send them out to our people so they can see how dirty the Right wing gets down when you expose them!

radio clips

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/26472/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/26472/RushRadio/Friday/RRFRI10.mp3

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/26472/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/26472/RushRadio/Friday/RRFRI11.mp3

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/26472/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/26472/RushRadio/Friday/RRFRI12.mp3

http://a1135.g.akamai.net/f/1135/26472/1h/cchannel.download.akamai.com/26472/RushRadio/Friday/RRFRI13.mp3

TRUTH Minista Paul Scott

Paul Scott writes for No Warning Shots Fired.com. He can be reached at info@nowarningshotsfired.com or (919) 451-8283

For more information on the "Intelligence Over Ignorance" Campaign go to http://www.ioimovement.com/

Check Out The Honorable Min.Paul Scott On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio:

Pres. Obama A.K.A. Mr. Tough Love & The Myth Of A Post-Racial America Part One

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2009/07/23/Tha-Artivist-PresentsWE-ALL-BE-News-Radio

Campbell Brown's Exit Leaves CNN In A Crossfire

Campbell Brown's Exit Leaves CNN In A Crossfire

By George E. Curry

NNPA Columnist

May 31, 2010

Campbell Brown’s decision to quit hosting her weeknight program on CNN because of poor ratings has left a void that some network officials are considering filling by hiring former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, possibly using him in an old “Crossfire” format. Yes, that’s the same Eliot Spitzer who had to resign two years ago after patronizing prostitutes.

Spitzer was forced to step down after arranging for a New York prostitute contracted by Emperors Club VIP to meet him at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C. on Valentine eve. According to authorities, Spitzer paid the 22-year-old prostitute $4,300 in cash, which included a $1,100 deposit toward future services. The former New York attorney general and governor was said to have paid the agency more than $15,000 over six months, which was part of the $80,000 he was said to have spent on prostitutes over several years.

With his wife, Silda, at his side, Spitzer said, “I have acted in a way that violates my obligation to my family and violates any sense of right or wrong. I apologize first and most importantly to my family. I apologize to the public to whom I promised better.”

CNN obviously can do better than tarnish its brand by hiring Spitzer. But if it chooses to go that route, it should go all out and hire former New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor as Spitzer’s co-host. Taylor was arrested in May and accused of paying $300 to have sex with a 16-year-old runaway. He was charged with third-degree rape as a result of having sex with a minor as well as patronizing a prostitute.

On their first show, the two could discuss how best to negotiate for the services of a prostitute. Spitzer could explain why he agreed to pay the expenses associated with getting a prostitute to travel from New York to D.C. to service him. Excluding the deposit for future services, that came to $3,300. He could have probably saved a couple of thousand of dollars by patronizing the local ladies of the night.

Taylor, an All-Pro during his football playing days, proved that he is an All-Pro negotiator, compared to Spitzer. He spent $2,900 less than the New York governor. But Spitzer could, in turn, give Taylor some advice on making sure the prostitutes are at least of legal age. Both Spitzer and Taylor apparently prefer talent from BYU – Bring ‘em Young University.

The fact that CNN executives would even consider hiring Spitzer, with or without Lawrence Taylor, shows how desperate they are to climb out of the ratings cellar.

Its star hosts have lost 40 to 50 percent of their viewers over the past year. Larry King, for example, lost 771,000 viewers in the first quarter of 2010, compared to the same period last year. Moreover, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC frequently draws a larger audience than King in the 9 p.m. slot. Sean Hannity’s show on Fox reaches four times the number of Larry King viewers.

Anderson Cooper, who follows “Larry King Live,” has lost 42 percent of his audience this year. Meanwhile, Fox News had it best year in 2009, with Bill O’Rilley, Glenn Beck and Greta Van Susteren significantly improving their ratings.

As CNN struggles to reverse its slide, the logical person to replace Campbell Brown is Roland Martin, who substituted for Brown when she was out on maternity leave. Unlike most CNN hosts, who come across highly-informed, but boring, Martin is a perfect fit for cable TV. He’s knowledgeable, brash, opinionated, energetic, and lives and breathes social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Equally important, he represents the future.

Although Fox News is riding high in the ratings, their days are numbered.

In a memo to Time Warner employees last month, CEO Jeff Bewkes, said: “For Time Warner to keep growing, our great content must appeal more than ever to a broad and increasingly diverse audience.”

Bewkes, who heads the parent company of CNN, noted:

* The Hispanic, African-American and Asian communities make up one-third of the U.S. population (103.5 million people).

* The annual buying power of U.S. minorities totals $2.5 trillion.

* Eighty-five percent of U.S. population growth is because of the gains among Hispanics (56 percent); African-Americans (16 percent) and Asians (11 percent).

* Forty-five percent of American children under the age of 5 are minorities.

“What that tells us is that, within the next three decades, Hispanics, African Americans, Asians and other minorities, as well as young consumers, will become the country’s new majority,” Bewkes said. “This increasing multiculturalism provides Time Warner with perhaps its greatest growth opportunity.”

Rather than panicking by hiring someone as disgraced as Eliot Spitzer, CNN needs to diversify its on-air talent as well as those working behind the scenes. The way to outfox Fox is not to emulate it.

(George E. Curry, former editor-in-chief of Emerge magazine and the NNPA News Service, is a keynote speaker, moderator, and media coach. He can be reached through his Web site, www.georgecurry.com. You can also follow him at www.twitter.com/currygeorge.)

Hear Bro. George Curry On W.E. A.L.L. B.E. Radio:

2010 State Of The Black Union

“It Ain’t About Tavis, It’s About Us, & It's About Time!”

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/weallbe/2010/02/25/tha-artivist-presentswe-all-be-radio

*Detroit Free Press*Extensive Coverage Of The Death Of Aiyana Stanley-Jones 7-Year-Old Shot During Detroit Police Raid

 *Detroit Free Press*Extensive Coverage Of The Death Of Aiyana Stanley-Jones 7-Year-Old Shot During Detroit Police Raid:

http://www.freep.com/article/99999999/NEWS01/100517026&template=theme&theme=AIYANA_JONES_SHOOTING

Bro. Jesse: Aiyana Jones: Tomorrow It Could Be Your Child

Aiyana Jones: Tomorrow It Could Be Your Child

May 25, 2010

This is sad and tragic.

Again, I woke up this morning with her face in my head. This little precious and beautiful brown-skinned girl is gone. She will never go to high school, will never attend college, will never play outside again, will never learn to drive a car, and.......*sigh*

Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, was shot and killed by Detroit police while she slept on a living room sofa at home. According to reports, police entered the family's apartment with a search warrant at 12:40 AM on May 16 in search of a homicide suspect. According to the Detroit News, Charles Jones, Aiyana's father, first heard a flash grenade go off inside the apartment, followed by gunshot. When he came in the living room, he was forced to the ground to lay face down in his own daughter's blood.

"I saw the light go out of her eyes...They killed my grandbaby," said Mertilla Jones, Aiyana's grandmother.

Imagine the pain.

Early reports stated that the gun went off accidentally when Ms. Jones wrestled with the shooting officer, causing his weapon to let off shots that hit little Aiyana. How many times have we heard the word "accidentally" used when something like this happens in the Black community?

But the Detroit police wasn't alone when they arrived at the home. A television crew was filming the raid for A&E's reality show "The First 48." The attorney representing the family, Geoffrey Fieger, alleges a police cover up and says the shot was fired from outside the home. He also says video footage contradicts the police's version of how the 7-year-old was shot.

"I never struggled with the Detroit Police. If I had struggled with the Detroit Police, I'd be dead alongside my granddaughter. They messed up, and they know they... messed up," said Ms. Jones on Fox News

See, there is more to this story and the truth will come out. And when it does, what will happen in Detroit? Who else do you think is at fault for this? Will they release the A&E video to the public?

While looking over her casket, Rev. Al Sharpton preached the eulogy of Aiyana on May 22 at Second Ebeneezer Church in Detroit. "This child is the breaking point," he said.

The next day, Rev. Al posted this on Twitter: "We must stop all violence at all levels together. I hope this child's death is a wake up call to the thugs and the police. We are in crises."

The cry for justice in the death of Aiyana is growing online with the launching of the "She Has A Name: Aiyana Jones" Facebook page and "Justice for Aiyana" Twitter page. I am following both.

The family says that Aiyana loved to sing.....The world will never get to hear her sweet voice on a grand stage.

Tomorrow it could be your child. If we don't care, who will?

Think about it.

(You're welcome to follow Brother Jesse Muhammad further on Twitter, become a friend on Facebook, or visit his award-winning site Brother Jesse Blog)

Detroit Cop, City Administration And Corporate Media Attempt Cover-Up, Whitewash In Killing Of Aiyana Stanley Jones

Detroit Cop, City Administration And Corporate Media Attempt Cover-Up, Whitewash In Killing Of Aiyana Stanley Jones

Police Rewarded With Secondary Employment Amid Budget Cuts And Heightened Repression

By Abayomi Azikiwe
Editor, Pan-African News Wire

Seven-year-old Aiyana Jones, who was killed by a Detroit police special unit team that raided her home on May 16, was eulogized on Saturday, May 22 at Second Ebenezer Church on the city’s east side. The city remains shocked and angered over the shooting and subsequent efforts by Mayor Bing’s administration and the police to shift responsibility for the unprovoked killing to the recent rash in violence that has hit Detroit.

Mayor Bing and police Chief Warren Evans, who were both criticized even by the corporate media for not responding quickly to the death of Aiyana Jones, have urged the public not to reach conclusions about the killing until all the facts are available. The Mayor then accused Atty. Jeffrey Fieger, who is representing the family of Aiyana Jones in two civil lawsuits that were filed just a few days after her death, of only being concerned about money and not about revealing what really happened at the home where the deadly police raid occurred.

With the Detroit police facing intense criticism and scrutiny, the administration and Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy has turned over the investigation into the killing of Aiyana Jones to the Michigan State Police. On May 20 State police showed up at the Jones’ family home seeking to search the premises for evidence related to the raid on May 16. 

When the family refused to cooperate and allow the state cops to enter the home, they returned with a search warrant and a locksmith and proceeded to comb the residence for clues related to the killing of Aiyana. This was tantamount to a second raid and raised tensions even further between the community and the law-enforcement agencies.

When it was announced that the Rev. Al Sharpton of New York would deliver the eulogy at the memorial service for Aiyana, the Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who is a Republican candidate for Governor, launched an attack asking rhetorically “where was he last week when Detroit police officer Brian Huff was killed?” Huff was killed on May 3 when police raided a vacant home in the same neighborhood where Jones’ home is located. 

Four other officers were wounded in the May 3 shooting along with a suspect, Jason Gibson, 25. Gibson, who has been charged in the shooting of the police officers, had a preliminary examination on murder and assault charges scheduled for May 24. It was postponed to a later date in June.

In response to the attack by the Attorney General on Sharpton, local minister Rev. Horace Sheffield III, who is president of the Michigan chapter of the National Action Network, headed by Sharpton, stated that “I think it’s disturbing, disgusting and unacceptable for him to forsake his law enforcement role for his public pandering trying to get elected to another office role.“ (Detroit Free Press, May 21)

In fact the entire apparatus of the power structure including the city administration, the police, the prosecutor’s office, the Michigan State police, the attorney general and the governor have been hostile and defensive in regard to criticism surrounding the raid and the subsequent investigation into the death of Aiyana Jones. In a statement issued by the Detroit police it says that “Due to the fact that the family of Aiyana Jones has apparently retained legal counsel, along with the fact that the investigation into the raid…has been handed over to the Michigan State Police, the city of Detroit Law Department has advised the Detroit Police Department to refrain from giving any further comment on this investigation.” (Detroit News, May 19)

However, even a corporate-oriented consulting firm has questioned the city administration’s handling of the political situation surrounding the killing of Aiyana Jones. According to the Los Angeles-based Bernstein Crisis Management, Inc. “You can’t hide behind a press release. In a case like this one, lawyers will restrict what you can say, but that doesn’t stop you from doing the right thing by making a verbal statement, and reaching out to the family.”

Cora Mitchell, whose son was tased to death in April 2009 by the neighboring suburban Warren police in the same neighborhood where Aiyana Jones was killed, told the Detroit News that the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality (DCAPB)  was doing the job of the city administration by working with the Jones’ family. “Why is Ron Scott here doing Warren Evans’ job? He should be here; Mayor Bing should be here. They should be apologizing to this family.”(Detroit News, May 19)

Stephen Henderson, a Detroit Free Press columnist, also observed that “If ever there is a time to show how leadership and compassion shape Bing’s relationship with Detroiters, it’s now.”(Mlive.com, May 21) 

United States Congressman John Conyers from Detroit, who is the Chair of the House Judiciary Committee, has requested that the Justice Department conduct an investigation into the killing of Aiyana Jones. Conyers said that “It is imperative that we take all possible steps to calm the situation, reassure the community that their safety is a national priority, and lessen the chance of future bloodshed.” (Mlive.com, May 21)

Nonetheless, Gov. Jennifer Granholm refuted Conyers’ call saying that the Michigan State Police are more than qualified to handle the present situation. Granholm claimed that “Clearly an investigation could reveal changes that need to be made to ensure it never happens again, and that’s what the Michigan State Police are going to undertake.” (Mlive.com,, May 21)

Cops Rewarded With Secondary Employment Amid Budget Cuts and Continued Repression

Just two days after the raid that resulted in the death of Aiyana Jones, the Detroit City Council voted 5-3, with one abstention, to adopt a new ordinance allowing cops to work additional jobs providing security to private businesses. This ordinance was passed despite warnings from the DCAPB that such an ordinance would raise the level of legal claims against the city government which would be financially responsible in the event that lawsuits charging police misconduct, brutality and wrongful deaths were settled against the administration.

At a City Council public hearing on May 18 where the ordinance was passed, the bulk of the discussion prior to the vote was conducted by top police officials and City Council members, two of whom were former law-enforcement officials. When the DCAPB spoke during the public comment section, each member was only given one minute to address the Council on their opposition to the ordinance.

One argument advanced by the Coalition was to point out that typically civil servants are not allowed to hold secondary jobs or operate private businesses while employed by the City of Detroit. Also most workers have had overtime cut even though there is a back log of tasks needed to provide adequate city services. 

At the same time, non-union employees have had a 10 percent wage cuts imposed on them while unionized workers have been fighting the same pay reductions through demonstrations and court actions. In addition, hundreds of city workers have been laid off in response to cuts ostensibly designed to trim the purported $316 million budget deficit for the city.

In the initial budget proposal submitted by Mayor Bing, some $101 million in cuts had been requested. These cuts would bring about further lay-offs and the reduction in city services. 

However, one day after the City Council voted to grant secondary employment to cops, another $31.8 million in cuts were placed in the budget by the same legislative body. These cuts would even take place within the police department, which has by far the largest allocation of city funds. Approximately 42 percent of the city budget is handed over to the police department.    

In response to the passage of the ordinance granting secondary employment rights to the cops, the DCAPB issued a press release stating that “The passage of the ordinance without adequate public debate and testimony from experts on law-enforcement practices, deprived the public of hearing a number of fundamental issues that would arise from the enactment of such a new law in Detroit.” (DCAPB Press Release, May 19)

“This statement went on to point out that “Over the last two decades various citizens have been awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in damages resulting from both jury decisions and out-of-court settlements involving police misconduct and brutality. As a result of this pattern, a federal investigation was conducted by the U.S. Justice Department for three years which resulted in two consent decrees aimed at reforming the Detroit Police Department’s practices related to the use of lethal force as well as the conditions under which people are detained while under investigation or for questioning.”

In the days following these developments, the repressive actions of law-enforcement has continued. On May 21, a Michigan State Police officer shot and wounded a man on the city’s east side after a reported high speed chase through a residential area. According to the Detroit News, “More than 30 officers, including members of Detroit’s gang squad, and at least a dozen police vehicles converged on the scene of the shooting.” (Detroit News, May 22)

This is in the same area where young Aiyana Jones was killed on May 16. The shooting of the young man took place after he had exited the vehicle that had crashed into a large tree. 

Over one hundred people from the community came out into the streets and protested the police actions. At least one neighborhood leader was taken into custody after they objected to the shooting and the reported jovial atmosphere among the police after the incident. 

At least two area ministers were asked by Detroit Police Chief Warren Evans to enter the neighborhood to calm down the crowd because of fears of possible civil unrest.

On May 23, the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality held a community meeting downtown at the St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. The Coalition announced that it would step-up its activities aimed at ending police brutality by calling for a mass demonstration outside the Board of Police Commissioners meeting held at police headquarters on May 27. 

The Coalition is calling for justice in the police killing of Aiyana Jones and the immediate compliance and enforcement of the federal consent decrees involving police misconduct and brutality. 
-----------------------------------------------------------
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Kwame Kilpatrick: Former Detroit Mayor Tells His Story To The Black Press

Christine Beatty and Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

Kwame Kilpatrick: Former Detroit Mayor Tells His Story To The Black Press

by Brian W. Carter

Special to the NNPA from the Los Angeles Sentinel

(NNPA) - On Kwame Kilpatrick's website, the following statement was written by one of his previous constituents: ''May God bless you and your family Kwame. I'm a 30-yr-old Detroiter and 20 something years ago my granny told me, 'in life we all make mistakes, but God knew it, saw it and is ALWAYS there for forgiveness.' I guess my point is: despite ANYTHING that went on in your personal life, it didn't effect your Mayoral duties to the city of Detroit, you were THE BEST next to Mayor Young and it really hurt living in a city that I felt should've had your back 100 percent the way you had ours: 100 percent. Please CONTINUE to hold your head high brother because you're walking with The Lord. Regardless of the media, the court system and anyone else who had something negative to say, you're a role model, a good person and a child of The Lord.''

Kilpatrick was referred to as the young, ''hip-hop'' Mayor of Detroit and the youngest in history of that city to be elected to office. At the age of 31, he was full of enthusiasm, energy and had plans to help Detroit become a great city. Unfortunately, some of his choices and decisions eventually derailed his agenda.

Kilpatrick now walks the redemption road still possibly facing black clouds on the horizon.

''While I was Mayor of the city of Detroit,'' said Kilpatrick, ''all I wanted to do was do well for the city. I know that my reckless behavior was a big disappointment to my family, friends and the people of the city. But now I am in the process of coming back.''

Kilpatrick has faced a storm of controversies including a civil lawsuit, perjury and obstruction of justice that resulted from an affair with his former chief of staff. But he has been very contrite and wants to return to his former standing as a well-respected family man after having fallen from grace.

In 2008, the affair with his chief of staff was exposed via a series of text messages which the prosecutors used to buttress their case that ended Kilpatrick's political ambitions and landed him in jail. However, he used the time constructively and said afterward, ''I called that experience a purification process.''

And now, along with Bishop T. D. Jakes, senior pastor of Potter's House in Dallas, he is undergoing intensive spiritual counseling with the purpose of producing a new Kwame Kilpatrick. He remarked that his down time was a time of self-reflection which he utilized to address his wrongs and search his spirit and Bishop Jakes has been mentoring him and helping in re-building his faith.

After that terrible and humbling ordeal, ''My first priority was to reconnect with my family and I think I've done that in a major way,'' said Kilpatrick. ''My wife and I are closer than we've ever been, my children have their father back and that is the main thing.''

''The information that I've gained, the knowledge that I've gained,'' said Kilpatrick, ''the experience that I've had, has made me a better person, made me a better man, a better father, and it's also going to make me a better leader in the future.''Despite extenuating circumstances, Kilpatrick continues to forge onward. He has a new position as an account executive at a medical software company and he hopes to help the community in this way by dealing with issues and awareness relative to healthcare. ''Now, I work for a health information technology company,'' said Kilpatrick. ''I'm learning that business and I think it's an emerging field, trying to really establish healthcare in underserved communities around the country.''

The road to redemption may be somewhat bumpy and Kilpatrick has had to live under the microscope of the court, but has been willing to meet all of his financial obligations related to restitution. For the moment his life is an open book and in terms of his rehabilitation, it will certainly pay multiple dividends in his future, which at present looks promising.

Kilpatrick doesn't see any politics in his future, but he did comment on President Barack Obama. ''I think the meteoric rise of Barack Obama has been one of those being-at-the-right-place, at-the-right-time, anointings for this country,'' he said. ''I think that he has been phenomenal at his job ... how he has handled himself has been phenomenal...I think for the last, particularly, eight months, what we've been seeing is one of the best presidential executives that we'll see in our lifetime.''

And as a former chief executive himself, Kilpatrick can relate to Obama and the many changes he has gone through, from being a legislator to being the first Black president. ''I was a state representative and then I was leader of the state house, I was the first African-American and the youngest person ever to hold that position in Michigan history.''

His inspiration, as he puts it, for choosing politics as a profession was his mother: Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick who represents Michigan's 13th District in the United States House of Representatives. ''She's the epitome of a public servant,'' said Kilpatrick. '' I only wanted to be in politics to serve and I watched her every single day go out when I was a kid...I saw her march and speak truth to power, I saw her organize labor unions...and she is just a phenomenal energy and spirit.''

Having set his focus in a new direction, Kilpatrick wants to focus on young, Black men and help them avoid similar mistakes.

He feels that his experiences can be shared with the younger generation. ''I think particularly African-American men in this country,'' he said, ''our sexual prowess, our manhood, our self-determination, our ego sometimes will force us to do things that we have no business doing.'' And finally, to show that there is still a need for Kilpatrick's leadership, another of his former constituents stated on his website, ''I voted you in as mayor and I know it was something about you that was going to make some big changes in our city. You did a wonderful job when you were here and I thank you for all your good. I pray for you and your family everyday that this nightmare will be over. Right now, my family and I are going through hard times but if we were not, I would give to your fund. In the future, if things get better for us, I will be sending you something. We all need some kind of help sometime in our life. God bless you and your family.

For more information on Kilpatrick, visit www.friendsofkwame.com.

Mumia Speaks: John Africa On Water & Pollution

John Africa On Water & Pollution

[col. writ. 5/20/10]  (c) '10 Mumia Abu-Jamal

    It was after the first major MOVE confrontation in Philadelphia, August 8th, 1978, when MOVE Founder, John Africa dictated The Judge's Letter, 15 pages of pointed outrage, not just of MOVE's treatment by the government, but of corporate and state pollution of the natural world.

    His words came back to me in the aftermath of one of the most destructive oil spills in history: the tens of thousands of barrels of oil boiling from below the Gulf, the direct result of corporate greed and government collusion; deregulation in everything but name.

    In the very beginning of his letter, John Africa wrote:

                    The courts are the tools of industrial plague, granting big

                    business privilege to poison our earth...[T]aking our water, familiar

                    and clean, and turning it into a potion that's poison...[.p1]

    These words brought to mind the recent U.S. Supreme Court case which greatly lessened damages on Exxon for its role in the 1989 leak of the oil tanker, Exxon Valdez in Alaska, destroying shore land and animal life for decades -- indeed, it has still not recovered.

    Of water pollution generally, John Africa observed:

                    INDUSTRY HAS NOT ONLY POISONED THE SOURCE OF LIFE,

                    IT HAS CREATED ANOTHER MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY

                    TO SO CALLED CLEAN IT UP, ALL THEM CHEMICALS THEY PUT

                    IN THE WATER TO SO CALL[ED] PURIFY IT IS A RESULT OF

                    THE SAME INDUSTRY THAT POISONED THE WATER, SO THAT

                    THEY NOT ONLY MAKE MULTI-BILLIONS FOR POISONING THE

                    WATER, BUT MORE MULTI-BILLIONS FOR SO-CALLED

                    CLEANING THE WATER UP...[.p7]

    In light of the great and continuing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, John Africa could've written these words yesterday, especially given the recent announcement that British Petroleum (BP) is now pumping tons of chemicals into the Gulf waters to clean up the oil, the effects of which no one can predict -- for no one knows.

    This is a massive catastrophe; an experiment on the living that may have effects that we may one day come to rue.

--(c) '10 maj

[Source: Africa, John, The Judges Letter (ca. 1978) (typed)  MOVE Organization, P.O. Box 19709, Phila, PA 19143

================

The Power of Truth is Final -- Free Mumia!

URGENT Need for Petition Signatures at: http://www.iacenter.org/mumiapetition/

Audio of most of Mumia's essays are at: http://www.prisonradio.org

http://mumiapodcast.libsyn.com/

Mumia's got a podcast! Mumia Abu-Jamal's Radio Essays - Subscribe at the website or on iTunes and get Mumia's radio commentaries online.

Mumia Abu-Jamal's new book -- JAILHOUSE LAWYERS: PRISONERS DEFENDING PRISONERS V. THE USA, featuring an introduction by Angela Y. Davis -- has been released! It is available from City Lights Books: http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100448090

If you are planning to organize an event or would like to order in bulk, you can also receive a 45% discount on any bulk orders of 20 copies or more. The book retails for $16.95, for orders of 20 copies or more the discounted price would be $9.32 per book, plus shipping and handling. Prepayment would be required and books are nonreturnable. If you or your organization would like to place a bulk order, please contact Stacey Lewis at 415.362.1901 or stacey@citylights.com

Let's use the opportunity of the publication of this brilliant, moving, vintage Mumia book to build the momentum for his case, to raise the money we desperately need in these challenging economic times, to get the word out – to produce literature, flyers, posters, videos, DVD's; to send organizers out to help build new chapters and strengthen old ones, TO GET THE PEOPLE OUT IN THE STREETS … all the work that we must do in order to FREE MUMIA as he faces LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT PAROLE OR EXECUTION!

Please make a contribution to help free Mumia. Donations to the grassroots work will go to both INTERNATIONAL CONCERNED FAMILY AND FRIENDS OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL and the FREE MUMIA ABU-JAMAL COALITION (NYC).

http://www.freemumia.com/

Please mail donations/ checks to:

FREE MUMIA ABU JAMAL COALITION

PO BOX 16, NEW YORK,

NY 10030

(CHECKS FOR BOTH ORGANIZATIONS PAYABLE TO: FMAJC/IFCO)

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

215 476-8812

212-330-8029

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Lovers Of War

Lovers Of War
                                          

       Junious Ricardo Stanton

jrswriter@comcast.net

From The Ramparts
                          

    Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations. This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence economic, political, even spiritual is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society. President Dwight D. Eisenhower's Farewell Address January 17, 1961.

    As many of US citizens celebrate Memorial Day, a day set aside to remember the fallen soldiers in the countries numerous wars and hostile actions we really need to examine the significance, roots and origins of this so called holiday. Since its inception the United States has engaged in two hundred eighty four domestic and foreign wars/military actions. When you add the genocidal campaign against the Native Americans which total about seventy-seven and these include a series of wars against one or more tribal groups then add the times the militia were called in to suppress slave uprising by our ancestors who languished in brutal bondage you are looking at over three hundred sixty one wars and genocidal initiatives at home and around the world. Keep in mind this number doesn't include the off  book covert operations, mercenary or labor related situations where the Army, Marines or National Guard were called in to quell a disturbance on behalf of the ruling class.

    Memorial Day was created to observe and pay homage to the fallen and it was spun as honoring those who gave their lives in defense of freedom, liberty and democracy.  Why is it we have not asked ourselves why is war used by whites as the primary means to bring peace or resolve a problem? It should be clear from these mind boggling figures of military interventions large and small known and highly classified and their eventual outcomes, peace was never the actual objective in the first place.  When we consider there has not been one year free of war, killing, fighting or intimidation of some degree since even before this country was founded, any sane person would have to either conclude, the world is a very unsafe and hostile place or Europeans are a war loving people.  When you review the historical record you find the Native Americans, Africans and other First World people welcomed the Europeans upon initial contact but it was the whites who breached the peace and initiated hostilities and war. Obviously we have to conclude whites love war, fighting and blood letting. When you look at the immediate ancestors of the whites we see every day, the Angles, Saxons Jutes, the Lombard, the Goths, Franks, Normans, Vikings, Huns, Khazars et al; you can comprehend why they love war so much.

      The human psyche needs a reason to justify slaughter, carnage and war, unless you are dealing with a psychopathic  people who have crafted and maintain a culture of war. But even then, the leaders need to give the dolts who will be used as cannon fodder a noble reason, a plausible pretext to kill, rob and plunder and put their lives on the line. The best way is to make people think they have been attacked, that their tribal or national pride has been insulted or some other group is trying to take something from them.  

    We have been brainwashed by whites to see Europeans as purveyors of morality, high culture and refinement, in direct contradiction to our actual history, experiences and relationships with them! The fact is that the only morality culture and refinement they have ever brought to the world is the immorality of incessant war, a culture of aggression, assault and domination  and a refinement of killing using weapons of mass destruction.

    Dwight Eisenhower warned us in his farewell speech on January 17, 1961 when he was leaving office of the dangers of a culture subsumed by war. He said, “Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been overshadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers. The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded. Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.”

    Unfortunately the people didn’t listen or grasp the implications of what he was warning them about. Since then the US has devolved to the point where forty years after Martin Luther King Jr said in a 1967 speech denouncing the Vietnam War , “The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government.”  By all accounts this is even more true today then ever before. As we “celebrate” Memorial Day, let us wake up to the truth about this country and its love of war.

                        -30-

Smart Pig: BP's OTHER Spill This Week

Smart Pig: BP's OTHER Spill This Week

by Greg Palast for Buzzflash.com

Friday, May 28 2010

Oil spill residue, Chenega, Alaska©1997James Macalpine-PIF

With the Gulf Coast dying of oil poisoning, there's no space in the press for British Petroleum's latest spill, just this week: over 100,000 gallons, at its Alaska pipeline operation. A hundred thousand used to be a lot. Still is.

On Tuesday, Pump Station 9, at Delta Junction on the 800-mile pipeline, busted. Thousands of barrels began spewing an explosive cocktail of hydrocarbons after "procedures weren't properly implemented" by BP operators, say state inspectors "Procedures weren't properly implemented" is, it seems, BP's company motto.

Few Americans know that BP owns the controlling stake in the trans-Alaska pipeline; but, unlike with the Deepwater Horizon, BP keeps its Limey name off the Big Pipe.

There's another reason to keep their name off the Pipe: their management of the pipe stinks. It's corroded, it's undermanned and "basic maintenance" is a term BP never heard of.

How does BP get away with it? The same way the Godfather got away with it: bad things happen to folks who blow the whistle. BP has a habit of hunting down and destroying the careers of those who warn of pipeline problems.

In one case, BP's CEO of Alaskan operations hired a former CIA expert to break into the home of a whistleblower, Chuck Hamel, who had complained of conditions at the pipe's tanker facility. BP tapped his phone calls with a US congressman and ran a surveillance and smear campaign against him. When caught, a US federal judge said BP's acts were "reminiscent of Nazi Germany."

This was not an isolated case. Captain James Woodle, once in charge of the pipe's Valdez terminus, was blackmailed into resigning the post when he complained of disastrous conditions there. The weapon used on Woodle was a file of faked evidence of marital infidelity. Nice guys, eh?

Dan Lawn, Alaska state pipeline inspector who challenged BP.
photo: J. Macalpine 1997 (Palast Fund)

Two decades ago, I had the unhappy job of leading an investigation of British Petroleum's management of the Alaska pipeline system. I was working for the Chugach villages, the Alaskan Natives who own the shoreline slimed by the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker grounding.

Even then, a courageous, steel-eyed government inspector, Dan Lawn, was hollering about corrosion all through the BP pipeline. I say "courageous" because Lawn kept his job only because his union's lawyers have kept BP from having his head.

It wasn't until 2006, 17 years later, that BP claimed to have suddenly discovered corrosion necessitating an emergency shut-down of the line.

It was pretty darn hard for BP to claim surprise in August 2006 that corrosion required shutting the pipeline. Five months earlier, Inspector Lawn had written his umpteenth warning when he identified corrosion as the cause of a big leak .

BP should have known about the problem years before that ... if only because they had taped Dan Lawn's home phone calls.

BP: Red, White and Bush

I don't want readers to think BP is a foreign marauder unconcerned about America.

The company is deeply involved in our democracy. Bob Malone, until last year the Chairman of BP America, was also Alaska State Co-Chairman of the Bush re-election campaign. Mr. Bush, in turn, was so impressed with BP's care of Alaska's environment that he pushed again to open the state's arctic wildlife refuge (ANWR) to drilling by the BP consortium.

You can go to Alaska today and see for yourself the evidence of BP's care of the wilderness. You can smell it: the crude oil is still on the beaches from the Exxon Valdez spill.

Exxon took all the blame for the spill because they were dumb enough to have the company's name on the ship. But it was BP's pipeline managers who filed reports that oil spill containment equipment was sitting right at the site of the grounding near Bligh Island. However, the reports were bogus, the equipment wasn't there and so the beaches were poisoned. At the time, our investigators uncovered four-volumes worth of faked safety reports and concluded that BP was at least as culpable as Exxon for the 1,200 miles of oil-destroyed coastline.

Nevertheless, we know BP cares about nature because they have lots of photos of solar panels in their annual reports - and they've painted every one of their gas stations green.

The green paint-job is supposed to represent the oil giant's love of Mother Nature. But CEO Tony Hayward knows it stands for the color of the Yankee dollar.

In 2006, BP finally discovered the dangerous corrosion in the pipeline after running a "smart pig" through it. The "pig" is an electronic drone that BP should have been using continuously, though they had not done so for 14 years. Another "procedure not properly implemented."

By not properly inspecting the pipeline for over a decade, BP failed to prevent that March 2006 spill which polluted Prudhoe Bay. And cheaping out on remote controls for their oil well blow-out preventers appears to have cost the lives of 11 men on the Deepwater Horizon.

But then, failure to implement proper safety procedures has saved BP, not millions but billions of dollars, suggests that the company's pig is indeed, very, very smart.

* * * * * * * *

Greg Palast investigated charges of fraud by BP and Exxon in the grounding of the Exxon Valdez for Alaska's Chugach Natives.

Palast's investigation of Chevron's oil drilling operations in the Amazon for BBC Television Newsnight is included in the DVD compendium Palast Investigates.

Palast's investigations are supported in part by the Puffin and Cloud Mountain Foundations and the Palast Investigative Fund, a 501c3 charitable trust.

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