You Think What?

In June we told you how we feel about the attempt to change the federal constitution in order to protect marriage. Fortunately, the measure has not been passed in either the House or the Senate.

Legislators in the great state of Flawda have managed to use their influence to have someone’s homophobic idea placed on the ballot for consideration by the electorate.  It’s a piece of legislation that is so anti-gay it goes into the areas that will affect even straight people. (more…)

Actress Jennifer Hudson and her family offer a $100,000 reward Sunday for the safe return of her 7-year-old nephew, who has been missing since the Friday shooting deaths of Hudson’s mother and brother at the family home on Chicago’s South Side.

The search continues for little seven year-old Julian King with Chicago police handing out fliers in the area as they look for the child (more…)

Get updated details of the search for Jennifer Hudson’s nephew Julian King. The young boy has been missing since the discovery Friday of the singer’s family members–victims of what police are calling a double homicide.

The trial date for the matter of Tonye Allen and Ann Brown has been set in Toronto Ontario Canada for Wednesday, November 21, 2007. (more…)

Another landmark historic event took place on Friday, November 16 2007. There’s a new U.S. Attorney General in D.C. His name is Michael Mukasey and though he was only sworn in a week ago with his ceremonial swearing-in taking place at the Department of Justice this week the National Action Network, Southern Leadership Conference along with radio talk show hosts Warren Ballentine, Tom Joyner, Michael Baisden, Al Sharpton, Steve Harvey and members of the Nation of Islam came to the nation’s capital to present to the new AG the expected agenda during the next few months of his short time in office. Thousands of marchers dissatisfied with the inequality of the American justice system arrived to demonstrate their outrage.

The purpose of the march is to remind the AG he is expected to be accountable to the people. He is expected to protect and defend against hate crimes. The march will also send the message the national black community will no longer stand for the obvious message of disrespect that is sent when nooses are hung for the purpose of intimidation.

Cases such as Genarlow Wilson’s and Mychal Bell and the Jena 6 are indicative of justice system that is determined to be excessively punitive, unreasonably and unequal.

Pay attention Attorney General Michael Mukasey. The people demand you be responsible for enforcing the laws and ensuring their is balance in our justice system.

Everyone is familiar with the statement, “America has become a very litigious society.” Not many people are acknowledging the fact we have become a very punitive society as well.

As a result of the quest for vengeance the courts with our citizen blessing seek to punish excessively anyone who breaks the law.

Daily we read of law enforcement officers, security guards gone wild, enforcing those who are caught committing the most trivial of infractions. Often those who are arrested and jailed are the people who have little or no access to proper legal representation at trial.

That is why it is our responsibility as citizens to become educated about the laws in our areas. That is why we must educate our children as to the consequences of their actions, youthful indiscretions included, so that we can save our youth.

Remember the children are our most precious resource. Without the children we have no future. We must do all we can to save our young people. We think it is in the best interest of our future as a nation to provide financial support for the work of organizations like the Baisden Foundation-Unequal Justice Fund to provide competent attorneys to represent those who are the recipients of American injustice. Enough is indeed enough!

In the last article we stated facts about prisons in America today and who makes up the population. Mostly the imprisoned person is uneducated, black and male.

Vesla Mae Weaver, a political scientist, has put forth her a logical deduction. In her recently completed dissertation Weaver examines policy history, public opinion and media. Weaver suggests understanding the role these entities have played and continue to play in the alteration of the American justice system will also make clear how race has been an important part of U.S. social policy. She postulates there is a strong connection between the movement for civil rights and the development of punitive criminal justice

This is the reason why we have changed over to being less forgiving toward those who violate any of “the rules”. Our current policy for imprisonment keeps alive the the longstanding racist American tradition of sublimating social meanings that have always been associated with being black. Race is one component in explaining why the U.S. numbers for persons confined to penal institutions is so exceptional among democratic industrial nations.

The turn toward being a more punitive society represents a political response to the success of the civil rights movement. Weaver calls the process “frontlash”. Those who are in opposition of the revolutionary changes brought about because of the civil rights movement have sought to regain and in many cases have succeeded in regaining the dominance by bringing to the public more frequently a new issue.

It makes sense that instead of poring energy and resources into fighting a battle that clearly had already been lost segregationists such as the late Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, the former Republican Senate majority leader Trent Lott, even President Reagan and G.H.W. Bush, chose to move attention to a asocial issue that concerns everyone irrespective of race. It’s an allegedly race neutral matter. The best example of the effectiveness of this new strategy is the presidential campaign of the late George Wallace, former governor of Alabama, staunch segregationist whose war on crime campaign gained support in the Midwest sectors of the U.S.. In fact crime has become a staple platform for presidential candidates ever since.

Though Weaver’s argument is speculative there is astrong correlation between the general public attitude on the subject of race and welfare. Both have in the past 30 years become linked. In the American mind race is associated with welfare as is race associated with crime.

Despite the fact drug use has declined along with other crime statistics antidrug campaigns with the attendant restrictive laws and arrests have increased with blacks more than 5 times as likely to be arrested and jailed.

Young whites use drugs more frequently than young blacks. But our society has elected to criminalize underclass teens to save middle-class teens from the so-called threat of a drug epidemic. The price of street drugs has declined as the number of arrests have increased.

Continued next post

As we stated previously we are overjoyed about the news of the release of Genarlow Wilson. We see the nightmare ending for the entire Wilson family as well as Wilson himself. We wish them all better days in the future. We are grateful for them. We appreciate the diligence of some civil rights leaders and attorneys who worked for Wilson’s release after spending more than 2 years in prison for what should have always been classified under Georgia law as a misdemeanor.

However, as we write this article, in this moment, we know there are many thousands of families having the same or similar reality as they battle the justice system to secure the release of their youthful loved one who have been wrongfully imprisoned. Whether you are black, white, young, old, male, female, rich or poor everyone is affected by our society’s determination to be vindictive for even minor breaches of the law, any law or rule. Some portions of the population are impinged upon more than others.

During the past weekend a fund raiser event was held in Atlanta sponsored by the Baisden Foundation in conjunction with the National Bar Association. As you may know the Baisden Foundation is the result of the efforts made by radio personality and tv talk show host Michael Baisden who helped to organize the successful March on Jena Louisiana in support of the Jena 6. (more…)

How do you know you’ve really achieved star status?

Just ask Star Jones of Court TV. Jones has had to take the time to clarify what seems to us a very simple matter of non-performance of a contractual agreement on the part of some pretty sleazy individuals. (more…)

“From the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, We fight our country’s battles in the air, on land and sea. First to fight for right and freedom, and to keep our honor clean. We are proud to claim the title of United States Marine.”

United States Marines– “the few, the proud” Best wishes to all USMC members for a happy birthday. Siempre Fi!