Progressive Bloggers United Against Taser Tortue, Kick Off Crusade

Back-to-Back-to-Back Taser Deaths Kicks Off Crusade
By Eddie G. Griffin (BASG)

Since the maker of the 50,000-volt electronic stun gun control device (ECD), TASER International, issued a new directive and warnings in an October 12, 2009 memo, there has been six more death, three in a matter of four days this past week:

• 453. November 13, 2009: Herman George Knabe, 58, Corpus Christi, Texas
• 454. November 14, 2009: Darryl Bain, 43, Long Island, New York
• 455. November 16, 2009: Matthew Bolick, 30, East Grand Rapids, Michigan

The word about tasers is obviously not getting out. There is still a general public acceptance of tasers as an better alternative to more deadly force, and the common belief among law enforcement that the instrument saves more lives than are lost. But is it saving lives of officers in the field at the expense of the lives of innocent people and thereby endangering the general public’s safety?

Truth Not Tasers blogsite now list the names of 455 people in North America who have lost their lives by tasers.


In a continuing effort to raise public awareness about the deadliness of the weapon, and the memory of those who needlessly died, we are waging a blogging campaign on December 4, 2009. The purpose of the Stop Taser Torture Blogging for Justice Day is “to unite the world’s bloggers” in America, Canada, and throughout the world to join in on the effort to stop tasers.

[Blog Registration through StopTaserTorture@gmail.com]

AfroSpear Network Blogger, Eddie G. Griffin (BASG), has joined the campaign to register the grievances against TASER International on behalf of Fort Worth, Texas families who have lost love ones to the device.

• 424. April 18, 2009: Michael Jacobs Jr., 24, Fort Worth, Texas
• 228. August 23, 2006: Noah Lopez, 25, Fort Worth, Texas
• 138. June 24, 2005: Carolyn Daniels, 25, Fort Worth, Texas
• 116. April 3, 2005: Eric Hammock, 43, Fort Worth, Texas
• 86. November 2, 2004: Robert Guerrero, 21, Fort Worth, Texas

Eddie G. Griffin (BASG), an Adult Friend of World’s Children’s Prize for the Rights of the Child, Mariefred, Sweden, also raise the issue of tasers used against children, contrary to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Resolution 44/25, adopted by the General Assembly on 20 November 1989, which states in Article 6 that “every child has the inherent right to life”, and in Article 37 (a) No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

These are children who died by taser.

• 7. December 15, 2001: Hannah Rogers-Grippi, 6 months fetus, Chula Vista, California
• 144. July 12, 2005: Kevin Omas, 17, Euless, Texas
• 249. October 29, 2006: Roger Holyfield, 17, Jerseyville, Illinois
• 351. March 20, 2008: Darryl Wayne Turner, 17, Charlotte, North Carolina
• 379. July 22, 2008: Michael Langan, 17, Winnipeg, Manitoba
• 408. January 8, 2009: Derrick Jones, 17, Martinsville, Virginia
• 417. March 22, 2009: Brett Elder, 15, Bay City, Michigan
• 421. April 10, 2009: Robert Mitchell, 16, Detroit, Michigan

Although the United States is not a signatory party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, these voiceless children have need of an advocate to speak on their behalf.

417. March 22, 2009: Brett Elder, 15, Bay City, Michigan

Hello, my name is Bethany and I have been reading a lot about how to try and change the state laws in Michigan. I was very close to the 15-year old boy Brett Elder (Dewy). I think about him every day and there is nothing I can do to bring him back, but there is something I can do, and that is to start a Petition. As you may know there have already been two deaths of minors in the State of Michigan this year. I am currently in the process of creating a petition (Dewy’s Minor Taser Protection Act).

If you have any advice for me please feel free to e-mail me. I have also a myspace:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=474323826

Bethany A. Schuster, Bay City, Michigan (Tinkerbell283125@comcast.net)

[Editor's Note: As I write, a 10-year old girl has been tasered.]

 

FOR TASER WAR UPDATES, Read http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/ 

 

Alabama county sues JPMorgan over debt deals

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama’s most populous county filed suit Friday blaming Wall Street powerhouse JPMorgan Chase and others for the financial disaster that brought it to the brink of what would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. 

Source: Mark Lennihan / The Associated Press

 

Jefferson County in Alabama filed a suit that contends JPMorgan Chase and others were part of a conspiracy.
The suit, filed in state court by Jefferson County, contends JPMorgan Securities Inc., JPMorgan Chase Bank, former Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford and dozens of other defendants were part of a conspiracy to generate huge fees through a series of deals called rate swaps.

The deals were supposed to help the county manage debt from a massive sewer renovation but instead generated huge fees and crippled the county’s finances, according to the complaint.
“These transactions provided no value to the county or its citizens and created an inherently flawed financial structure that imploded within just a few years,” said the complaint, which seeks an unspecified amount in damages. 

The lawsuit also names Montgomery-based investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre, both of whom pleaded guilty to bribing Langford in deals that generated $ 7.1 million in fees for Blount’s company, Blount Parrish & Co., which also is a defendant in the case.

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Mayor Larry Langford Found guilty - faces a potential sentence of 805 years

Larry Langford: 'Calm inside' as verdicts halt career

 

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford waits outside the the Federal Building in Tuscaloosa, Ala, as the jury deliberates during his federal bribery trial Wednesday, October 28, 2009. (The Birmingham News /Tamika Moore) Larry Langford, Birmingham's mayor and a former Jefferson County commissioner, has been found guilty in his federal bribery trial.

Langford, who is 61 or 63, was found guilty of taking about $236,000 in cash and gifts from Montgomery investment banker Bill Blount and lobbyist Al LaPierre.

Both pleaded guilty in the case and testified they made cash payments to Langford while he was the president of the Jefferson County Commission to ensure business for Blount's investment bank, Blount Parrish & Co.

"We all have our trials, this too will pass," Langford said as he walked from the courtroom followed closely by his wife.

"The citizens of Birmingham have been fantastic to me," he said outside the courthouse.

He said the verdict will be appealed. "I'm no crybaby, but ..."

"At the end of the day, I shot my best shot, but the jury ruled the way that they did," he said, in a wide-ranging press conference outside court.

"All this trial did was interrupt my Bible study classes for two weeks," he said, adding he faces a potential sentence of 805 years. He said if he lived to be 80, he would have to die and "come back 10 more times" to serve such a sentence.

Judge Scott Coogler decided Langford would forfeit $241,843. The lawyers agreed.

Coogler ordered a sentencing report within 90 to 120 days and said Langford would remain free until then on the existing $50,000 unsecured bond.

Birmingham City Council President Carole Smitherman is now mayor of Alabama's largest city. (Corrected: A swearing in is not required)  More HERE

10 Year old Girl Tasered By police

Is there ever a time when a 10 year old kid should be tasered by police for bad behavior?

According to OZARK, Ark. Police there is:  Get this, according to 4029tv.com -- Ozark police said they were called to a home where a mother asked for help with her unruly child, but the 10-year-old's father said he's outraged at the force police used against his daughter.

"I would like to say Ozark police Tased this little girl right here. 

Ten years old and [they] shot electricity through her body, and I want to know how the heck in God's green earth can they get away with this," said the girl's father, Anthony Medlock.Medlock said his daughter was at her mother's house when Ozark police Officer Dustin Bradshaw shocked her in the back with a Taser and arrested her."If you can't pick the kid up and take her to your car, handcuff her, then I don't think you need to be an officer," Medlock said.Medlock said his daughter does show signs of having emotional issues, but she "doesn't deserve to be treated like a dog. 

She's not a tiger."According to a police report, the officer was called to the home by the mother and witnessed the child kicking and screaming.The officer's statement said the girl's mother, Kelly Hamlert, told him to use a Taser on her if he needed to.The officer did shock the girl after he said she kicked him in the groin."He had no other choice. He had to get the child under control," said Ozark police Chief Jim Noggle.Noggle said the officer shocked the girl for about a second.Ozark police said it is their policy to use a Taser on someone who is a threat to others, no matter their age.  More HERE 

AAPP says: "This amount to taser torture no matter what age. So these idiot police department will tase a 5 year old who is a threat to another 5 year old. These are really some stupid backward bastards." This is just another reason to Join us and let's stop the Taser madness ---- it's time for all bloggers whether you be, Black, White, Latino, Native American, Asian, Hillbilly or Progressives to come together on this issue. As Villager, at Electronic Village noted recently, "These deaths keep piling on at a rate of once-per-week." I also encourage all bloggers to join us on December 4, 2009 when we gather for a Day of Blogging for Justice to Stop Taser Torture.


Don't forget to Sign The Petition to Request Congressional hearings on Taser Torture in America.

Why do black folks do this - Are black folks going insane - I ask Why?

There is something going on in America. Has black America gone insane? Is there something in the Chicken? As an example Why would an enraged father shoot and kill his 15yr old son in the back of the head execution style? Why would a Chicago School Board President Kill himself ?  Why did a 21-year-old man have to be fatally shot in broad daylight as he boards a bus on a busy street? "He was just boarding the bus. He was actually onboard and was shot while standing in the doorway of the bus by shooters on the outside of the bus," Burke said.Rawlings's younger brother, DeOnté Rawlings, was 14 when he was killed in 2007 by an off-duty D.C. police officer who had gone to recover a stolen minibike. Federal officials ruled the shooting justified.

Why did a 17-year-old girl have to die when shots are exchanged on a neighborhood playground and she is caught in the crossfire? Why are drive by shootings happening in Tallahassee's Lake Palm Drive? Why would the DC sniper calls himself 'this innocent black man'? Why are men dying  in South Kansas City Shooting?

Gregory Kane: When innocence is anything but - Why would a black man rob a store and kill the liquor Store Owner? Why would someone kill a 15-year-old Jason Madison Jr. Who Baltimore police say his murderer gagged  with a pillow case and then stabbed him repeatedly in the head and throat with a box cutter. That was after sexually assaulting and sodomizing the boy. Why are black folks invading homes and killing like it's goin out of style.Why would some shoot a Birmingham woman and kill her with a gunshot wound to head? Tuesday night Why did another young black woman get killed because she was involved in a hateful relationship.

Yes, I know the bigots love this post. But we do have to admit, America has made many of our youth nothing more than two-bit thugs. I hope that this young men didn't kill this Pregnant Woman as reported by the clor aroused Newsnet 14 group.

Finally why would a black man rob banks - without a mask?

Surveillance photo

The FBI says this man robbed two Houston-area banks in four days earlier this month. I guess it's the economy. It's making black folks go insane!

AAPP says: If we are looking for the President of the United States or the justice department to address these issues, we will be waiting for hell to freeze over. 

You see, President Obama is well intended, but he is surrounded by crooks, liars and criminals. These crooks and liars have run the banks into the ground  and ruined our economy. Now black folks have gone plum crazy!

Black America has to stimulate itself out of this mess. The only stimulus package the United States Government will provide will be to Wall Street. There will be no bailout from the Justice Department, The Department of Labor or the Department of Education soon.

Police in Texas taser torture for low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct

According to Cameron Langford at the Court House News Service, Police in Texas public schools are increasingly using force against children, including Tasers and pepper spray, and the "overwhelming majority" of police "interventions" involve "low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct," a public interest group says.
     Texas Appleseed claims the Spring Branch Independent School District is putting students at risk and violating the law by refusing to release its "use of force" policy.
     More than 75 percent of Spring Branch, a suburb northwest of Houston, is black or Latino. The school district claims its use of force policy is exempt from disclosure because of the exception for law enforcement.
     Texas Appleseed says it sent open records requests to 24 Texas school districts, seeking their police departments' use of force policies, and 11 produced the documents. The group say its investigation revealed accounts of police in Texas public schools using pepper spray and Tasers on students.
     "The public interest in ensuring full dialogue around policies relating to use force on Texas school children outweighs any risk to SBISD-PD's ability to affect arrests or engage in law enforcement on its campuses," Texas Appleseed says in its complaint in Harris County Court.
     Appleseed says that reports of Texas school police using pepper spray and Tasers on school children are becoming more common. It says the data its has received shows the "overwhelming majority of law enforcement interventions on Texas school campuses involve school-aged children cited or arrested for low-level, non-violent misdemeanors like disruption of class or disorderly conduct."   Read More HERE

TWB Publisher says: I'm glad to see that a watchdog group wants Info on Police Use of Force Against Schoolkids. It's time to stop the torture of school children in our public school system. Where is the U.S. Department of Justice when we need them to protect our children? Texas is not the only state torturing our children. 

ENOUGH is ENOUGH 

Join up with:

• Black Perspective.net
• Black Women In Europe
• Charly Miller 's Taser Collection of Articles of Tasers
• Educate yourself about tasers
• Electronic Village
• Excited-Delirium
• From My Brown Eyed View
• It All Goes Here
• No More Tasers
• Pam's House Blend
• Petition for Congressional Hearing on Taser Torture
• Petition to Ban Taser Use by Police in U.S.
• Police-brutality Blog
• Prevent Dangerous Harm
• Stop Taser Torture
• Taser Deaths In Canada
• Taser Deaths.org
• Taser Watch
• Taser.org.uk
• Tasered While Black
• The Duck Shoot
• The Superspade
• Truth Not Tasers
• THE INTERSECTION OF MADNESS & REALITY 
  

Sign up now! 

Let's build a blogger movement to stand in the gap for our children!

Killer Cop Goes To Trial For Taser Death - Another Taser Death in New York

NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- A former Winnfield Police officer accused of repeatedly jolting a handcuffed man with a Taser before he died is scheduled to be tried on manslaughter and malfeasance in office charges in February. Death by Taser: Police Accused of Cover-Up.

Former police officer Scott Nuugent's trial originally was scheduled to start July 13, but it was postponed so a key witness, Winn Parish Coroner Randolph Williams, could recover from an accidental gunshot wound.

A spokesman for Winn Parish District Attorney Chris Nevils said Thursday that Nugent's trial now is scheduled to start Feb. 9 and last about a week. In January 2008, Nugent allegedly shocked 21-year-old Baron “Scooter” Pikes  nine times with a 50,000-volt Taser while arresting him. Also read cover-up alleged in La. Taser attack and Lousiana Police Electrocute Handcuffed Man..

  

It's important to note, as reported by findingdulcinea.com that police officer Scott Nugent arrested 21-year-old Baron Pikes, handcuffed him and shot him six times in three minutes with a Taser as he struggled to escape.

Once Pikes was in the police car, Nugent shot him a seventh time in the chest. Pikes stopped responding, but Nugent shot him twice more after removing him from the car. Pikes was ruled dead within a half hour.

Nugent was charged with manslaughter August 13 by a grand jury that ruled he used the Taser “unnecessarily” and failed to get medical help. He faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted.

The mother of Pikes’s four-year-old son has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against Nugent, city officials and Taser International, the manufacturer of the gun. More HERE

Meanwhile, as reported by NewsDay, the mother of a drugged-up Long Island man who died after being shot by a Taser gun while fighting with police officers Saturday said cops didn't have to stun her boy.

Darryl Bain, 43, was high on cocaine and had locked himself and his elderly mother in her Coram home about 2:46 a.m., causing his brother, Kevin, to call 911, relatives and Suffolk County police said.

But Bain was not posing any threat and didn't need to be stunned with a Taser, said Phyllis Hawkins, his mom. 

"I was just trying to get him to get his hands off the door," Hawkins, 78, said."He seemed to be getting himself together from what he did," she said, adding that she smelled alcohol on her son's breath.

"[The police] know that when he gets like that, he calms himself down," she said. 

Hearing a struggle with his mother, who has an order of protection against her son, officers broke down the door and tried to wrestle him to the ground, police said.

Bain was shot with the Taser but continued to fight with the officers as they tried to cuff him and they zapped him again, police said. He stopped breathing moments later.

 

Read more: HERE

AAPP says: It';s obvious that this man was troubled and needed mental help, not death because he abused cocaine and liquor. 

Black progressive bloggers have been covering this issue for some time.
Progressive bloggers like, Excited-Delirium , Truth Not Tasers, Electronic Village, and so many other bloggers have been working to expose the deaths of men in women tased to death in police custody. We want to expand the conversation to include as many  bloggers as possible. 

Join us and let's stop the Taser madness ---- it's time for all bloggers whether you be, Black, White, Latino, Native American, Asian, or progressives to come together on this issue. As Villager, at Electronic Village noted recently, "These deaths keep piling on at a rate of once-per-week." I also encourage all bloggers to join us on December 4, 2009 when we gather for a Day of Blogging for Justice to Stop Taser Torture.


Don't forget to Sign The Petition to Request Congressional hearings on Taser Torture in America.


As the Dallas South On-line Newspaper noted, It's time for Congress and the Justice Department to revisit the use of force continuum due to lethal nature of Tasers.


Let's make the December 4th event bigger than our day of blogging for Justice – Standing up against the pre-trial electrocution effort.


Please Sign up now!

Here is a partial list of last years participants and what they said about taser torture:


African American Opinion - A Day of Blogging for Justice …
African American Political Opinion – “A Day of Blogging for Justice …
African American Political Pundit – A Day of Blogging for Justice – Blogging Against Extra-Judicial Electrocution via Tasers
All About Race – A Day of Blogging for Justice
Ancestralenergies – Day-of-Blogging-For-Justice
Black Perspective.com - Taser Awareness – Blogging Against Extrea Judicial Electrocution
Christina Springer Blog- Wish-I-Had-More-Time
Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) - Officer may be indicted for Tasing Death of Scooter
Electronic Village -Electronic Village: End Police Pre-Trial, Extra Judicial
Electrocuted While black – Electrocuted While Black: “A Day of Blogging for Justice
InkogNegro – Day of Blogging for Justice – Don’t Tase the Bros to death
Jack and Jill Politics - Extra-Judicial Electrocution – Jack & Jill Politics
Jena 6 Blog - Barron-pikes-tasered-while-handcuffed.html
Police Brutality Blog - “A Day of Blogging for Justice
Purple Zoe -A Day-of-blogging-opposing-pre-trial Electrocution
Regina’s Family Seasons - “A Day Of Blogging For Justice” – Tasers.\
Republic of T – Held Suspect
A Slant Truth – Blogging For Justice – Police Abuse (Tasers)
Tasered While Black - Tasered While Black: A Day of Blogging For Justice
Ultra Violet Underground - Day Of Blogging Opposing Pre-Trial Electrocution aka Tasering
What Tami Said – A day of blogging for justice
Wonderland or Not - Taser-lets-get-a-clue
The Black Snob – A Fight Against Taser Abuse and Other News
The Super Spade – A Day of Blogging for Justice – Against – Extra – Judicial Electrocution

Are you on this years list yet? Join the growing list of blogs that are making the December 4th event bigger than our day of blogging for Justice – Standing up against the pre-trial electrocution effort.


Join up with:

• Black Perspective.net
• Black Women In Europe
• Charly Miller 's Taser Collection of Articles of Tasers
• Educate yourself about tasers
• Electronic Village
• Excited-Delirium
• From My Brown Eyed View
• It All Goes Here
• No More Tasers
• Pam's House Blend
• Petition for Congressional Hearing on Taser Torture
• Petition to Ban Taser Use by Police in U.S.
• Police-brutality Blog
• Prevent Dangerous Harm
• Stop Taser Torture
• Taser Deaths In Canada
• Taser Deaths.org
• Taser Watch
• Taser.org.uk
• Tasered While Black
• The Duck Shoot
• The Superspade
• Truth Not Tasers

 And many More!  Sign up now!

District of Columbia is close to recognizing same sex marriage

According  to the Washington Informer.com the The District of Columbia is close to recognizing marriage between members of the same sex. A D.C. Council committee voting on Tues., Nov. 10 to send the bill authorizing the practice to the full council.  

By a vote of 4-1, with D.C. Council member Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) dissenting, the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee sent D.C. Council member David Catania’s (I-At-Large) bill, “The Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009”, for a first reading vote, which is scheduled to take place on Tues., Dec. 1. The bill was amended to include giving the right of a church to deny its facilities for same sex marriages activities without any penalties from the city’s human rights laws.

There are 10 original co-sponsors of Catania’s bill, including D.C. Council Chair Vincent Gray (D). Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) did not co-sponsor the bill but has indicated that he will vote for passage. Alexander’s chief of staff, J.R. Meyers said that constituent concerns dictated his boss’s decision to oppose Catania’s bill.

“The councilwoman will follow the wishes of her constituents of Ward 7 and will not vote for this legislation,” Meyers said. “She will not lead any opposition to it. She just will not vote for it.”

Natalie Williams, the spokesperson for Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) said that her boss opposes the bill. More HERE

AAPP: It looks like same sex marriage will be the name of the game across America. Well, then again maybe not.  As reported by Base Line Scenario.com the state of Maine voted to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples.

Check out the chart from a paper by Jeffrey Lax and Justin Phillips, “Gay Rights in the States: Public Opinion and Policy Responsiveness,” recently published in the American Political Science Review (via The Monkey Cage).  H/T Base Line Scenario.com

What do you think?  Should the District of Columbia recognize same sex marriage? Should your community recognize same sex marriage ?

 

58-year-old South Carolina manTasered to Death by Corpus Christi police

CORPUS CHRISTI — According to caller.com, and kristv, a 58-year-old South Carolina man who police subdued using a Taser and then performed CPR on died Friday.

The man was removed from life support Friday afternoon by doctors at Christus Spohn Hospital South, said Corpus Christi Police Capt. Todd Green, department spokesman.

Authorities wouldn’t release the man’s name, pending notification of family members. An autopsy will be done by the Nueces County Medical Examiner’s Office to determine an official cause of death, police said. The autopsy could take days depending upon the medical examiner’s workload Monday morning, according to Ric Ortiz, an assistant to the medical examiner.

“A preliminary investigation has shown the officers acted appropriately in responding to an aggressive individual who was acting erratically,” said Police Chief Troy Riggs “Unfortunately, he has died and we will continue the investigation.”

The five patrol officers who were placed on paid administrative leave have been cleared to work, Green said. Placing the officers on paid administrative is a routine policy for incidents under investigation, he said.

The incident began at 6:54 p.m. Wednesday when officer Stephan Beletic saw drivers flashing their headlights at Cimarron Boulevard and Airline Road. Beletic saw a man riding his bicycle illegally against the flow of traffic and attempted to stop him. The man didn’t stop and rode into a parking lot of restaurant where he banged on the restaurant’s window and spoke unintelligibly, Green said.

Beletic, who already had called for backup, began to frisk the man to make sure he wasn’t armed.

The man resisted, and Beletic managed to cuff one hand, but the man continued to struggle. Officers Ross Murray and Daryl Anderson arrived on the scene and Murray used a Taser, hitting the man in the lower back. The man appeared unaffected by the 50,000-volt stun gun, Green said, adding that police aren’t sure if the probe even penetrated the several layers of clothes the man was wearing.

Murray then placed the Taser on the man’s shoulder blade and shocked him, Green reported. The man continued to be combative, Green said.

Anderson used pepper spray, which also did little. Officer Jason Rhodes arrived and the four fell to the ground in a struggle with the man.

It wasn’t until a fifth officer, Jason Tello, arrived that they were able to finishing handcuffing the man, Green said.

Once the man was in custody, he quit breathing, Green said. MORE HERE

• 58-Year Old Man Tased by Police in Critical Condition 
• Man Tased by CCPD, now on Ventilator 

AAPP: How many more deaths will it take before America gets angry and asks for a Federal inquiry into the tasering and torture of American Citizens? Why is it that we only have 2,000 signed petitions for a Congressional hearing on Taser Torture? Enough is enough folks.  

Where is Shaniya Davis?

 

(Family Photo)

On Wednesday, police continued their search for 5-year-old Shaniya Davis, who went missing from her Fayetteville, NC home early Tuesday morning.Investigators have now recovered a blanket from a neighbor’s trash can that may belong to the little girl. Neighbor, Andrea Moore, told WRAL that police said the blanket found in her garbage belonged to Shaniya. More HERE

H/T to Black & Missing But Not Forgotten

.

Fayetteville police will no longer use Tasers on folks who are passively resisting arrest

Police Revise Stun Gun Rules For Officers .

According to Ozarksunbound.com the Fayetteville police will no longer use Tasers on folks who are passively resisting and will avoid the upper chest area when administering the shock, according to a story today in the Northwest Arkansas Times. Avoiding the chest area as the primary target area lessens controversy from critics that the electrical shock could negatively affect a target’s heart. Police Chief Greg Tabor told reporter Kate Ward that the recommendations were based on Taser International’s own recent recommendations for using the ‘less lethal’ device. More HERE

AAPP:  This is good news!

Black and Latino's Win Big in Boston, Chuck Turner Wins

City Councilor Chuck Turner has said for months that voters would look past his federal indictment and grant him another term, and last week the five-term Roxbury councilor got his vindication: a 20-point blowout over challenger Carlos “Tony’’ Henriquez. 

Chuck Turner

But that is OK to some, because  Felix Arroyo’s decisive victory in last week’s at-large city councilor race provided at least one Latino on the City Council.  Read More at The Bay State Banner.

According to Boston.com, Turner, 69, was indicted last year on charges that he accepted $1,000 in cash in exchange for helping a nightclub win a liquor license. Turner has strongly denied the charges, pointing to his beat-up Mazda and his modest home as evidence that he does not live a high-end lifestyle.

He is scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in March, and some voters who did not vote for Turner said the unresolved case factored in their decisions. Former senator Dianne Wilkerson, who was indicted on related charges, lost her reelection bid last year and was forced to resign her seat.

To Turner, the results proved that voters were on his side.

“I think we can see in the community’s reaction to the attempt of [former] US attorney [Michael] Sullivan and others to drive me out of office . . . that the community not only says no to that, but at the same time gives unprecedented votes for at-large candidates of color.’’

Henriquez expressed disappointment that the district’s voters felt content with Turner.

“We need to continue to raise the level of expectations of residents in Roxbury,’’ Henriquez, a 32-year-old community activist who also lost to Turner in 2007, said in a telephone interview. “I’m a little disappointed by the fact that 60 percent of our residents think the level of services are adequate.’’ More HERE

Black and Latino voters key to Mayor Menino's election

City Councilors Chuck Turner (left) and Charles Yancey (center) celebrate Felix Arroyo’s (third from left) decisive victory in last week’s at-large city councilor race. The three also expressed their gratitude to voters while standing in Grove Hall last week. (Photo courtesy of Charles Yancey)   More HERE

AAPP says: I guess my Hometown of Roxbury, MA forgot these pictures.

  

They also forgot about the 12-page affidavit filed in US District Court alleges that Turner was surreptitiously videotaped accepting the cash in his district office on Aug. 3, 2007, in exchange for pushing for a liquor license for the Roxbury nightclub Dejavu. Included with the affidavit are two photographs of Turner allegedly accepting the bribe. As reported by the Boston Globe, In one image, Turner's trademark white goatee is clearly visible as folded green bills are pressed into his hand.

But, hey voters in New Orleans forgot about Dollar Bill Jefferson who was finally Convicted.

UPDATE: Jefferson gets 13 years in prison

CNN Bigoted host Lou Dobbs Resigns

Washington, DC - Media Matters for America released the following statement responding to late breaking news that controversial CNN host Lou Dobbs, best known for his relentless anti-immigrant rhetoric, will be leaving his long-time cable news home effective tonight.

"For too long, CNN provided Lou Dobbs with its stamp of approval as he pursued a dangerous, one-sided and all too often false conspiracy tinged crusade against immigrants," said Eric Burns, president of Media Matters. "This is a happy day for all those who care about this nation of immigrants and believe in the power of media to elevate the political discourse."

BACKGROUND:

For More on Lou Dobbs' History: HERE

Media Matters played a leading role in the Drop Dobbs Coalition (DropDobbs.com) which was launched to call attention to Dobbs' incendiary hate speech and falsehoods, which advertisers were supporting through their sponsorship of his nightly CNN program. 

The Coalition includes numerous national civil rights and other groups concerned about the kind of hate promoted daily by Dobbs on his television and radio programs.  In addition to Media Matters in partnership with NDN, the coalition, representing over two million people, includes the National Council of La Raza, LULAC, National Hispanic Media Coalition, America's Voice, The Hispanic Institute, Southern Poverty Law Center, Netroots Nation, Voto Latino, LCLAA, Center for New Community, Reform Immigration for America, the Dolores Huerta Foundation, the National Puerto Rican Coalition and GALEO. 

Statement on Dobbs' Resignation from CNN

 

And here is the video of Dobbs announcing his resignation--

• Under pressure, Dobbs announces his resignation from CNN

White Republican's Scared and Afraid of Black Folks says RNC Chairman, Michael Steele

As reported by Huffington Post, CNN and The Raw Story,  During a weekend interview, Michael Steele told TV One's Roland Martin that he has experienced fear from other selected members of his party because of the color of his skin. Yes, Michael Steele says that "he" actually scares white Republicans. Surprise, Surprise! 

"I mean I've been in the room and they've been scared of me," the RNC chairman said about fellow Republicans.

Partial transcript:

MARTIN: How do you -- granted, a popular president got 95% of the black vote -- you got any shot at getting black voters and if so what are the two issues that speaks to black voters for Republican have a shot at them?

STEELE: Education and the economy. Education and jobs. Education and small business.

MARTIN: But your candidates got to talk to them. One of the criticisms I've always had is Republicans -- white Republicans -- have been scared of black folks.

STEELE: You're absolutely right. I mean I've been in the room and they've been scared of me. I'm like, "I'm on your side" and so I can imagine going out there and talking to someone like you, you know, [you're like,] "I'll listen." And they're like "Well." Let me tell you. You saw in Christie and you saw in McDonnell a door open because they went in and engaged. McDonnell was very deliberate about spending --

AAPP: Hey Michael Steele, So white folks are scared of you and other black folks, both in and outside of the Republican Party?  So what do you plan to do about it?

PS, Micheal Steele, I forgot to mention, truth be told, white folks in the Democratic Party are just as  scared of black folks.
.

New Hate Group: American Family Association

Color Aroused Hatred continues to raise it's ugly head. I guess this is not post-racial America. Check out how one conservative group is calling to purge Muslims from the U.S. military

 

Yes, as reported by the Huffington Post, a chief spokesman for the pro-life, far-right organization, American Family Association, has called for the purging of Muslim soldiers from military ranks. More HERE

 

John Allen Muhammad the D.C. Sniper Will DIE by lethal injection - Goodnight John

John Allen Muhammad, His execution by lethal injection is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m.

As reported by David G. Savage in LA Times, Seven years ago, the captured "Beltway Snipers" — John Allen Muhammad, 41, and his 17-year old accomplice, Lee Boyd Malvo — were in federal custody, accused of 16 shootings and 10 murders. They had set out to create a reign of terror in the Washington, D.C., area to match the terrorist attacks of the year before.

Attorney General John Ashcroft had a choice: He could send them to be tried in Maryland, where most of the murders took place but where the death penalty was on hold because of the specter of racial unfairness. Or he could send them across the Potomac River to Virginia, the site of three of the killings and where death sentences are carried out swiftly.

Ashcroft chose Virginia.  

AAPP says: Attorney General John Ashcroft, was a horses ass, as Attoney General - but I'm glad he sent them across the Potomac River to Virginia, the site of three of the killings and where death sentences are carried out, even though it has not been all that swiftly.

As reported by the Legal Times Blog, The planned Tuesday night execution of John Allen Muhammad remains set following the U.S. Supreme Court's refusal to stay the death sentence. Justices John Paul Stevens, Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg filed a two-page statement, saying: “This case highlights once again the perversity of executing inmates before their appeals process has been fully concluded."

This recent but undated photo from the Virginia Department of Corrections shows convicted sniper John Allen Muhammad. John Allen Muhammad, 48, is set to die by injection in a Virginia prison Nov. 10, 2009, seven years after he and his teenage accomplice terrorized the area in and around the nation's capital for three weeks. (AP Photo/Virginia Department of Corrections)

The three justices said that Muhammad’s petition for certiorari, which was timely filed, would have been reviewed at the Court’s conference Nov. 24. Stevens, Sotomayor and Ginsburg, however, did not disagree with the Court’s decision to deny certiorari.

“By denying Muhammad’s stay application, we have allowed Virginia to truncate our deliberative process on a matter—involving a death row inmate—that demands the most careful attention,” Stevens wrote in the statement, joined by Sotomayor and Ginsburg. “This result is particularly unfortunate in light of the limited time Muhammad was given to make his case in the District Court.”

Stevens said in the statement that he believes “that the Court would be wise to adopt a practice of staying all executions scheduled in advance of the completion of our review of a capital defendant’s first application for a federal writ of habeas corpus.” Such a practice, he said, would preserve “basic fairness in ensuring death row inmates receive the same procedural safeguards that ordinary inmates receive.

Muhammad was convicted in 2003 in state court in Virginia for his role in the 2002 Beltway sniper attacks that killed 10 people. His execution, by lethal injection, is scheduled for Tuesday at 9 p.m. More HERE

  

AAPP says:  Maybe the three justices want to learn about the killings that remain unsolved. Yes, more victim's than most know about.



I feel like so many families who see justice in the sniper's execution. Candidly I'm glad to hear that victims will watch him die. I wish John Allen Muhammad was being executed by Lethal Injection. This sniper should be shot and left for dead like he treated all of his victims.

Yes, this D.C. Sniper die! Good Night and badLuck!

Will Denzel Washington play John Allen Muhammad in a DC sniper movie?

Sen. Joe Lieberman Must Go

There is a movement to get rid of Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is building steam.

 

AAPP says: I agree, Joe Must Go!  I have been very clear regarding my opinion of this snake for some time.

Get this, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) plans to join with Republicans to filibuster any health care bill that contains a public option. Alone, the Republicans don't have the votes for a filibuster. So by joining with them, Lieberman would be tipping the balance of power in order to sink health care reform.

We need to push the leaders of the Democratic caucus to take a tough stand against Lieberman. Tell Harry Reid to fire Joe Lieberman as chair of the Homeland Security Committee.

Last year, the New York Times quoted an anonymous "member of the Senate Democratic leadership" who said about Lieberman: "We need every vote. He's with us on everything but the war." Apparently Joe lied to the Senate Democrats.

Now is the time for Senate Democratic leadership -- Senators Reid, Schumer, and Durbin -- to stop making excuses for Joe Lieberman. 

Tell Harry: Joe Must Go 

 

African-Americans Demonstrate At White House Protest.

Why are black folks demonstrating against President Barack obama? Is this crabs in the barrel mentality or do black folks have a reason and or right to demonstrate against the first African American president? are they right to say the Government doesn't have our back on unemployment?

According to the news Outlet AFP, African-Americans slam Obama in White House protest.

WASHINGTON — Decrying Barack Obama as "white power in black face," hundreds of African-Americans marched on the White House Saturday to protest policies of the first black US president, and demand that he bring US troops home.

More than 200 people gathered for the first public demonstration by African Americans against the Obama administration since his historic inauguration in January, and slammed the president for continuing what they described as Washington's "imperialist" agenda around the world.

"We recognize that Barack Hussein Obama is white power in black face," civil rights activist Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black is Back coalition which arranged the protest, called into a megaphone as the group marched outside the mansion's gates.

"He is a tool of our imperialist enemies and we demand our freedom. And we demand that Obama withdraw all the troops from Afghanistan right now."

Protesters also called for Obama to order troops out of Iraq and to scrap Africom, the controversial year-old United States Africa Command, and demanded "hands off" Venezuela and ends to the Cuba embargo and the Zimbabwe blockade.

Several demonstrators held up placards bearing messages such as "US out of Afghanistan" and "Stop US war against Iraq."

Charles Baron, a New York city councilman and former member of the Black Panthers, a Black Power movement in the mid-1960s and 1970s, attacked the president for turning a cold shoulder to the plight of African-Americans.

"We're not satisfied with him, and... this hope and change rap has not been a reality for black people," Baron told AFP during the demonstration.

"We are glad that Barack Obama broke up the white male monopoly on the White House, but we were not looking for a change in the occupant of the White House from white to black, we were looking for change in foreign policies and domestic policies," he added.   More HERE

AAPP says:  The fact of the matter is African-Americans are the hardest hit by the recession in America. In fact, African-Americans have been in a recession for the past ten years. If there is a nation wide un-employment rate of 10%, then its 20-30% in our black communities. According to a 2008 report by United for a Fair Economy, a research and advocacy group, from 1998 to 2006 (before the subprime crisis), blacks lost $71 billion to $93 billion in home-value wealth from subprime loans. The researchers called this family net-worth catastrophe the “greatest loss of wealth in recent history for people of color.” And the worst was yet to come. Read More HERE  Now blacks are being hit by a third and fourth wave of foreclosures caused by unemployment. Do black folks have a right to be pissed off. YES! 

The fact of the matter is Black unemployment is now at possibly 20-30% percent, compared with 10 percent for whites. In New York City, black unemployment has been rising four times as fast as that of whites. By 2010, according to Lawrence Mishel of the Economic Policy Institute, 40 percent of African-Americans nationwide will have endured patches of unemployment or underemployment. Do black folks have a right to be pissed off. YES! 

Should black folks be pisssed off at our President for bailing out some of the country's largest Wall Street firms, who have now set aside billions of dollars for bonuses to executives and traders -- many of whom are the same people whose reckless risk-taking led to the current recession?

What Do You think?

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/bailed-out-wall-street-fi_b_323480.html&cp

Ayanna Pressley first African-American woman to serve on the Boston City Council

In my home town of Boston, Massachusetts.

 
















As reported in the wickedlocal.com,  Ayanna Pressley will be the first African-American woman to serve on the Boston City Council. Read more on Pressley HERE

According to the Boston Globe, minorities and women won big on the ballot.

Congratulations Ayanna Pressley!

 

Heath Care Reform, Democrats, High-Fives and Black Folks

As reported by the NY Times, the Chicago Sun Times,  and various blogs. After a daylong clash with Republicans over what has been a Democratic goal for decades, lawmakers voted 220-215 to approve a plan that would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years. Democrats said the legislation would provide overdue relief to Americans struggling to buy or hold on to health insurance. Read More HERE Check out who voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act.

Alex Brandon / Associated Press / November 7, 2009 President Obama made a personal appeal, visiting with Democrats as the House began to discuss the healthcare bill in a rare Saturday session.

 Democrats say the House measure — paid for through new fees and taxes, along with cuts in Medicare — would extend coverage to 36 million people now without insurance while creating a government health insurance program. It would end insurance company practices like not covering pre-existing conditions or dropping people when they become ill. 

Republicans condemned the vote and said they would oppose the measure as it proceeds on its legislative route. “This government takeover has got a long way to go before it gets to the president’s desk, and I’ll continue to fight it tooth and nail at every turn,” said Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas. “Health care is too important to get it wrong.” More HERE.

Only one Republican, Representative Anh Cao of Louisiana, voted for the bill, and 39 Democrats opposed it.

After the vote, Mr. Obama issued a statement praising the House and calling on the Senate to follow suit. “I am absolutely confident it will,” he said, “and I look forward to signing comprehensive health insurance reform into law by the end of the year.” Read:With victory in House, health care reform moves to Senate.

AAPP says: OK so Black lawmakers have lauded the health care vote.‎  Yet, as the Joint Center points out, "from the cradle to the grave, African-Americans have poorer health outcomes: African-American infant mortality is more than double that of whites; African-American women make up 70 percent of new HIV/AIDS infections; three times as many black Americans die from diabetes as white Americans; and the life expectancy for whites is 78 years, compared with 73 years for all African-Americans and less than 70 years for African-American males."

AAPP says: "Yes, we need health care reform, I only hope that the current bill passed by congress addresses the needs of affordable mental health care, AIDS treatment, Breast Cancer Treatment, drug/alcohol rehabilitation, stress management and the preventive care needs of our communities. Otherwise, it's nothing more than black elected officials telling black folks what a wonderful job they have done, without any substance."  we also have to ask, will black folks be left out of the newly revised system of health care delivery?


Let's hope the Republican "nut jobs" are wrong and Joseph Cao is right.

1. "House Democrats pass health-care bill," The Washington Post, November 8, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85143&id=17860-8045350-7UIr8qx&t=5

2. "Abortion an obstacle to health-care bill," The Washington Post, November 9, 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=85142&id=17860-8045350-7UIr8qx&t=6

3. "Affordable Health Care for America Act," Speaker Nancy Pelosi, November 7, 2009
http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/legislation?id=0327

What do You Think?

The Tea Party Bigots are Coming, the Tea Party Bigots are coming!

File this under: The Bigots are coming, The Bigot's are coming!

Well, the Tea Party folks are planning another color aroused event at capitol hill tomorrow. Let me tell you, this is NO Paul Revere event.

Politico.com's Jake Sherman reports that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) is planning a second anti-health care reform Tea Party at the Capitol -- this one scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday -- approximately the time when the House is due to vote on Democrats' public option bill, POLITICO's Jake Sherman reports.

King and Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) organized a rally Thursday that drew thousands to the west front of the Capitol, drawing chants of “Kill the Bill.” There were a handful of arrests.

“We can kill this bill and stop the government takeover of health care,” King said in a news release. “We need the help of every American willing to stand up for freedom and liberty. I urge all Americans who oppose this bill to come to Washington tomorrow morning and join us to stop this bill.”  More HERE

 

Birthers and The Republican Party of HATE

Why are Americans allowing extremist like the birthers wrestle the GOP voices into more HATE? 

Have you had the opportunity to read and see some of the extremist images from the blog post by the Center for American Progress.Thank you Matthew Yglesias for the link.

  

Hat Tip Huffington Post slide show:

"OBAMA - Gov't TAKE OVER ... JUST LIKE NAZI GERMANY!" From the Huffington Post slide show:

Pelosi: "UnAmerican McCarthyite." From MSNBC.com:

"Maoism is not reform." From the Huffington Post slide show:

"Obama Listens to Mao, I listen to Fox News." From the Huffington Post slide show:

"KEN-YA TRUST OBAMA." From MSNBC.com:

Check out the November 5 post on the rally, the MSNBC.com blog

More Here: Fox News owns the extremist images featured at Capitol Hill rally

AAPP says: Now we learn that Obama's own Homeland Security Department which was suppose to target right wing Tea Party Extremists, has let these extremist, along with ex-GOP Leader Dick Armey and other right wing  congressional wing nuts, Hot AIR types, along with lobbyist, come join together to fight with HATRRED ladden images, against our government. 

Some are asking the question, is the Tea Party Gang turning GOP Into a Party of Hate? My response: "The Republican Party has been the party of hate for some time. Now they have a black guy as the head following in the birthers down KKK lane."

Do you agree? Here are some of the more jaw-dropping signs seen at the rally:

• "Get the Red Out of the White House."

• "Waterboard Congress"

• "Traitor to the U.S. Constitution" (Picture of Obama on sign)

• "Ken-Ya Trust Obama?" (Rep. Steve King, R-IA, autographing the sign)

• "I'm the King of the World: Remember the Titanic?" (Drawing of Obama in the mold of the 'Jovial Sambo' from the Jim Crow era doing the Leo Titanic pose." 
  

Powerful words from Rihanna.

Thank you blogger "This Sista's Page" for the link and your observations.Rihanna on GMA: “I Feel Ashamed…Eff Love.”

Mia Love, first black female mayor in the state of Utah

Sarasota Springs, Utah, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- A city councilwoman in Saratoga Springs, a 12-year-old fast-growing city in Utah, has been elected the first black female mayor in the state.

 

When she takes office, Mia B. Love will be the city's second mayor, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Saratoga Springs was incorporated in 1997 and has grown from just over 1,000 residents in the 2000 Census to an estimated 11,570 in 2007.

"I am absolutely honored," Love said. "I am so excited."

Both Saratoga Springs and Utah

are overwhelmingly white, with blacks accounting for about 1 percent of the population. More HERE

Edward Brooke, Congressional Gold Medal, and the black power movement

Here is great political news. A man who I have respected since my youthful days growing up in Boston received an appropriate award last week.

As reported by CNN, Edward Brooke, the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote, was honored last week with a Congressional Gold Medal. "At a time when so many doors were closed to African-Americans, others might have become angry or disillusioned," President Obama told an audience in the Capitol Rotunda, where the ceremony honoring Brooke for Congress' greatest honor was held.

Brooke grew up in segregated Washington and served in the Army during World War II. Afterward, he received a law degree from Boston University and eventually ran for attorney general of Massachusetts. Read more HERE

Check out a bit of history here: