Blogging For Justice

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Dunbar Village, Megan Williams

African American Political Pundit in conjunction with the afrospear will be blogging for justice. Protecting Black Women (and their families) From Rape

On Thursday November 1, 2007 Afrospear members and Afrospear supporters are urged to blog to raise public awareness of the two rape cases involving black women. One woman was tortured, beaten, forced to eat rat, dog and human feces, and raped by six white men and women in West Virgina. The Other a black woman gang raped and forced to have sex with her own son.

We are asking all bloggers who plan to blog on Thursday November 1, 2007 send a email to  AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit@gmail.com confirming your participation so we can track the number of blogs participating.

The Case of Ms. Megan Williams

A black woman who was raped in West Virgina. The purpose of this day is to make sure the public eye is on West Virginia and that she receives justice.

As you may know Megan Williams thought she was going to a party. For more than a week, authorities say, the 20-year-old black woman was kept captive in a shed, tortured, beaten, forced to eat rat, dog and human feces, and raped by six white men and women who taunted her with racial slurs. “They just kept saying ‘This is what we do to niggers down here,'” Williams told The Associated Press in one of her most extensive interviews since the shocking case made national headlines last month.

West Virginia does not have a death penalty, but the six suspects could spend the rest of their lives in prison if convicted of rape and kidnapping charges. Still, Williams and her family want more. They want the case prosecuted as a hate crime as well, something authorities have so far stopped short of doing.

How To Help: Blog About the incident to bring public attention to the horrors of rape of black women in this West Virgina Town. We want to keep the story in the news and on blog pages to make sure she gets fair and equal justice. Otherwise these folks from West Virginia may just get away with a year in prison, for something they should be spending life in prison for.

We are asking people to sign a petition in support of Megan Williams.

Other Ways to Help: Donate to the Megan Williams Trust Fund

Don’t forget there will be a National March against hate on November 3rd in WV regarding the Megan Williams case.

In Dunbar Village Case

Four males — ages 14, 15, 16 and 18 — have been charged as adults in a 14-count indictment that could send all of them to prison for life. Defense attorneys have argued that the victims failed to identify the same suspects from photo lineups and that they identified fillers — people not involved in the case — as perpetrators. In some instances they identified different people as the same person.

Hoping to steal money and jewelry, Avion Lawson, 14, said he and someone else wore masks when they entered the 35-year-old woman’s apartment that night, according to the documents. Once inside, Lawson said, he and his accomplice, whose name is blacked out on the report, encountered the woman in bed with three other masked males around her. Lawson told police he sexually assaulted her and stole two video games and a truck.

The victim returned home from her job delivering phone books about 9 p.m. the night of the attack, according to her statement to police. While fixing her son something to eat, a young male with braids knocked on her door to tell her the tires on her truck were flat. Once outside, she said, she saw a male with a large gun and two others armed with guns. They wore black clothing over their faces, she said, and ordered her back into the apartment, where they demanded money.

After being told there was no money, the attackers tore off the woman’s clothes and raped her until five others arrived, according to the documents. The new arrivals took turns having sex with her and then sodomized her. The mother was then ordered into a tub filled with vinegar and water where they used hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, nail polish remover and ammonia on her. At gunpoint, the assailants forced the mother and son to have sex.

Throughout the attack, the victims suffered beatings, including having a bowl and light bulbs smashed over their heads. The encounter was recorded on a cell phone camera, according to the mother.

Before leaving, the males looked for a lighter to set the two on fire but couldn’t find one, she told police. They ordered the pair to stay in the tub and took off. About 30 minutes later one of the males returned to sexually assault the mother one last time. Before leaving, he scribbled a man’s name and 6-CO, a gang, on a piece of paper and told the woman he hangs out on Sixth Street and that’s where he could be found. He grabbed a Sony PlayStation 2 before fleeing. More HERE

How To Help: St. Ann’s Catholic Church will accept donations on behalf of the family. Checks can be made payable to the Dunbar Village Victim Assistance Fund – St. Ann’s. The address is: St. Ann’s Catholic Church 310 N. Olive Avenue West Palm Beach, FL 33401 –
You can also call the church at (561) 832-3757.

Other ways to h elp:Blog About the incident to bring public attention to the horrors of rape of a black women and her child by black boys, and a black man. Discuss how these types of incidents although reported to police are not taken seriously when reported to police.

We can also join efforts to get black “leaders” and faith groups to begin to address these issues within our community. For further information visit What About Our Daughters.

Clark,Hooker, and Young. (No it’s not a law firm)

If there was ever a case to be made for reparations this is it.

Quick, does anyone reading this know who Otis G. Clark, Olivia J. Hooker, and Wess H. Young is? If you have never heard of them you are not alone. Quite a few people have never heard of these true field Negroes who survived the Tulsa riots. Mr. Clark is 104, Ms. Hooker is 92, and Mr. Young is 90. That’s damn near three centuries of living between them.

All three of them were present for a symposium at the Temple University Law School this past Monday. They were there to discuss the 1921 riots in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

They were just children then, but they remembered. 

In less than a week, over 1,000 homes and businesses were destroyed, and over 300 people were killed. (Some accounts say that more than 1,200 people died) Most of the rioting happened in a prosperous black area of town known as Greenwood. Of course there was no wall to wall 24 cable news coverage at the time to chronicle the horror of this event and tragic time in our history. All this happened because a black man allegedly assaulted a white woman in an elevator. As was typical at the time, some 10,000 angry white folks descended on Tulsa’s courthouse demanding noose style justice. As the story goes; about 80 field Negroes had the nerve to try to protect the accused. Well, a scuffle ensued, and all hell broke loose.

Can you imagine if some of our conservative brothers and sisters were around then? They would have blamed the riots on those unruly blacks who didn’t know how to obey the law, or know their place in society.  

Well three of those blacks are still alive today. I wonder if any of my right leaning black friends would have the guts to tell these three survivors some of their bullshit conservative rhetoric to their face?  
 

I doubt it.

November Carnival: “Reparations:what is the value of what we’re owed?”

I have never been a strong supporter for the call for reparations. I find that I expend enough energy just trying to get what I am currently entitled to, while I am struggling to hold on to what little I already have. Therefore I have not been really interested in fighting to get an apology and/or monetary compensation from “white” people for the past and current atrocities, injustices and other consequences that stem from slavery.

However, I recently received an interesting email which got me thinking more about this issue. It was from Brother Pruitt, who is the Reparations Leader and Chairman for the Committee for African American Reparations (CAAR) and the Reparations Union Lobbying Association. On his website he states:

“African-Americans should form a Reparations Union creating a power base in the tradition of lobbying and special interest groups that will consist of rich, middle class and poor blacks in addition to community conscious whites, jews and others who would like to see blacks win reparations and attain equality. This would enable African-Americans to announce the need for a congressional hearing to address the ills in society that exist because of slavery, segregation, institutional racism and discrimination. African-Americans owe it to themselves and their ancestors to expose politics and people responsible for maintaining corruption perpetuating unethical activity.”

From what I understood from his email and website, reparations is just one component, but a significant part of the overall healing and empowering process we need to go through as a community. 

What are your views on the issue of reparations? Is it a worthy cause or just a waste of time and energy? Will monetary compensation address the injustices and atrocities of the past in any significant way…. or will it lead to what Biggie Smalls once warned: “Mo’ money, Mo’ problems”? Is reparations only an issue for those in the Diaspora or should those on the African continent demand reparations also from Europeans and Arabs for the theft of human and natural resources and the continuing effects of colonialism?

Please have the link to your post submitted by Sunday 04 November at Afrospear@hotmail.com, and the carnival date will be Monday 05 November.

brotherpeacemaker on Tribal Capitalism

 Another gem from brotherpeacemaker. Click on the image to be taken to the article.

Bossip is an Embarrassment

Read this post on Brandy to see why the gossip website has gone too far and is spitting venom against black hair.

The post from the staff explicitly states:

Anyway, glad to see she’s decided to join the rest of the modern world and ditch those braids.  We know her hairline is probably way past receding for wearing them thangs for over a decade.

The modern world? What the ….? Are these fools being serious? I can’t believe I even used to read this stupid poseur website. Brandy looked great when she wore braids; let’s not forget that braids are part of African culture and originated on the continent as a way of wearing our hair. Since when does that need “ditching”? It is almost laughable how uneducated they sound. I’m natural and love braids to death. Fighting against people of my race about hair is so embarrassing: do you think other people of different races do this?

What an embarrassing excuse for a website.

An ex-reader

Freedom Technology Christmas and Open Source/Free Software

Tags

Freedom Technology Christmas, open source, Slant Truth

I love the idea of Freedom Technology Christmas, and so in the spirit of FTC, I want to promote and encourage the use of open source software as a means for black folks to further empower themselves technologically, intellectually, and creatively. When I first began dabbling in the open source world, almost ten years ago, you had to be fairly tech savvy to be able to get anything done. If you tried to run the Linux operating system on your computer, chances were you wouldn’t even be able to get the modem to work. This is no longer the case. The open source movement has grown up, and the offerings and opportunities are now immense. Now that major computer manufactures such as Dell are offering computers with Ubuntu Linux pre-installed, it is clear that open source software is a viable option for folks that aren’t tech specialists.So, what is open source software? Open source software is software that is built around a community model, rather than the proprietary model of companies like Microsoft or Apple. Communities build up around certain projects and work together to create the best software possible. The software is usually free, not only cost-wise, but also in what you can do with it. Unlike, say, your version of Windows XP, you can modify Linux to suit your needs and then give it away to anyone you want without ever facing legal penalties. For us bloggers, the most well-known open source software is most definitely WordPress. In general, Firefox is probably the most popular open source application out there.

I won’t get too deep into why I believe that open source software is a superior model to proprietary software and instead get down to the nitty gritty of why I believe that promoting and encouraging the use of open source software goes hand in hand with Freedom Technology Christmas.

It’s all about cost. Looking to upgrade your computer to Vista?

Interested in purchasing Photoshop so you can flex those creative muscles? Think you need Microsoft Office for your database or spreadsheet needs? Well, let’s break it down with a few comparisons between proprietary software and their open source equivalents .

Cost of Microsoft Vista Home Premium at Amazon: $219.99 Cost of Ubuntu Linux: $0

Cost of Adobe Photoshop CS3 at Amazon: $619.99 Cost of Gimp: $0

Cost of Microsoft Office Standard 2007 at Amazon: $324.99 Cost of Open Office: $0

Cost of Adobe Dreamweaver CS3 at Amazon: 398.99 Cost of Nvu: $0

With the exception of Nvu, these are all programs that I use on a regular basis and I can assure you that they are top notch. They are also designed to be compatible with the Windows world. So, for instance, you can open .doc files with Open Office and even save files as .doc, so you can still work with people using Windows software.

Now, I understand how some may be hesitant to switch to a new operating system such as Linux, but I see no reason why the open source productivity and creativity based software shouldn’t be embraced by Afrospear members. Everything we need to further our intellectual, creative, and activist lives is out there, and folks like myself are working hard to ensure that it will always be available to anyone that wants it, without having to pay out the ass to have it.

So, I encourage all Afrospear folk to consider looking into open source/free software as a means to further empower ourselves. This is an instance where we can take Francis’ idea a step further. Rather than spending our money *after* the holiday season, in this area, we can not spend our money at all!

Peace,

Kevin

The Race To Leave Us Behind

I have always enjoyed science fiction. The portrayal of what life could be like in the future, of other civilizations in far off galaxies and worlds, the various possible forms of extra-terrestrial life with their otherworld characteristics and personalities, all of this fascinates me to some extent. From t.v. shows such as Start Trek (the original series) and it’s various other spin-offs, Lost in Space, Logan’s Run, Battlestar Galactica to movies such as the Star Wars sagas, Blade Runner, the Alien(s) series, Total Recall, The 5th Element, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Planet of the Apes…. are just some of my favourites.

 

A couple weeks ago I watched an interesting 2-part science fiction docudrama on The Discovery Channel called “Race to Mars“. Set in the year 2030, it is the story of an international team of astro-scientists, made up of four men and two women, who are in a space race against China to be the first to discover life on the “Red Planet”. This international team is headed up by an American (of-course), with a Canadian, Russian, French, Spanish and Japanese crew members. Right from the onset, I was aware that there were no African/African-American/Black representation among the scientists, whether on the mission or at the space center on earth. I guess the Japanese scientist was the “token negro”, as he was the one killed off during the expedition. I found it a little troubling that we weren’t portrayed to be significant in any way…. in this future, where historic scientific discovery was being pursued and ultimately made. I was reminded of a joke I once heard:

“Why aren’t there any Native Americans in Star Trek: The Next Generation? Because they don’t plan to work in the future either.”  

Although this so-called “joke” is not funny in any way, it does provide an invaluable truth. There is a saying that there is a “little truth” in every joke. The “invaluable truth” shown here is how Native Americans are perceived by those in the dominant eurocentric culture. In the same way, consciously or subconsciously, those who wrote, produced, casted and directed the film “Race to Mars”, did not see us as being relevant…. as making any positive contribution to the future (or even existing for that matter). In contrast, I had previous to this seen a film entitled “Children of Men”, which had a very bleak, extremely chaotic and pessimistic view of the future…. where we were very visible, numerous and prominent players within the storyline.

Enough is Enough demonstration outside of BET executive’s home

Tags

Activism, African-Americans, BET, Black pride, Business, Culture, Enough is Enough, Entertainment, gangsta crap

Update: Noted Activist Dick Gregory joined campaign supporters on September 22. Supporters are determined to rally until changes are made in the way media portrays African Americans and all people of color. We were joined last week by a bus of supporters from Long Island, New York led by Rev. Roger Williams, Pastor of the First Baptist Church of Glen Cove.

For more information visit the Enough is Enough website.