Moment of Silence for Tamir Rice

"Moment of Silence for Tamir Rice,"

Said a woman standing in a circle crowded to mourn another murder, for the eleventh time tonight since the last moon.

“Silence,”

She spoke

Holding a bullhorn,

A black fist, and a bleeding heart

Her eyes

Soaked with all seven oceans,

Set on the land at fault for stolen lives…

I swallowed my tongue.

My fingers have lost count 

of charges against this country

Indebted to her in centuries of silence,

For all the 397 years of black bodies pushed in the grave too soon. 

-Neha Ray

Dear Curtis

On Friday June 13th, 2008, Curtis Theodore was found dead in Elizabeth, New Jersey. 

Dear Curtis,

What’s up fam? We never got the chance to meet but it’s Elijah one of the cousins on your mom’s side. Sad that I just heard the news but it’s been over 7 years since you passed away. I wish I could have met you, you sounded like a good guy. I’m glad I got to meet your sister and the rest of the family though. They seem to be doing well. If there is one thing about our family, it is that we’re huge. You probably didn’t even know I existed at the time you departed.

Your sister is out in Massachusetts where I stay and that’s how we were able to connect. We got up one day to hang out and celebrate our Haitian heritage at the Boston Carnival. On our way back we noticed a pretty heavy police presence at the end of the parade. It made sense as to why they were there but we couldn’t help but feel an air of suspicion and resentment when we cast our eyes on them. Things down here are getting bad for our black and brown brothers and sisters. I might have to back track on that one. There is a lot of light being shed on what is happening to our brothers and sisters thanks to the internet, social media, and smart phones. The darkness of police brutality and excessive force is a plague that pops up on my twitter feed, flashes on the news, or is read in the paper every week. You left us in 2008 and since then I can name too many names of people killed by police or other law enforcement agencies. DJ Henry, Burrell Anthony Ramsey White, Mike Brown, little Aiyana Stanley-Jones, Eric Garner, and Walter Scott just to name a miniscule amount. We are still trying to figure out what happened to Sandra Bland down in Texas.

But it’s not like all these killings and news of these killings have gone unnoticed. Out of the death and despair has risen a movement giving a voice to the voiceless. People have been taking the streets screaming Black Lives Matter because every other day it seems that is not the case. Your cousin isn’t taking this news lightly either. I put together a march and protest in my hometown last year to show people in my area that Black life must be protected just like any other person’s. I’m furthering my education at the moment but I’m doing whatever I can even if a small part to shed light on these atrocities that have taken our communities hostage.

Which leads me back to why I’m writing you this letter. Coming back from the parade your sis and I were just talking about how police take it too far. How white people can never understand how it feels to be a victim of constant harassment and suspicion. Or the anxiety of living with the thought that a bad incident with a cop could leave you dead. When she told me about you getting beat up by the cops one night when you were walking home, I got angry. When she told me you were arrested and brought to the county jail, I got angry. When she told me my sweet aunty, your mom had to go down there screaming and yelling to get you out for literally walking down the street, I got angry.

After that I heard you and aunty decided to file a suit against those rotten cops, and I was happy. When I heard you guys had gotten a really good lawyer to put some fire underneath those crooked cops, I was happy. When I heard the cops weren’t showing up to hearings out of fear, I was happy.

Then she told me you started to get picked up by cops when you were walking home during the suit, and I listened. She told me the cops would threaten your life, ask you to drop the case, and I listened. She told me you started to crack under the pressure and considered dropping to case in a real fear of your life, and sympathetically, I listened.

Then she told me about the day some officers came to your house to let your mother know that you were found dead, and I was silent. She told me the night your family and friends held a vigil for you cops came and shut it down, and I was silent. She told me they beat on your mom, your uncle, your sister, mased the entire house, ended up arresting some of the family, and the goosebumps rose on my skin.

The truth is every time I see another black life murdered the question in the back of my head is: “What if it was me or my family?” I just never knew that you passed away in the way you did. I didn’t know that you lay in an unmarked grave awaiting the day you get justice to be honored with a headstone. I didn’t know your family had to move away from the city you were murdered in to ease some of the pain and agony that they’ve been dealing with.

When I heard the story it hit me in a place I didn’t want to get hit. I was at a loss for words. But I write this letter to you because I found some of what I wanted to say. Despite what a few articles might say about the way you died I have seen too often in one year alone that the cop’s word is not the golden truth. I wish your mom didn’t have to bury her son. No parent should have to go through that. I wish your siblings still had a brother they could call on. I wish I could have had a real conversation with you. Get to know an older cousin, laugh, and maybe kick some knowledge. But that won’t happen. I’m left penning this letter to a family member that was taken before his time by those same people sworn to serve and protect. I’m thinking about you Curtis and your family is still in the process of seeking justice for you 7 years later. I pray God has a place for you and you’re doing well. Until the day we get to finally meet. Rest in power Curtis Theodore.

Your cousin,
Elijah

A Triple Prong Sickness

There is a laundry list of ailments effecting this country but they all stem from three root causes MLK prophetically and simply pointed out. On August 31, 1967 he delivered a speech titled: The Three Evils of Society, Delivered at the National Conference on New Politics. The three problems are: racism, economic exploitation, and militarism. Everything else is just a head of the hydra. It takes a herculean effort to survive. Below is an edited arrangement of his speech which can be listened to in full here.

Millions March NYC 12/13/14

The deep rumblings that we hear today, the rumblings of discontent, is the thunder of disinherited masses rising from dungeons of oppressions to the bright hills of freedom. All over the world like a fever, freedom is spreading in the widest liberation movement in history. The great masses of people are determined to end the exploitation of their races and lands. And in one majestic chorus they are singing in the words of our freedom song, “ain’t gonna let nobody turn us around”.

I wish that I could say that this is just a passing phase in the cycles of our nation’s life; certainly times of war, times of reaction throughout the society but I suspect that we are now experiencing the coming to the surface of a triple prong sickness that has been lurking within our body politic from its very beginning. That is the sickness of racism, excessive materialism and militarism. Not only is this our nation’s dilemma it is the plague of western civilization.

Arnold Toynesbee has said that some twenty-six civilizations have risen upon the face of the Earth, almost all of them have descended into the junk heap of destruction. The decline and fall of these civilizations, according to Toynesbee, was not caused by external invasion but by internal decay. They failed to respond creatively to the challenges impingent upon them. If America does not respond creatively to the challenge to banish racism, some future historian will have to say, that a great civilization died because it lacked the soul and commitment to make justice a reality for all men.

Racism

There has never been a solid, unified and determined thrust to make justice a reality for Afro-Americans. The step backwards has a new name today, it is called the white backlash, but the white backlash is nothing new. It is the surfacing of old prejudices, hostilities and ambivalences that have always been there.

This does not imply that all White Americans are racist, far from it. However for the good of America, it is necessary to refute the idea that the dominant ideology in our country, even today, is freedom and equality while racism is just an occasional departure from the norm on the part of a few bigoted extremists. Racism can well be, that corrosive evil that will bring down the curtain on western civilization.

Economic Exploitation

When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people the giant triplets of racism, economic exploitation and militarism are incapable of being conquered. A civilization can flounder as readily in the face of moral bankruptcy as it can through financial bankruptcy.

Again we have diluted ourselves into believing the myth that Capitalism grew and prospered out of the protestant ethic of hard word and sacrifice, the fact is that Capitalism was build on the exploitation and suffering of black slaves and continues to thrive on the exploitation of the poor – both black and white, both here and abroad.

The poor, black and white, are still perishing on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. What happens to a dream deferred?It leads to bewildering frustration and corroding bitterness.

Militarism

The final phase of our national sickness is the disease of militarism. We are arrogant in professing to be concerned about the freedom of foreign nations while not setting our own house in order. A nation that continues year after year, to spend more money on military defense then on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

So let us stand in this convention knowing that on some positions; cowardice asks the questions, is it safe; expediency asks the question, is it politic; vanity asks the question, is it popular, but conscious asks the question, is it right. And on some positions, it is necessary for the moral individual to take a stand that is neither safe, nor politic nor popular; but he must do it because it is right.

Posted by: E. Rey
Follow @DaHaitianProfet

Source:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/134362247/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-The-Three-Evils-of-Society-1967#scribd

HONK for Immigrants

This past Sunday hundreds of folks, including immigrants, allies from social justice groups, activists, musicians and even couple of children gathered at the Suffolk Detention Center in Boston. This group of people came together demanding "freedom for the detained immigrants." Though the event was centered around immigration rights, the group also carried signs in solidarity with Ferguson and Palestine.

The sight of a diverse presence and the sound of freedom songs, drum beats and musical instruments by HONK participants made the evening special. It was a true testament to the good cause to see the Cakalak Thunder who drove all the way from North Carolina and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra from New York, perform in solidarity with the supporters of the detained immigrants.

Immigrant prisoners waving at the supporters from behind the barred prison windows, and singing along while swaying to the music added joy to that powerful moment. And no, not even the police with their cameras or intimidation strategies could ruin the energy of the evening. As a brand new member of Boston, I am filled with gratitude to have experienced such love in this city.

Written by Neha Rayamajhi you can follow her on twitter @NehaRaySays

Find a list of her contributions in the "About Us" section 

The Motherless Children in The Other America

     During times this nation deals with racial anxiety and protest people often ask what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would say. It can be seen that 50 years after the civil rights movement, things have not changed, when it comes to oppression of the average minority in America. So there is no need to wonder, but to go to his speech “The Other America” following the Watts riots when he spoke at Stanford University April 14th, 1967. I thought it best to include his words within my commentary amidst the ongoing protests in Ferguson and nationwide.

 I want to discuss the race problem tonight and I want to discuss it very honestly. I still believe that freedom is the bonus you receive for telling the truth. Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And I do not see how we will ever solve the turbulent problem of race confronting our nation until there is an honest confrontation with it and a willing search for the truth and a willingness to admit the truth when we discover it…

     Richie Havens in 1969 opened up Woodstock, his last song was a rendition of an old spiritual “Motherless Child” and “Freedom”. I can’t help but get chills when I hear some of the verses of the song. “Sometimes I feel like a motherless child, a long way from my home.” When I hear this I can’t help but hear the sorrow of the black man and woman in America. It seems as though the African American is just like that motherless child, a nation-less child, a long way in time and distance from the African continent. Now it’s been over 150 years since the signing of the emancipation proclamation that dismantled the owning of slaves in America. However, it seems as though African Americans have never truly been able to escape the plantation. Whether it was sharecropping, Jim Crow, and now Mass Incarceration. The trials of the black man do not diminish but simply transform from one form of institutional oppression to another.

There are two Americas. One America is beautiful for situation. In this America, millions of people have the milk of prosperity and the honey of equality flowing before them. This America is the habitat of millions of people who have food and material necessities for their bodies, culture and education for their minds, freedom and human dignity for their spirits. In this America children grow up in the sunlight of opportunity.

     Now it has been some time since the shooting death of Mike Brown but the wounds are still fresh, and it looks as though a movement may be starting out of Ferguson. It is clear that race is still a very big issue in America, which ties in the issue of police brutality and police militarization because while people may say this is more than a color thing. You cannot overlook the fact that many of these problems such as police brutality and militarization first happen in the black community and then bubble up to the broader range of the poor class, and middle class. One has to do their history. There is no such thing as a bunch of vigilantes like that of Cliven Bundy if it were African American. In 1985 police bombed an entire neighborhood in West Philadelphia combating a radical group called MOVE.

     Police brutality hasn't changed from the end slavery, from Rodney King, to Eric Garner and Mike Brown. As long as the color of one's skin can still cause a women to clutch her purse a little tighter, or a police officer to shoot an unarmed 18 year old college bound child 6 times, twice in the head. This country will remain mentally chained to the skeleton of slavery.

     If CNN anchors can openly suggest using water cannons on peaceful protesters in 2014, the nation is still chained.

     If peaceful protesters of men, women, and children, are met with police in military dress, armored vehicles, dogs, tear gas, and arrests, this nation is still chained.

     When reporters are being arrested and tear gassed for documenting the situation in Ferguson, this nation is still chained.

     When city officials and state senators are being tear gassed for standing in solidarity with peaceful protestors, this nation is still chained.

     When amnesty international has to observe the events passing in Ferguson, this nation is still chained.

     When John Lewis and Jesse Jackson are still marching for the same problems 50 years after the March on Washington, this nation is still chained.

     It seems as though every time an unarmed black child is shot down in the streets there is a cry from the nation of minorities and oppressed and sympathizers, some discussion and discourse on the matter, and then another unarmed black child is shot down in the streets. There needs to be more discussion on what it means to be a black man in society because it stretches across cultural differences among minorities and oft times a precursor to how the rest of the nation will be treated. The Occupy Wall Street movement in some respects did not start until middle class white America felt financial burdens minority communities have been facing for decades.

But there is another America. This other America has a daily ugliness about it that transforms the buoyancy of hope into the fatigue of despair. In this other America, thousands and thousands of people, men in particular walk the streets in search for jobs that do not exist. In this other America, millions of people are forced to live in vermin-filled, distressing housing conditions where they do not have the privilege of having wall-to-wall carpeting, but all too often, they end up with wall-to-wall rats and roaches. Almost forty percent of the Negro families of America live in sub-standard housing conditions…Probably the most critical problem in the other America is the economic problem. There are so many other people in the other America who can never make ends meet because their incomes are far too low if they have incomes, and their jobs are so devoid of quality….

     Now Michael Brown’s parents have laid him to rest. Protests are still happening in Ferguson and around the country for Mike Brown and all the Mike Browns across the nation. Just after Brown was shot, another young black man was gunned down in St. Louis not too far from Ferguson. Here in the Boston area you cannot go on without remembering the name of Burrell Anthony Ramsey White who was gunned down during a routine traffic stop by BPD in 2012 and still does not have a headstone on his grave. In California people have taken the streets to protest for the shooting death of unarmed Ezell Ford, who suffered from mental illness, by LAPD. How about the shooting death of John Crawford in an Ohio Wal-Mart for holding a toy gun. Eric Garner was choked to death by NYPD for allegedly selling loose cigarettes leaving behind 5 children. The constant question asked by these communities facing such harsh police brutality is who is policing the police? Some in Ferguson are referring to the protests as a “Negro Spring” because there needs to be a drastic change in lawmakers and policies in the area. There are various petitions circulating at the moment like one to make sure officers wear cameras in order to record disputes. The Dream Defenders have kicked off a Hands Up Don't Shoot campaign for policy change and continuing the dialogue regarding police brutality. The hope is that justice can be served in the case of Mike Brown. Concern with the man prosecuting police officer Darrel Wilson is of serious concern seeing that the prosecutor’s father was a cop killed by an African American on duty. As Eric Holder has visited Ferguson and the Department of Justice is monitoring the case America and the world will see if justice is served to Mike Brown.

Somewhere we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on the wheels of inevitability, it comes through the tireless efforts and the persistent work of dedicated individuals who are willing to be co-workers with God and without this hard work time itself becomes an ally of the primitive forces of social stagnation. And so we must always help time and realize that the time is always right to do right.

You can find this piece featured in the LA Progressive

Written by: E. Rey
Follow @DaHaitianProfet

4 AM Prayers for Ferguson

Vigil at the spot where Michael Brown was killed,
Sunday evening, in Ferguson, Mo.
The Associated Press

The following reflection was written by: Neha Rayamajhi

I was woken up too early today with thoughts of people in Ferguson, Missouri. With a heavy heart I reached out to the closest person I had for comfort. That failed miserably and with a heavier heart I logged on to my social sites I guess looking for some sense of solidarity.

Ice bucket challenge. Few news on Palestine. A lot of grief for a Hollywood actor. And couple of other national and international, both relevant and not so much news.

Whatever I could find on Ferguson was far too few and seemed to be a non-issue for the majority of my non-black folks on social media.

Don’t get me wrong.

My heart still hurts for Gaza. For the Nigerian girls who are still missing. For victims of recent landslides in my own country Nepal. For the maybe “legal” but definitely unfair deportations. For Robin Williams and the society that triggers mental and social illnesses...

This morning though, I also hurt a little too hard for Mike Brown from Missouri, and the Mike Browns from all across America who were made to leave too early.

No I am not saying that this is a pick and choose issue. In the words of brilliant Katina Parker,

“People dying unnecessarily, under any circumstances is worthy of compassion- and- ACTION.”

What I am disheartened about is the lack of compassion and action against atrocities committed by the police against people of color, and especially black folks in this country.

To me this apathy is more than just hypocritical. First because in most instances of injustice, I have seen African-Americans stand in solidarity with the oppressed peoples. Second, I have always seen organizers and activists, across races, borrowing strategies and styles of resistance from the said community. Liberal, radical, progressive- no matter what label, most academics outside the political right fill our book shelves and arguments with the likes of Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and more whenever convenient. And among the younger generation I find myself and many others being educated and inspired every day by thinkers and doers like Kim Katrin Milan and Janet Mock, or my very own Cherrell Brown and Ed Whitfield, and so many others in other many spaces.

Most of the time our fights against oppressions are fueled by aspects and examples of African American resilience and revolutionaries yet when it comes to being in solidarity with the African-American struggles, the majority of the world stays silent.

In fact, generally, when it comes to issues of race people remain silent.

Peace corps returns who travel all the way to over-exploited nations to “help” black women and children rarely make trips to the next city to help communities who lose their children to racist institutions. Missionaries who send money and services to countries like mine to “save” brown savages rarely send support down couple of streets across their churches to communities infested by racist cops. Liberal white activists who want to wear Keffiyeh as a symbol of unity with the Palestinians (even if it is bought from institutions that sponsor Zionist propaganda) rarely want to reflect on the skin they wear that could possibly also perpetuate white supremacy and privileges responsible for genocides. Students in liberal arts colleges who write thesis and “think pieces” on refugee struggles and dictatorship in foreign lands rarely think about instances like Ferguson and the breach of democracy taking place right now right here. Or so it seems.

And I wonder if this lack of concern apart from racism is also a result of guilt. The topic of race is controversial because it requires the dominant group, even in progressive spaces, to reflect on their own actions and maybe even take responsibility. It is easier instead, to focus on battles away from homes. It is more comfortable to wage a war against Kony in Uganda, to sustain and be part of narratives that make you feel heroic without having to address the villain in you and/or your loved ones.

Or maybe people are still waiting for “credible” news reports. As if people on the ground in Ferguson with tweets and videos of lived experiences that come along tear gases and men in uniform are somehow less credible than corporations who come to us with selective news.

Reports on destruction caused by racism, no matter how frequent, do not get covered by American institutions as much as they should. Yet the same institutions love reminding the people here and around the world, how we as brown and black people of the “third world” are responsible for each other’s murders. Both of these representation trends are rooted in values of white supremacy that refuse to value any lives other than their own because their very survival is based on making profits off these deaths. Racism and imperialism are not separate, or extinct like many love to claim.

On the other hand for us, people of color, and specially immigrants, anti-blackness is a real issue and the most relevant reason for this disengagement. But there is also the socialization of silence and fear. We are taught from our early years in the new country that we as the “others” do not have the right to complain about the U.S. That critiquing is a luxury reserved for the “real Americans” only- and I am not talking about the indigenous people of this land. You see, with our accents, addressing the weaknesses of this country gets translated to hate and comes with consequences. But it is important for us as a community to remember and remind each other that resisting is also a form of love. What often gets dismissed as rants and redundant complaints are sometimes honest concerns for the country that has given us a lot in its own ways.

Yes I agree that some injustices are more urgent and closer to us than others. That there are similar news I should be aware of but I am not. That not everybody can be equally invested in all these issues and in the same way.

But, explain to me why some people are incapable of mourning over dead bodies in their own backyards. Why is it that some news of deaths are national losses yet others are just expected to be lost?

Honestly, I don’t know where I am going with all this. It is 4 am. My heart is heavy, and I am looking for some comfort.

This reflection was written by Neha Rayamajhi you can follow her on twitter @NehaRaySays
Find a list of her contributions in the "About Us" section

The Ronnie Wallace Long Case

“The fate of millions of people—indeed the future of the black community itself—may depend on the willingness of those who care about racial justice to re-examine their basic assumptions about the role of the criminal justice system in our society.”
― Michelle Alexander, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness

The excerpt below is a letter to the State of North Carolina from Ashleigh Ward an advocate regarding the incarceration of a one Ronnie Wallace Long for 38 years.

I am writing as a concerned citizen of the state of North Carolina, with regards to a serious injustice that has been allowed to continue for the past 38 years; the wrongful conviction of Ronnie Wallace Long in 1976. Ronnie has proclaimed his innocence for all these years and it turns out that the state withheld critical exculpatory evidence from his trial lawyers in 1976. This injustice has never been righted by the court system despite the state having engaged in misconduct by withholding exculpatory evidence that should have been presented to the jury.

Thirty-eight years ago a man was convicted by a jury that was not of his peers. Ronnie is Black and was convicted by an all White jury for burglary and rape of a prominent white woman in Concord, North Carolina. Ronnie was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences with absolutely "No evidence linking him to the crimes." A suspect's hair was found at the scene, right where the crime occurred. But when tested by the SBI against Ronnie's hairs, the agent concluded, "The hair found on the scene show to be DIFFERENT from suspect hairs." The state wants you to believe that an agent who has been employed with the SBI for over TWENTY years could NOT make the distinction between the hair of a dog and that of a human.

From the very beginning, Ronnie's constitutional rights have been violated. After the SBI lab reports were discovered in 2007, which showed the physical evidence gathered at the crime scene did not connect Ronnie to the crime, Ronnie was granted a post conviction hearing. Despite the strength of the evidence at the hearing, Ronnie was denied again his rights to a new trial. Despite providing overwhelming evidence, the state continuously denies Ronnie his rights. The only evidence presented against Ronnie at trial was the eye witness testimony of the victim whose identification of Ronnie as the perpetrator was suspect from the very beginning. Yet, the criminal justice system allows this injustice to continue.

The agents of the state of North Carolina committed perjury and to this day have not been held accountable for such actions. The North Carolina Supreme Court heard the case in 2009. Three judges voted to grant Ronnie a new trial. Three of the remaining four judges voted against giving Ronnie a new trial. Almost unheard of, the seventh judge declined to vote. The 3-3 TIE means Ronnie is STILL serving his sentence. NEVER in the history of the North Carolina Supreme Court has there ever been a 3-3 tie decision! This is why there is an odd number of judges so things of this nature will never happen.

How does an economically disadvantaged man fight the corrupt judicial system of the state of North Carolina? He and his family are at a loss...no where else to turn. It is time we get people to take a look at the deep rooted corruption in this case and ask that you support this man in his fight for justice.

I am asking, "What would you do if it was YOUR brother?"

When will the right person, the person who has the power and the resources necessary, take a stand against the corruption in the state of North Carolina? When will those involved in the corruption be held accountable and exposed for their unjust acts? "In God we trust," that one day the state of North Carolina will fly under a banner for equal justice for ALL. I will not stop until someone hears my plea and takes action to rectify the injustice that has been done by the state of North Carolina to Ronnie Wallace Long.

You may also contact me via email ashleighmlong276@gmail.com and/or my cell phone 910-890-7581.
Ronnie, his family, and his supporters continue to have Faith in God that one day justice will finally be served.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,
Ashleigh Ward

You watch a interview with him here can visit the Facebook Page on his behalf here and a petition vouching for his freedom here 

The author is on twitter: Follow @comradealong

The Great American Prison System

"I would say that the prison-industrial complex reminds us that we live with the ghost of slavery. Punishment was used in the aftermath of slavery in order to re-institute slavery...So the criminalization of blackness, which is at the core of vast prison population today, finds its roots in slavery and in the aftermath of slavery." -Angela Davis on Democracy Now!

If you haven’t heard this statistic already let it be repeated: There are more black men in prison, on parole, and/or on probation then were enslaved prior to the American Civil War. Maybe that statistic is just too much to take in but it seems that fact alone isn’t enough for Americans, of any ethnicity, to bring this up as a major societal issue. This locking up of black and brown men and women, is the largest aspect of a growing prison industrial complex that this country is facing. However, it does not encompass the problem as a whole. There is privatization of what should be a government regulated institution. There is inhumane solitary confinement running rampant in what is one of the harshest treatments of prisoners among industrialized nations. There is money pumping into the prison industrial complex that is destroying families, communities, and fighting the so called war on drugs. These points better prepare a look into a societal ill that plagues the people of this country, disproportionately the lower class citizens in the great American Plutocracy.

During his presidency, Richard Nixon famously uttered America’s fight in the “War on Drugs” which became “public enemy number one”. This allowed for the rolling out of archaic laws, harsh and incomprehensible drug sentencing, as well as the locking up of people, mostly black and brown, by the droves. The war on drugs inflated Americans prison population immensely. Since 1970 the prison population has risen an outrageous 700%. Likewise, the shift to private prisons has created a boom to increase and maintain prison populations as well as exploit and mistreat them.

Private Prison systems is big business, there are companies such as Victoria’s Secret and Microsoft that get their product produced through prison labor. This labor might as well be slave labor where these prisoners are paid pennies a day for their work. A growing sector of the prison industrial complex plays hand in hand with America’s crack down of immigrants. Peoples that have come to America and found without proper documentation can very well find themselves in prison as a limbo between staying in the states and being deported. Immigrant detention facilities rake in close to $5.1 billion a year. Recently there were hunger strikes in Washington and protests at these immigration detention centers by prisoners denouncing their treatment and punishments while there.

In the same manner, the treatment of prisoners is a dark aspect of the complex. Female inmates in California can find themselves sterilized behind bars. Similarly, other gruesome parts of prison would have to be solitary confinement and the death penalty. When in solitary confinement you are locked in a cell for up to 23 hours a day only able to move around in the sun for one hour and solitary can be for any length of time. Prisoners can spend months and maybe years in solitary confinement. A prisoner could be thrown into solitary for the most minuscule thing like missing role call or talking back to a prison guard. It has been studied that solitary can literally drive people crazy in a very dehumanizing practice. Record hunger strikes in California brought attentions to this problem. The international community condemns solitary as inhumane and a crime against basic human rights. The death penalty is another problem. Interestingly, the original injection method for the death sentence has been halted by the original European companies that don’t agree with the practice. Unfortunately, instead of reconsidering killing people this has led to states making scary chemical cocktails to kill prisoners with grueling consequences.

It is hard to believe that all of this is happening in a country that proclaims liberty and justice. However, organized people, movements, and petitions, help on the grassroots effort to change some of these problems.

An innocent man who was never given a fair trial with evidence withheld proving his innocence, has been incarcerated for the past 38 years. There is no evidence linking this man to this crime yet an all-white jury convicted him based on the victim's identification when officers conducted an unusual "lineup." The "lineup" consisted of the officers bringing the victim to court to see Long. We all know that eyewitness testimony alone cannot be sufficient enough to convict someone of a crime especially when there is forensic evidence proving the innocence of the defendant. In 2008, the assistant DA who helped prosecute Ronnie in 1976, testified on his behalf.
In the case of Ronnie Wallace Long the circumstances of his arrest and conviction raise many questions and in the repressive state of North Carolina it isn't surprising a black man sees justice denied. A petition for a proper forensic investigation is underway.

Many petitions for reform of the justice system and halt to the prison industrial complex leads us to Massachusetts. Saturday April 26th at Boston Commons, a Jobs Not Jails rally will come to the front steps of the state capitol. A call and petition for more Jobs and less jails is being brought up by the Ex-Prisoners and Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement or EPOCA.

• Massachusetts taxpayers are expected to build 10,000 new prison units by 2023, costing $2 billion, unless dramatic reforms are made;
• Reforms in other states have led to greater public safety while actually closing prisons (e.g. New York, Texas);
• Reducing long-term unemployment also improves public safety state-wide;

The prison system is costing taxpayers’ money, breaking up families, and destroying communities the way it is run right now. All this disproportionately in the black, brown, and poor communities. We have incidences where rich people are deemed "too rich" or suffering made up disorders like “affluenza” avoiding jail, but we are locking up the poorer classes at historic rates. It is time for a critical debate in Washington, and in our local communities on how we can fix these problems. It is time to look towards breaking the chains the prison industrial complex has put on this country.

Thanks to Melissa Alexander's book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness for inspiration.

This piece was featured in emPower Magazine

Written by: E. Rey
 Follow @DaHaitianProfet

The Moses of Port-au-Prince

Source

On the heels of the US occupation in Haiti, many political and social mechanisms were set in place that would lead to an elite, fair skinned class and a poor darker skinned class. Several fascist style leaders would be in control of Haiti upwards until the 1940's and 1950's. This further widened the economic gap between the rich and the poor and entrenched racial/social barriers in the country. While there were several elitists that would keep the needs of the poor class in their agenda, Willie Lynchism was in full effect. To the poor dark class; elitist were not to be trusted. In the same many elitist in the country did not want to over-extend their agreement with rights for the poor in fear of losing status and being ostracized.

A noirisme movement or Négritude movement for a strong black political power was thus born amidst an increasing poor black class in the capitol. While the light skinned class in Haiti held all political power and economic power it was time for change. In comes Daniel Fignolé.

Fignolé moved into the city at the age of 14 and would work and school until he became a mathematics professor at College Odeide, Petit Seminaire College St-Martial, and Lycee Petion. Fignolé’s ideals would come from several Haitian idealists, socialism, and the heavy noirisme movement that was brewing in the country. He would often frequent Sunday debates with elitists that would draw many of his own students. He and several other partners (François Duvalier) included, went on to found a liberal newspaper called Chaniers in 1942 with a goal to “establish in Haiti true democracy in the freedom, equality, and culture of the nation.” His newspaper often called for reform under current president Lescot and was forcibly shutdown by then president. He was then forced to write for other newspapers often under pseudonyms.

Source

Fignolé would find himself unemployed and in turn devoted himself solely to political activism in which he was an excellent orator; delivering his speeches in Kreyol. This being at a time where French was seen as a language of higher class. In a country lacking of good education he would gain the nickname, “le professeur” and become somewhat of an urban legend among the labor movement, poor class, and unemployed in Port-au-Prince with his electric style of speaking. He could generate flash mobs of people referred to as “woulos” or steam rollers that would flood the streets at a moment’s notice. 

His power in Port-au-Prince was so unmatched by any and all political leaders at the time. He went on to leading the Mouvement Ouvrier Paysan ("Peasant Worker Movement" or MOP) in his bid for a presidential election. Although he was barred from running for president, on May 25th, 1957 he would be ushered in as provisional president by demand of the masses and popular vote.

Like many other countries with radical socialist, anti-elitist presidents or leaders, this drew the eye from America. Under President Eisenhower, Vice-President Nixon, and CIA-director Allen Dulles, Fignolé was seen as a threat to US interests. The red scare was heavy and his views were quickly associated with communism although he never sided with the ideals of communism. His own plan was even related to FDR's new plan. Fignolé’s idea of redistributing the country’s wealth and not favorable to the US put him in the sights of the CIA. The US did not recognize Fignolé as president during his time in office. During Fignolé’s time in office, Haitian ties with African Americans was cut off because of their own civil rights movement (NAACP being a large force to call an end to the US occupation of Haiti ending in 1934) This disconnect was largely due to the death of Walter White an advocate for Haiti in the NAACP.

Without international support it was Fignolé versus the United States. Not only was Fignolé not in good with the US but he lacked support outside of the capitol in Haiti. On June 14th, 1957 a military coup (thought to be backed by the CIA) ousted President Daniel Fignolé. He would go into exile in New York. Haiti was then under military rule, Fignolé supporters massacred and then the Duvalier family would hold a brutal dictatorship of the country for years to come. Fignolé would return from exile after the Duvalier regime and pass away at 73 a few months later. Thus is the story of the 19 day, progressive, labor movement, and charismatic President of Haiti, Daniel Fignolé.

Written by: E. Rey

Sources:

Smith, Matthew J. Red and Black in Haiti: Radicalism, Conflict, and Political Change, 1934-1957. The University of North Carolina Press, 2009. Print

http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,825027,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Fignol%C3%A9

Black History Month: Fred Hampton

Source

“You have to understand that people have to pay the price for peace. If you dare to struggle, you dare to win. If you dare not struggle, then you don’t deserve to win. Let me say ‘Peace’ to you, if you’re willing to fight for it.”

~ Fred Hampton, The Revolutionary Love of Fred Hampton, Sr.

“I arrived on the day Fred Hampton died / Real ni**as just multiply.”

~ Jay Z, Murder to Excellence, Watch the Throne

The fiery, passionate and energetic Black Panther Party (BPP) leader, Fred Hampton, was born on August 30, 1948 in Summit, Illinois, and raised in Maywood suburbs. Hampton was, by all accounts, a fine student in the classroom, graduating from high school in 1966, at 16. Continuing his education at Triton Junior College, Hampton studied law in an effort to arm himself, and those in his community, with legal knowledge to employ against abusive policing tactics. Very early on in his life he was involved in organizing and activism, working at one time with a local NAACP Youth Council, proving himself an effective leader and galvanizer of like-minded youth to effect progressive social change in their community.

Hampton later came to national prominence, however, after joining the Black Panther Party. In November 1968, he joined the Panther’s fledgling Illinois chapter—instituted by SNCC coordinator Bob Brown in 1967—and moved to Chicago, its basis of operations for the state. Among the feats Hampton, with his comrades, were able to accomplish, was a pact of non-aggression in Chicago between rival street gangs, emphasizing the deleterious affects of internecine crime, which menaced all those involved with poverty, poor life prospects and utter self-annihilation. Bringing to bear on the issues that affected the community at large a Marxist social analysis—focusing on class-consciousness and class-struggle—Hampton was able to broker such progressive, “Rainbow” coalitions, which struggled for progressive change on behalf of the oppressed.

A charismatic and passionate leader, Hampton would attract the attention of the Federal government, chiefly the FBI, and while the BPP’s activities and agitation generally elicited the Bureau’s ire and suspicion (and surveillance), Hampton’s powerfully effective leadership especially concerned its highest officers. This constant surveillance and attempted disruption of the BPP (and other organizations struggling for African-American rights) would culminate in Hampton’s assassination—at the young age of 21—in the early hours of December 4, 1969. Though Hampton was summarily and unjustly killed, his legacy as a driven, committed community leader lives on and the spirit of his revolutionary fire does too.

Further reading/viewing:

Democracy Now's "The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther"

Fred Hampton's Bio

The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)

Black History Month: Harriet Ann Jacobs

Image source: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Harriet_Ann_Jacobs1894.png

Why does the slave ever love? Why allow the tendrils of the heart to twine around objects which may at any moment be wrenched away by the hand of violence? When separations come by the hand of death, the pious soul can bow in resignation, and say, "Not my will, but thine be done, O Lord!" But when the ruthless hand of man strikes the blow, regardless of the misery he causes, it is hard to be submissive. I did not reason thus when I was a young girl. Youth will be youth. I loved, and I indulged the hope that the dark clouds around me would turn out a bright lining. I forgot that in the land of my birth the shadows are too dense for light to penetrate.

~ Harriet Ann Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

Harriet Ann Jacobs was born February 11, 1813, in Edenton, North Carolina to parents Elijah Knox and Delilah Horniblow. Jacobs’ father, the putative product of a white father and black mother--though still a slave--worked as a house carpenter, and her mother lived as chattel property of John Horniblow, a tavern owner. Harriet had one brother, John, and owing to the legal principle of partus sequitur ventrem, both Harriet and John were born in bondage.

Jacobs is most known for her work as an abolitionist and the 1861 publication the biographical slave narrative--under the pseudonym Linda Brent--of her Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Incidents described, in shocking detail, the travails of being a slave, and more, the intersection of gender and motherhood, which played a significant role in the slave woman’s predicament. Jacobs was the repeated victim of unsolicited sexual advances and abuse, and though she wanted to be free, she could not countenance leaving behind her two children. She was, however, eventually able to escape the stronghold of her cruel master, and finally take up “residence” in “a tiny crawlspace above a porch.”

The space was nine feet long and seven feet wide. Its sloping ceiling, only three feet high at one end, didn't allow her to turn while laying down without hitting her shoulder. Rats and mice crawled over her; there was no light and no ventilation. But her children had been bought by the lawyer (the children’s father) and were now living in the same house. Harriet could even see them while they played outside through a peephole she had drilled. She lived in the crawlspace for seven years, coming out only for brief periods at night for exercise.

Jacobs would eventually go on to secure her freedom, and that of her children, following the abovementioned, and other, harrowing and traumatic events. She would dedicate her freedom to the abolition of the slave system and publish her powerful narrative--one of the very first to chronicle the incredible suffering and oppression that was visited upon women slaves all over the South. Jacobs died, after a long and courageous life, on March 7, 1897 at 84 years old.




***If you enjoy the blog posts I ask that you please like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. Above all spread the knowledge and comment your opinion!***

Words from Marissa Alexander

Shortly after the acquittal of George Zimmerman I was acquainted with the story of Marissa Alexander. After writing my piece "Getting #JusticeForTrayvon" I looked into the case of Ms. Alexander. While some stories have gone out to paint her in a bad light she is the mother of three children and in jail to complete a 20 year sentence. In the official disposition of the hearing the estranged husband she defended herself from was quoted saying: "I probably would have put my hand on her. Probably hit her. I got five baby mommas and I put my hands on every last one of them, except for one. I physically abused them. Emotionally. You know.” The same prosecutor, Angela Corey, who sent her to jail for a minimum of 20 years (killing/injuring no one) was surprisingly unsuccessful in prosecuting Zimmerman. After hearing this sad story and inspired by a Daily Kos article I reached out to her in a letter and this is what she wrote back:

Hello Elijah!

Thank you for taking the time to write me and express your sympathy and your support. My weakness is made perfect in God strength! I love Him and I trust Him with my life. I truly believe that all things do work good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. This is my journey and I know that God is sovereign and in control, He has predestined me, for time & reason such as this! Elijah again that you very much for your kindness and prayers.

Sincerely,
Marissa

A petition for her release can be signed here and the address to reach her is below if you want to contact her send a stamped letter so that she won't have to pay to send one back. 

Marissa Alexander #J46944

Lowell Annex

11120 N.W. Gainesville Rd

Ocala, FL 34482

Posted by: E. Rey

Follow @DaHaitianProfet

Nihilism, Capitalism, and Population Control

“Psychic depression, personal worthlessness, and social despair are widespread in America as a whole… Just as in the black community, the saturation of market forces in American life generates a market morality that undermines a sense of meaning and larger purpose.” -Cornel West, Democracy Matters

 A prophetic pragmatist, a civil rights activist, and a lover of the people, Cornel West tackles what he calls a danger to the general public. This danger can be called nihilism, it takes many different shapes and forms but it has done one thing to society; keep the people down and keep them controlled. In Race Matters and Democracy Matters, West identifies nihilism and how it has affected both Black America and all of America.

In order to fully understand the connection between nihilism in Black America and the American population as a whole; one must first comprehend the problems faced in black communities.

“The most basic issue now facing Black America: the nihilistic threat to its very existence… It is primarily a question of speaking to the profound sense of psychological depression, personal worthlessness, and social despair so widespread in Black America.”  -Race Matters

This issue is not one that comes out of thin air but more so, it is an issue that has resurfaced in the black community. West reflects on the time when African Americans made their trans-atlantic voyage to the New World. African Americans began their struggle as soon as they stepped foot on American soil. Being treated as less than human and the psychological breakdown was in part the root of nihilism in black society. The loss of hope and absence of meaning were hard to overcome. A break through with a push for civil rights and equality in the 1960’s was a turning point. At that time it seemed that the fight against nihilism had been over with Black Americans coming out victorious. However, over the years there has been a relapse. In a market driven society, “images of comfort, convenience, machismo, femininity, violence, and sexual stimulation” (Race Matters, Pg. 27), have dragged African Americans farther into the nihilistic hole. A false sense of comfort and "progress" lulled these communities allowing for changes in policy and social norms. The largest and most alarming change in policy, recently, being the reconstruction and nullifying of certain parts (Section 4 & 5) of the Voter's Rights Act (VRA). With nihilism threatening the betterment of Black America, there must be a way to fight it.

West discusses several solutions that can be used for the struggle against nihilism in the black community. The first is replacing self-loathing and a sense of worthlessness with self-love and increased self-valuation. On one hand, it is hard to feel a good sense self valuation when your environment i.e school, neighborhoods, are not safe or secure. Nevertheless, we as a community need to come together stronger, less trying to get the upper hand and more lending a hand. A strong community breeds a stronger generation. "It takes a village to raise a child." The second point West touches on is being active in politics on the local level. There is only so much one can do sitting and complaining, taking action and putting it to local officials about your issues in the community is the best way to strive for change. This may change for many Southern state communities with the changes made to the VRA. Many times people sit in despair believing there is nothing one can do but that is not necessarily the case. With an understanding of nihilism in Black America one can now make the connection between Black America and America as a whole.

A market driven and capitalistic society has managed to dismantle democracy and replace it with the corruption experienced today in American politics. The fall of America’s democracy is its own hybridity with Capitalism. Malcolm X can be quoted on the matter, "You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker". Capitalism takes away the power that democracy gives to the minority and disenfranchised. We live in a compromised democracy. Capitalism in fact turns this democratic republic into an imperialistic society where there citizens live life blind to what’s going on or forced to accept the conditions. The connection between nihilism in Black America and all of America is closely related because both sides are subject to governmental corruption.

To make things clear, capitalism in itself is not a bad economic practice and model to follow. However, the corruption and its application throughout many different facets of society is. The market driven aspect of capitalism has been corrupt by corporations and Wall Street. Many politicians that were voted in by the people have been bought out by these large corporations.

In February of this year, news broke that Treasury Secretary Jack Lew received an exit package worth over $1 million from Citigroup shortly before joining the Obama administration in 2009. In fact Lew’s contract with Citigroup made explicitly clear that the banker’s eligibility for a special bonus was contingent on his securing a “full time high level position with the U.S. government or regulatory body.
-The Nation

Likewise, a market economy mentality cannot be applied to other social facets like education and health care. Our government believes that a market based system can be added to education, when that occurs children are no longer looked at as human beings. They become numbers on a chart of how successful an institution can be. An example is standardized testing. Many public schools across the country use standardized testing as a means to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of a school. This method allows for less preparation for college, more focus on test taking. All this in order to show the school is excelling, leaving kids to fall through the cracks in the system. Education, a glimpse of how the market driven society is a result of an already corrupt, capitalism infused, government.

These institutions and avenues of society, based on the market system, result in a nihilistic population. Lulled to sleep in their own problems, these people are unable to pull out of the hole that they find themselves in, or even realize that they are in one. In black America many of the youth have fallen in that trap of not knowing what they can accomplish or not believing they can accomplish their dreams. The election of Barack Obama helped many children of the minority in providing a role model, so to say, that they can look up too. However, in the grander scheme of things the black community is in turmoil. Since the recession many Americans as a whole have seen great hardships as pointed out in Poverty in America, a middle class being wiped out and people stuck in their own problems leading to easy governmental control.

Nihilism is a danger to America. Democracy has been compromised by a misuse in capitalistic practices. The love for greater mankind is slowly being replaced by the love of power and wealth.

Written by: E. Rey
Follow @DaHaitianProfet