OBAMA PRESSURED BY BLACKS OVER GAY MARRIAGE

By Leland C. Abraham, Esq.

Groups calling themselves the Coalition against Gay Marriage have sent a letter to President Barack Obama warning him that he may lose a significant percentage of his black supporters if he endorses marriage between same sex couples. The coalition includes the veteran civil rights group Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), concerned pastors and other religious organizations. The group seems to be particularly worried about President Obama’s intentions concerning the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

DOMA was a federal law that was enacted in 1996. There are two main portions of the law. The first part states that no state in the union shall treat a relationship between parties of the same-sex as a marriage. See 1 U.S.C. §7 and 28 U.S.C. §1738C. The Second part states that the federal government defines marriage as a legal union between one man and one woman. At the time of its passing, it was feared that Hawaii would allow same-sex marriages by either legislation or judicial recognition. At the time, there was a fear that if same sex couples were married in Hawaii, those marriages would be recognized in the various states of the union. Currently there are three states, Vermont, Massachusetts and Iowa, that recognize same sex marriage. There are three other states, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire that have passed but not implemented legislation to join the list. Some 28 states have enacted amendments to their state constitutions to prohibit same-sex marriage and another twenty states have enacted statutory DOMAs.

President Obama’s political platform included full repeal of DOMA. This engendered support for him in the Gay and Lesbian community. However, on June 12, 2009, the Department of Justice issued a brief in which it defended the constitutionality of DOMA in the case Smelt v. United States of America. This signaled a departure from the campaign promise of the Obama administration. While the administration has taken this stance on DOMA, the administration has been pressured by many gay rights groups to repeal the measure.

The question remains how effective the coalition can be. Most major civil rights organizations either support the gay rights agenda or have remained officially neutral. While opponents to DOMA argue that the measure violates the Due Process clause and the Equal Protection clause of the constitution, supporters argue that DOMA is constitutionally sound and that it is a legitimate exercise of Congressional power under the Full Faith and Credit Clause and that is does not violate either the Due Process clause or the Equal Protection clause of the US Constitution. Challenges to DOMAs constitutionality have made its way to the US Supreme Court. So far, the Court has refused to hear those challenges.

So far, President Obama has not softened the administration’s stance on DOMA. If the administration does relent on its current view of DOMA, it will be interesting to see how the coalition will voice its opposition.

Legal Disclaimer: This site provides information about the law designed to keep readers informed of pertinent legal matters affecting the African-American community. But legal information is not the same as legal advice -- the application of law to an individual's specific circumstances. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a lawyer in your specific location if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation.

Black Business Law Scholar Accuses University of Memphis of Tokenism – Is this a Nation-wide Problem?

An Open Letter to the Shelby County Legislative Delegation
With Regards to the 1960's Style of Black Tokenism
Practiced at the University of   Memphis Under
Joyce Raines and Ralph Faudree

To the Legislative Delegation:

This letter is addressed to you as representatives of the taxpayers of the state of Tennessee who contribute a substantial portion of the operating budget of the University of Memphis,  as trustees of state businesses who donate substantial funds to the University, and as  guardians of our students who pay tuition to the University. This letter  concerns  the operation of the University under the current President Shirley Raines and Provost Ralph Faudree, particularly with regards to none foreign born black faculty and graduate students at the University of Memphis.

While most major universities are aggressively trying to recruit, retain,  and promote qualified black faculty and graduate students, the University of Memphis,  under this  current administration, appears to operate under a 1960s form of tokenism, of marginalization, and of benign neglect of  those black  faculty members who have not been hand-picked by the administration for success, positions,  promotion, and salary, as well as an apparent lack of interest in black Phd candidates.

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Fenorris Pearson, The Consummate Executive

 

Special to YourBlackWorld.com 

When asked why he decided to go against the grain, and not be just another business executive climbing the corporate ladder without a value system, Fenorris Pearson responds, “It’s the way I was taught, and I want my sons to understand how to really play the game at the top.”

Pearson is an entrepreneur, innovator and human capital expert, and currently serves as CEO of Global Consumer Innovation, Inc. As former As Vice-President of Global Consumer Innovation and Global Capability Group for Dell, Fenorris managed over 400 employees globally located in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Through his vast corporate knowledge and experience, Pearson is reshaping the face of corporate America through teaching executives leadership development, enhancement, and skill capability. This philosophy is known as The Consummate Executive.

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AP: Chris Brown sentenced in Rihanna assault case

AP, Aug 25, 2009 6:19 pm PDT

A judge on Tuesday sentenced Chris Brown to five years' probation, six months' community labor for the beating of Rihanna and ordered the R&B singer to stay away from his former girlfriend for the next five years.Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown that he could be sent to state prison if he violated any terms of his sentence, including an order to stay 100 yards away from Rihanna unless they're attending music industry events.

A probation report prepared for Tuesday's sentencing describes two previous violent incidents. The first happened about three months before the February beating while the couple was traveling in Europe; Rihanna slapped Brown during an argument, and he shoved her into a wall. In the second instance, Brown allegedly broke the front and passenger side windows on a Range Rover they were driving while visiting Barbados, Rihanna 's home country. Neither attack was reported, the probation report states.
Brown will serve his sentence in his home state — Virginia — and his community labor will be overseen by the police chief in Richmond.

The judge said she wanted to ensure that Brown, 20, performs physical labor instead of community service, such as mentoring young people. He will also undergo a year of domestic violence counseling.

To read more, follow link: http://new.music.yahoo.com/chris-brown/news/chris-brown-sentenced-in-rihanna-assault-case--61987985

Shocker: Autopsy Says Michael Jackson’s Doctor Killed Him

Singer Michael Jackson had lethal levels of the drug propofol in his blood when he died, according to court documents.

A search warrant filed in court showed toxicology reports found propofol in Michael Jackson's body.

Los Angeles' coroner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reached that preliminary conclusion after reviewing toxicology results carried out on Jackson's blood, according to an affidavit.

The drug Diprivan, known by its generic name propofol, is administered intravenously in operating rooms as a general anesthetic, the manufacturer AstraZeneca told CNN.

A source close to the investigation told CNN that Dr. Conrad Murray is believed to have administered the drug to Jackson within 24 hours of his death on June 25.

Investigators have searched Murray's home and clinics for evidence related to the anesthetic propofol, according to documents filed in court.

The drug works as a depressant on the central nervous system.

"It works on your brain," said Dr. Zeev Kain, the chair of the anesthesiology department at the University of California --Irvine. "It basically puts the entire brain to sleep."

 

 

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Career Advice: Playing the Game at the Top

 

by Fenorris Pearson

How is the game played at the top? How do you get there and, once there, how do you stay put? And how, in these trying times where jobs are hard to come by and competition is stiffer than ever, can you ever hope to achieve such lofty goals? These are not questions to ask at the end of a career but at the beginning; these are thoughts to have not upon reflection during your retirement dinner but before deciding to ask for that promotion, leapfrog to another successful company or capitalize on the success you’ve already experienced.

Before starting my own business I was Vice-President of Global Consumer Innovation for Dell, Inc., the 35^th largest corporation on the Fortune 100 list. Prior to joining Dell, Inc., I was Vice-President of Global Organizational Development for Motorola, Inc. Motorola, Inc. is a Fortune 50 global company with revenues over $40 billion. If there’s one thing I’ve learned on my journey to corporate success, it’s this: The rules are different at the top.

Actually, the rules are very different at the top; there is little slack and even less room for errors. Smart people like to work with smart people and don’t suffer fools gladly. When cutting edge technology, name players, new products and billions of dollars are on the line, there is no room for sleepwalkers, jokers or phoning it in. Top performers get to the top by bringing their A-game every time, but now even that isn’t enough.

Today, more than ever, with layoffs a predictable morning headline and gold-standard companies like Circuit City, Steak & Ale, Linens and Things and Sharper Image shutting their doors in 2008, if you’re not firing on all cylinders, you won’t get in the door, let alone into that corner office. Regardless of the tight economy, or perhaps, because of it, companies are still hiring; but only the best. Companies are still promoting but, again, only the best. If you are looking for that entry-level job you can have it; if you have already been working in corporate and want that big promotion you can get it – but not by coasting into position. Rewards come quickly and are still great, but you will have to come fully prepared to work at the top of your game; every day, every time. How?

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TWO TEEN BEATS AN OLD MAN

BALTIMORE, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Two teenagers and an adult were charged in the beating of a 76-year-old black man in Baltimore, an incident police said has racial overtones.

Charged as adults were Emmanuel Miller, 16, and Zachary Watson, 17, who, along with Calvin Lockner, 28, face charges of attempted murder, assault and harassing a person because of race or religion, CNN reported Friday.

The victim, James Privott, was in critical condition Thursday, but making progress, a Baltimore police spokeswoman said. Doctors told police he sustained a possible fractured eye orbital bone and had serious head trauma, court documents said.

Technorati Tags: teens,jail,baltimore,black gossip

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The Problem with Our Post-Racial America

Dr. Wilmer J. Leon III

In 1903 W.E.B. DuBois wrote in The Souls of Black Folk, “The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color-line, --the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.” In 1968 the Kerner Commission determined "Our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white—-separate and unequal."

In 21^st Century so-called “post racial” America the problem is still race. African American’s like Derryl Jenkins are still being brutalized by the police in north Minneapolis, MN; shot in the back of the head while handcuffed like Oscar Grant in Oakland, CA; and mistaken for perpetrators and killed by fellow officers like Officer Omar Edwards in New York City.

Many questions still need to be answered about these latest tragedies. What leads these officers to perceive people of color as a threat? Why do the police feel the need to use excessive force first and ask questions later? This takes me to the continual discussion about racism (white supremacy), its perceptions, and emotional responses that people of color deal with all too often.

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Troy Davis Gets a Little Help

The United States Supreme Court has granted Troy Davis' request to postpone his execution in yet another attempt to clear his name and prove his innocence.

Davis is an inmate that was sentenced to death after the 1989 murder of a Savannah, GA police officer. Since his incarceration, Davis has gained international support behind his claims of innocence.

Justice John Paul Stevens ordered a federal judge to "receive testimony and make findings of fact as to whether evidence that could not have been obtained at trial clearly establishes petitioner's innocence."

Among the supporters of the motion were Justices Ruth Bader and Stephen Breyer. The newest member of the high court Sonia Sotomayor, however, did not participate in the petition. "Brother" Clarence Thomas did however and was one of two judges that dissented their reasons for not taking another look at the case and going ahead and killing Davis.

In the last year or so, Davis' case has been quite turbulent, even being granted a stay of execution just two hours before he was to be put to death.

Despite the execution delay, Davis will continue to sit on death row, reports CNN.

Davis insists that he is innocent of the charges brought upon him in the murder of Officer Mark MacPhail. Witnesses claimed they saw Davis, then 19, and two other men harassing a homeless man in a Burger King parking lot when officer MacPhail arrived to the help the man. Witnesses identified Davis as the shooter claiming he shot MacPhail twice and fled on foot.

Since the 1991 conviction, however, seven of the nine witnesses have recanted their testimonies. In addition to the witnesses reneging, no physical evidence was ever presented to the trial jury or court.

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How do you Sue Saddam?

In this episode of “On with Leon", Dr. Wilmer Leon speaks with the man who successfully sued Saddam Heussein. Click here to listen!

At What Point is Michael Vick Rehabilitated?

by Dr. Wilmer Leon

www.WilmerLeon.com

On December 10, 2007 suspended Atlanta Falcon’s quarterback Michael Vick was sentenced to 23 months in federal prison for his role in a dog fighting ring. He was also found to have been involved in killing pit bulls that did not demonstrate sufficient fighting prowess.

Michael Vick, once one of the highest paid players in the NFL with a 10 year $130 million contract that provided him with an $11.4 million salary in 2006 and $6 million salary in 2007 made 12 cents an hour in his job at the federal penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kan. He filed for bankruptcy; claiming assets of $16 million and liabilities of $20.4 million. Vick is on the hook for judgments of $2.4 million to the Royal Bank of Canada and $1.1 million to Wachovia Bank, both because of loan defaults, and $4.5 million for a sports agent who sued him and won.

On July 20, 2009, after serving 18 months of his 23 month sentence, Michael Vick was released from Leavenworth Federal Prison. After having served his time, on August 13, 2009 signed a two year contract with the Philadelphia Eagles.

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Obama’s Lawyers Go Nuts over This Ad

The posters went up last week, 14 in Union Station. On each of the large displays, a thought bubble rises up from a picture of a beautiful 8-year-old: "President Obama's daughters get healthy school lunches. Why don't I?"

A Washington nonprofit that advocates nutrition-policy reform paid $20,000 to get its message across and carefully maneuvered Metro's tangle of regulations to display its posters. Metro gave it a go -- but the White House did not, according to the group. Within 24 hours of the signs' appearance, the White House asked thePhysicians Committee for Responsible Medicine to take down the ads, which feature Jasmine Messiah, a vegetarian who attends a Miami-Dade County public school that, she says, offers no vegetarian or vegan lunch options.

 

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Time to Shut Down some Prisons

• (AP Photo/Danny Johnston, File)

by Rev. Al Sharpton

As the battle lines for health care reform are being drawn - and redrawn - a silent segment of the population is strategically left out of the conversation. It's a group of individuals who have been deemed enemies of society, and cast away behind iron bars to fend for themselves. In California's 33 prisons, healthcare is so inadequate that one unnecessary death takes place per week, as inmates are often stacked in triple bunk beds in hallways and gymnasiums. With nearly twice the number of prisoners than they were designed to hold, California prisons will have to reduce at least 40,000 prisoners in the next two years - and it's about time.

Federal judges just released a 184-page order demanding that California's inmate population be reduced by 27%, and gave the state 45 days to come up with a plan. In what they termed an "unconstitutional prison healthcare system", the three-judge panel concluded that disease was spreading rampantly and prisoner-on-prisoner violence was all but unavoidable. Forced to close a $26 billion dollar budget gap, California will now have to look at mechanisms to reducing its extensive prison spending, which in 2007 topped out at nearly $10 billion (approximately $49,000 for each inmate).

Whether it's for pure economic reasons or for an actual concern over the well being of prisoners, California will hopefully serve as an example for a reversal of the ever-growing prison industrial complex. A system that unfairly profiles and detains minorities, American jails produce a vicious cycle of recidivism and community breakdown. Last year, the Pew Center on the States released a scathing report stating that one in every 100 American adults was in jail, and that an astonishing one in 15 black adults was behind bars. According to government reports in 2007, there were three times as many blacks in jail than in college dorms, with Latinos not far behind at 2.7 times more behind bars than in secondary schooling.

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Can you get 2 years in prison for making the wrong song? This guy did

A Florida rapper is sentenced to two years in prison for a song called 'Kill Me a Cop' that he produced as a teenager.

Authorities say 20-year-old Antavio Johnson raps about killing two Lakeland, Fla., police officers in the tune, which cops found on MySpace while surfing for gang-related activity.

Johnson pleaded no contest to two counts ofcorruption by threat of a public servant and was sentenced to two years in prison last month. He was already in jail on a cocaine charge at the time. ...

Singing about killing a cop was not Johnson's first mistake. Pleading guilty and not hiring a lawyer were. Just ask Ice Cube and N.W.A., who sang '%#@* tha Police' as a form of police protest more than 20 years ago.

Back in 1988, N.W.A had everyone from the FBI to the Secret Service breathing down its neck and lawsuits galore. If someone could have figured out a way to charge the group with a crime, lock 'em up and throw away the key, I'm sure it would've happened.

 

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The Legal Benefits of Changing Our Drug Policy

by Dr. Byron Price, Texas Southern University

On his website, President Obama offers us a “seat at the table,” which is the equivalent of citizens offering policy prescriptions to his administration. This unprecedented effort to increase citizen participation in the policy making process has the added benefit of simultaneously empowering citizens in a way that our government has not done and has to be what the campaign meant by “change we can believe in.” The criticism of whom he has appointed misses the mark concerning what I believe his change mantra signifies. Since the president appears to be open to unsolicited advice, I offer the following criminal justice recommendations and justification for these suggestions.
President Obama and the 111th Congress should consider ending drug prohibition.
“Consider the consequences of drug prohibition today: 500,000 people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails for nonviolent drug-law violations; 1.8 million drug arrests last year; tens of billions of taxpayer dollars expended annually to fund a drug war that 76% of Americans say has failed; millions now marked for life as former drug felons; many thousands dying each year from drug overdoses that have more to do with prohibitionist policies than the drugs themselves, and tens of thousands more needlessly infected with AIDS and Hepatitis C because those same policies undermine and block responsible public-health policies.”

As the preceding paragraph illustrates, “The War on Drugs” has been a dismal failure and has gifted nonviolent African Americans offenders, especially males a permanent handicap—a lifetime of limited opportunities. The collateral consequences of a drug conviction which limit African Americans opportunities are:
The denial of financial aid and work study .
Felony Disenfranchisement.
Lifetime ban on cash benefits and food stamps.
Lifetime ban on public housing.
Termination of parental rights and ban from becoming adoptive or foster parents.
Remove the felony conviction question on applications of employment.

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News: Grand Jury Acquits Philly Police in Taped Beating

Philadelphia police officers involved in the videotaped beating of three suspects after a car chase won't be charged with crimes, according to a grand jury that found no excessive use of force.

The widely seen news footage of the violent police stop in May 2008 does not tell the whole story, District Attorney Lynne Abraham said Thursday.

Officers considered the shooting suspects armed and dangerous, and in keeping with department policy did not beat or kick them once they were handcuffed, she said.

The suspects — Pete Hopkins, Dwayne Dyches and Brian Hall — have since been acquitted of the triple shooting earlier that night for which police had pursued them.

 

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Black Politics: Sotomayor Confirmed

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who rose from the housing projects of the Bronx to the top of the legal profession, made history Thursday when the Senate confirmed her to become the nation's first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.

Sonia Sotomayor, 55, will be the first Hispanic on the Supreme Court.

Sotomayor was easily confirmed in a 68-31 vote. Nine Republicans joined a unanimous Democratic caucus in supporting her nomination.

Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Massachusetts, supported Sotomayor but was not present for the vote because of illness.

Sotomayor, a 55-year-old federal appeals court judge, will be the 111th person to sit on the high court and the third female justice.

She will be sworn in at the Supreme Court by Chief Justice John Roberts on Saturday.

President Obama, who selected Sotomayor on May 26, said he was "deeply gratified" by the Senate vote.

"This is a wonderful day for Judge Sotomayor and her family, but I also think it's a wonderful day for America," Obama said at the White House. Watch Obama's remarks »

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Black News: President Barack Obama’s Approval Rating Drops

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is falling on concern unemployment is rising and the budget deficit will grow, a Quinnipiac University poll shows.

Exactly half of the registered voters surveyed from July 27 to Aug. 3 by Quinnipiac said they approve of the job Obama is doing, compared with 42 percent who disapprove. That’s down from 57 percent approval and 33 percent disapproval in a poll taken in late June, according to results released today.

Americans are upset about rising unemployment and worried that health-care plans making their way through Congress will add to the U.S. budget deficit, said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Hamden, Connecticut-based polling institute. The combination has helped drive down the president’s ratings.

 

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Rep William Jefferson Convicted

Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted Wednesday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him in a case that included the discovery of $90,000 in his freezer.

Former Rep. William Jefferson arrives at U.S. District Court with his wife, Andrea, on June 9.

A federal court jury convicted Jefferson on four bribery counts, three counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud and one count of racketeering. He was acquitted on five other counts including wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

Jefferson, a 62-year-old Democrat, was indicted by a federal grand jury on June 4, 2007, about two years after federal agents said they found the cash in his freezer. Authorities said the cash was part of a payment in marked bills from an FBI informant in a transaction captured on video.

Jefferson had pleaded not guilty. He faces a maximum possible sentence of 150 years in prison, with sentencing tentatively set for October 30.

After the verdict on the fifth day of jury deliberations, U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis turned down a prosecution request for Jefferson to be taken into custody, ruling that he posed no flight risk.

The verdict showed that "no person, not even a congressman, is above the law," said U.S. Attorney Dana Boente of the Eastern District of Virginia. Asked what might have turned the case in the prosecution's favor, Boente said: "We always thought that a powerful piece of evidence in this case was $90,000 in a freezer."

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Where Should the National Discussion on Race Really Be?

By Leland C. Abraham, Esq.

The country has been mesmerized by the events in Cambridge, Massachusetts involving a distinguished Harvard professor, Henry Gates, and a police officer. According to reports, Gates had a rather heated exchange with the officer and he was subsequently arrested on the porch of his own home. The question immediately became, “If he were a white professor, would this have happened?” While it is a legitimate question, I am of the opinion that this is not the right case for the national discussion on race to ensue.

While I am not sure if the same incident would have happened if Professor Gates were white, I am quite certain that if he were not a Harvard professor the media would not have made it such a big story. There is clearly a problem between the black community, law enforcement and the legal system. A case more deserving of the national discussion on race is that of Walter Currie, Jr. Currie is a 15 year old high school student in Poplar Bluff, Missouri who had an altercation with two white students. On June 13 of this year, after an exchange with the two white students, Currie was doused with gasoline and the students set him on fire.

The two white students initially claimed self-defense. They were charged with assault and taken into custody. They were later released and as of the writing of this article, they were still free individuals. Walter is recovering from burns to most of his body from this horrific act. As if this were not enough, one of the white teenagers who perpetrated this act claimed that some months before this incident, Currie struck a relative of the white teenager in the face. While there was no police report taken at the time of this alleged incident, the police notified Currie and his family on July 6, that he will be arrested and charged with assault once he has completed his treatment.

There are many problems that I, as an attorney, have with this fact pattern. The first issue is that they are going to charge Currie with an incident that may or may not have happened some months ago without the aid of a police report or credible eyewitnesses. Currie denies having any part of striking someone in the face. The police then inform him of such news while he is recovering from an act that had he been white and the perpetrators been black, would have most certainly ended up with a charge of attempted murder. Not only that, but he is to be charged with assault. If you missed it before, that is the exact same charge as the white kids who doused him with gasoline and set him on fire were charged with. This means that you could potentially have a young man who may or may not have hit someone in the face and whose life was in extreme danger have the same punishment as the people who tried to kill him. When questioned by the parents of Currie, the prosecutor on the case said that he felt fully justified in this course of action.

Currie’s mother has stated several times that she doesn’t understand how there can be as much evil in the world as to set another human being on fire. While the world proves itself to be more evil than any of us could have imagined, it most certainly never crossed Mrs. Currie’s mind that the institution that is supposed to protect her son from such an act as this is seeking to give him the same punishment as those who tried to take his life for an incident in which there is no credible evidence of its occurrence.

While I am happy that the media has finally taken notice that there is a problem with law enforcement and the black community, the Gates incident is just not the right case to have the national discussion. While I am happy that president Obama engaged both parties in a “Beer Summit,” the country suffers because the media is fixated on that rather than on cases like Currie’s. I can only hope that now that Gates has the country’s attention, he would use the spotlight to shed some light on some of these cases of clear racial discrimination that the media is sleeping on.

Legal Disclaimer: This site provides information about the law designed to keep readers informed of pertinent legal matters affecting the African-American community. But legal information is not the same as legal advice -- the application of law to an individual's specific circumstances. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a lawyer in your specific location if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation.

Dr Boyce Watkins Speaks on the Banana Eating Jungle Monkey Comment

Dr Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

I did some commentary on CNN last week about Justin Barrett, the cop who referred to Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates as a "Banana eating jungle monkey" in an email. You can imagine my surprise when I found out that the officer is suing the city of Boston, claiming that they violated his civil rights.

As part of my assignment for media work I was doing on the topic, I read through the email by officer Barrett very carefully. The email was not written by a disciple of David Duke, a man with gallons of racism flowing through his veins. Rather, it was written by a man who seemed to hold a great deal of anger and resentment toward almost everyone. In one sentence, he was critiquing the grammar of the journalist who wrote the original Gates article. In the other, he was degrading Professor Gates in ways that a police officer should never degrade the citizens he/she is sworn to protect.

I am not angry with Barrett, I feel sorry for him. In fact, when it comes to Barrett, I offer the following thoughts:

1) There is the broader constitutional issue of whether or not Officer Barrett has a right to say what he said. We do have the First Amendment, and no one seems to clearly understand the great social price we must pay to uphold these rights. Personally, I feel that Barrett has the right to say whatever he wants, but revealing such bias while serving as a police officer becomes a completely different issue. At the same time, should it be ruled by a court that Barrett has the right to say what he says, then I would stand behind his rights as well. I guess if someone calls you a "banana eating jungle monkey," you should just say, "ya mama."

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Read the Jungle Monkey Letter

My FoxBoston.com posted the entire text of the letter written by Officer Justin Barrett, who referred to Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates as a “Banana Eating Jungle Monkey".”

Dr. Wilmer Leon, Mack Jones and Robert Smith Analyze Obama’s Speech to the NAACP

 

Drs. Mack Jones, Robert Smith and Wilmer Leon do an in-depth analysis of President Obama’s speech to the NAACP.  Click here to listen!

News: Michael Jackson’s Mom Gets the kids

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Michael Jackson's mother was given permanent custody of the singer's three children Monday.

Katherine Jackson has accused the executors of her son Michael's estate of "keeping her in the dark."

Katherine Jackson, was appointed permanent guardian of Michael's three children -- Michael Joseph "Prince Michael" Jackson Jr., Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael II (known as "Blanket") -- by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff.

A hearing is scheduled for October to look at some remaining issues.

Katherine Jackson was in the courtroom Monday with three of her children: Rebbie, Randy and LaToya.

An agreement last week between Katherine Jackson and Debbie Rowe, the mother of the two oldest children, cleared the way for an uncontested custody hearing.

Rowe, who was briefly married to Michael Jackson, agreed not to fight for custody in exchange for visits with the children as recommended by a psychologist.

The agreement does not involve any financial payments to Rowe "apart from the continuation of spousal support payments" that Michael Jackson personally agreed to make to Rowe after their divorce, their lawyers said in a joint statement.

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Your Black News: Dr Boyce Watkins explains the meaning of “consumer confidence”

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

Beyonce has a song about how she loves men with "big egos." This might imply that she likes men with confidence. Confidence matters a great deal in terms of male/female attraction, but believe it or not, it actually impacts our economy. Every month, the University of Michigan measures consumer confidence, to determine if Americans are willing to spend money and how they feel about their current and future economic security.

But you might ask, "Why would I care about confidence, since it's only psychological and imaginary?" Good question. Actually, confidence is a psychological phenomenon which leads to very real impacts on our choices and behavior. A confident man who asks out every girl he meets will probably have more mating opportunities than a good looking guy who doesn't open his mouth. A confident consumer is someone who feels good about his/her economic situation and therefore decides to spend money, which is always good for the economy. Confident companies make investments and hire new employees, but insecure companies put projects on hold and don't hire anyone. Confident banks make loans, but nervous banks hold onto their capital, thus slowing down economic growth for the nation.

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Boyce Watkins: College Athletes Should Be Paid

 

 

The NCAA, which is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 'educational' organization, has come under fire recently for capitalizing on the commercialization of college sports. Many athletes have accused the organization of unfairly using them for financial gain.

Since 1995, the NCAA has spent more than $84 million on legal fees, including some settlements. Former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon filed a lawsuit on July 21 against the NCAA and its member schools, accusing them of illegally profiting from using the likeness of former players for commercial pursuits like video games, DVDs, and jersey sales.

Dr. Boyce Watkins, a finance professor at Syracuse University, has become a vocal critic of the NCAA, for what he calls its exploitation of the black community.

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Legal Action Filed Against AKA President

Members of the country's oldest black sorority are suing to remove their president, alleging that she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of the group's money on herself — some of it to pay for a wax statue in her own likeness.

In the suit filed in Washington, D.C., the Alpha Kappa Alpha members also alleged that international President Barbara McKinzie bought designer clothing, jewelry and lingerie with the sorority credit card. She then redeemed points the purchases earned on the card to buy a big-screen television and gym equipment, the lawsuit said.

"This is extraordinarily shocking if not illegal conduct," Edward W. Gray Jr., an attorney representing the plaintiffs suing the Chicago-based sorority, said Wednesday.

McKinzie denied what she called the lawsuit's "malicious allegations," saying they were "based on mischaracterizations and fabrications ... not befitting our ideals of sisterhood, ethics and service," according to a statement issued this week by the sorority.

The lawsuit also accused the sorority's board of directors of signing off on spending funds on McKinzie without the required approval by the group's membership. For example, the lawsuit says the board approved a monthly "pension stipend" of $4,000 for four years after she leaves office and purchased a $1 million life insurance policy for her. The suit demands McKinzie be fired and return money to the sorority.

 

Click to read more.

News - Listen up: The Police Dispatch on the Gates Case

Just out.  Listen to the audio from the 911 call on Henry Louis Gates’ Arrest by clicking here.

Huh? Parents blame 8-year old Child for her Rape

Just when you think you've heard all there is to hear about the horrors of child abuse and neglect in this country, there's this horrifying report: An eight-year-old girl is allegedly gang-raped by four boys -- one of them her cousin -- and then rejected by her parents for shaming them.
You heard me.

The victim hails from a Liberian enclave in Arizona, and all of the children involved are refugees. Her 23-year-old sister, who was supposedly babysitting when four boys attacked the youngster in a storage shed (pictured), told KTVK in Arizona, "She always bring trouble...I came to her and said it's not good for you to be following guys because you are still little." If the girl, who is now in foster care, were to come home, her sister says she would be scolded. "She's just bringing confusions among us," she said.

Click to read.

Black News: Dr Boyce Watkins, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton on the radio tomorrow

 

Tomorrow morning, July 26, 2009 at 8:30 am EST, Dr Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University will appear on the Jesse Jackson Show with Rev. Al Sharpton and Harvard Law Professor Charles Ogletree.  The conversation will center around the recent arrest of  Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates.  For affiliate information, please visit www.KeepHopeAliveRadio.com

Time: The Gates Case: When Disorderly Conduct is a Cop's Judgment Call

"I read over this article and I think it gives an excellent explanation of what the misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct is all about" Syreeta L. McNeal, CPA, JD

By Bonnie Rochman

Time.com

Saturday, Jul. 25, 2009

In law enforcement, there are few situations that are clear cut, and disorderly conduct is one of the fuzziest. As Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. now knows all too well, the misdemeanor charge can be used to corral people who are simply uncooperative or rude. State statutes are designed to help police officers maintain authority, and they are so broadly worded that divining what constitutes disorderly conduct is left up to the discretion of individual officers. "It's probably the most abused statute in America," says Eugene O'Donnell, a professor of law and police studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City.

Perhaps not surprisingly, a good chunk of disorderly conduct charges end up being dropped, as happened in the case against Gates, who was arrested on his porch July 16 after yelling at the officer who responded to a report of a possible break-in at the Harvard scholar's home in Cambridge, Mass. Gates, who is black, accused Sgt. James Crowley, who is white, of being a racist and also cast aspersions about the cop's "mama". "Mr. Gates was given plenty of opportunities to stop what he was doing. He didn't. He acted very irrational. He controlled the outcome of that event," Crowley told WBZ Radio in Boston on Thursday.

Talking trash by itself isn't a punishable offense — unless, it seems, you draw a crowd while doing it, which is part of the allegation against Gates. That's why in the wake of the Gates incident, cops are holding firm on the need for lots of latitude in issuing disorderly conduct charges. President Barack Obama, who said earlier this week that Cambridge police had "acted stupidly," called Crowley Friday to make nice, though he stopped short of issuing the apology that Massachusetts police unions sought and maintained that he still thought "there was an overreaction."

"Disorderly conduct is a fluid concept," says Tom Nolan, a criminal justice professor at Boston University who spent 27 years in uniform at the Boston Police Department. "Unlike a lot of other crimes, this really calls for the use of discretion in a way that armed robbery or more serious felony crime doesn't. The less serious a crime, the more officer discretion you use," he says, adding "discretion is judgment that we hope is based on wisdom, experience and training."

Disorderly conduct has its roots in the mid-19th century, when police officers needed a way to quell street brawls that erupted frequently between recent immigrants and already established residents, often regarding labor issues. Crowds would gather and cops needed to restore order in public places. According to the Cambridge police report, Gates exhibited "loud and tumultuous behavior, in a public place" that "caused citizens passing by this location to stop and take notice while appearing surprised and alarmed."

The issue of whether or not Gates — first in his home and later on his front porch — was in a public place has sparked plenty of debate, including in the blogosphere. Crowley's account of the incident included the detail that "at least seven" passers-by had stopped to rubberneck. Sam Goldberg, author of Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog, thinks the report includes that detail in order to bolster the case that this altercation was playing out publicly. "It's as if he was saying, 'Look, he was really causing a disturbance,'" says Goldberg, a criminal defense attorney at the Cambridge-based firm of Altman & Altman.

Jon Shane, who spent 17 years as a police officer in hardscrabble Newark, N.J., said that had he been the cop called to Gates' house, he would have left Gates and his huffy comments alone once he was sure Gates was the homeowner. He admits he may well have been offended by the professor's alleged bluster, but that's just part of the job, so much so that there's a term in police vernacular devoted to situations like this: contempt of cop.

"In contempt of court, you get loud and abusive in a courtroom, and it's against the law," says Shane, now a professor of criminal justice at John Jay who specializes in police policy and practice. "With contempt of cop, you get loud and nasty and show scorn for a law enforcement officer, but a police officer can't go out and lock you up for disorderly conduct because you were disrespectful toward them." The First Amendment allows you to say pretty much anything to the police. "You could tell them to go f--k themselves," says Shane, "and that's fine."

Like Shane, there are plenty of cops and ex-cops who think Gates' behavior didn't warrant the disorderly conduct charge, and there are those, like Nolan, who feel it did.

"Police pride themselves on resolving issues, and 99% of the time it occurs without arrests happening," says Nolan. "You are not going to win any accolades bringing in anyone for a street disturbance. It's a waste of time because in order to bring this situation to a conclusion, you've got hours of paperwork ahead of you."

"You do it because you have no other tool at your disposal," he says of disorderly conduct.

"There really isn't any other choice."

Source: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1912777,00.html

Female minority lawyers don't stay at U.S. firms

BY FRANCINE KNOWLES fknowles@suntimes.com
Chicago Sun-Times

A study has found that more than 75 percent of female minority attorneys at U.S. law firms will leave their jobs within five years due to continuing barriers to advancement. The finding is by the women's research group Catalyst, which notes the barriers bring with them big costs.

"Those who leave often report experiencing institutional discrimination and unwanted and or unfair critical attention, which combine to create an exclusionary and challenging workplace," the report said.

When a lawyer leaves a firm, the cost to the employer is equal to or greater than that person's annual salary and benefits, Catalyst said, citing a previous study it did.

The report looked at the workplace experiences of minority women, compared with those of men of color and white women and men. Challenges unique to women of color include limited growth opportunities and a greater sense of "outsider status," racial and gender stereotyping and more feelings of sexism in the workplace compared with white women; lack of access to high-profile client assignments and important client engagements, and missed opportunities for candid feedback, the report said.

The findings come as firms focus on associate satisfaction and retention and address diversity issues while facing a client base and talent pool composed of more women and minorities, Catalyst said.

The report found stark differences between groups of minority women in their perceptions of workplace culture and diversity.

Black women were more likely to believe diversity programs don't address workplace biases and feel that partners and other supervising attorneys get insufficient training on how to work effectively with diverse cultures. They also cited a lack of access to challenging work assignments.

The report, whose sponsors included Sidley & Austin, said that to attract and retain women of color firms need to:

• Include senior leaders as active players in building and establishing inclusive workplaces.

• Raise awareness on the varying needs of different minority groups.

• Create opportunities for dialogue between firm leadership and female minority attorneys.

• Educate all attorneys, especially partners and other supervising attorneys on how to recognize bias and stereotyping of women of color.

• Monitor and track the career development of minority women and hold leaders accountable for their advancement.

Source: http://www.suntimes.com/business/1678377,CST-NWS-women22.article

Dr Boyce Watkins: Don’t Feel Sorry for Henry Louis Gates: Be Intelligent

by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University

I am not Al Sharpton. In fact, I never could be and I don't want to try. I am also not Henry Louis Gates, a man with an undeniable contribution to the legacy of Black Scholarship in America. I am simply Boyce Watkins, the son of a 17-year-old mother and a father who happened to be a high-ranking police official for the past 28 years. I've argued with my father for decades, as his Bill Cosby-like views of the world have often made my face twist with confusion. But I listen to my father, because there is value in seeing other points of view.

When I hear about a Black man being mistreated by police, I take a moment of pause. I think about the horrific statistics on Black males in the criminal justice system, in which we are more likely to be arrested for the same crimes, more likely to be convicted, more likely to be incarcerated and expected to get more prison time than our White counterparts.

 

Click to read.

Harvard Prof Henry Louis Gates Arrested

Harvard University’s Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W.E.B. DuBois Institute for African & African American Studies, was arrested July 16 on a charge of disorderly conduct.

Gates, 58, a resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Harvard’s main campus is located, was arrested after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a report on the Cambridge Police Department’s Web site. Cambridge police officials declined to comment and said the case was under investigation by Office of the Middlesex District Attorney. A call to the DA’s office wasn’t immediately returned.

 

Click to read.

Your Black News: Kids Invited Back To Swim

A suburban Philadelphia swim club has invited children from a largely minority day-care center to come back after a June reversal that fueled allegations of racism against the club, a spokeswoman said Sunday.

Some kids from the Creative Steps Day Care center say club members made racial remarks.

The development came during a hastily called Sunday afternoon meeting of the Valley Club in Huntingdon Valley, Pennsylvania. Club members voted overwhelmingly to try to work things out with the day-care center, which accused some swim club members of making racist comments to black and Hispanic children contracted to use the pool, said Bernice Duesler, the club director's wife.

Duesler said the club canceled its contract with the Creative Steps day-care because of safety, crowding and noise concerns, not racism.

"As long as we can work out safety issues, we'd like to have them back," she told CNN.

She said the club has been subpoenaed by the state Human Rights Commission, which has begun a fact-finding investigation, "and the legal advice was to try to get together with these camps, " Duesler added.

Alethea Wright, Creative Steps' director, said, "They should have done that before."

Click to read.

Your Black News: Marion Barry’s Complicated Life

Marion Barry, Washington's embattled city council member and former mayor, dodged another bullet last week when a District prosecutor declined to prosecute him on charges of stalking his ex-girlfriend. Barry was arrested and briefly detained by U.S. Park Service police July 4th after the woman, 40-year-old Donna Watts-Brighthaupt, complained that he was "bothering" her.

But Mr. Barry may not be completely out of the woods yet. The controversy kicked up by his arrest led reporters to dig out the fact that Mr. Barry had put Ms. Watts-Brighthaupt on his payroll by awarding her a $60,000 contract to study "poverty reduction," to be paid out of taxpayer dollars. That proved too much for current D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and others, who demanded the city council open an ethics probe of Mr. Barry. On Friday, D.C. Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray announced the council would hire an independent law firm to look into the matter.

 

Click to read.

A Boarding School for Black Boys – Can They Get the Money?

Kentucky State University could open a boarding school aimed at preparing African American males for college as soon as 2010, according to President Mary Sias.

High school students would live in campus dorms, with their own teachers and an on-site principal. They would have access to KSU facilities and dual credit courses, bridging them into college life.

The plan is part of an effort to increase the number of black men who earn postsecondary degrees, Sias told The State Journal.

“We believe it’s a good way to save those students, and actually stop many black males from dropping out,” she said.

 

Click to read

Black People, The Supreme Court, and Our Rights

Elliot Millner, J.D.

The United States Supreme Court recently made a number of decisions that continued this conservative-leaning courts pattern of taking a jackhammer to the barriers put in place in order to protect the rights of people historically susceptible to discriminatory and oppressive conduct, which definitely includes Black people.

The most recent decision resulted from a case involving a group of white firefighters in New Haven, CT, who alleged that the city of New Haven was guilty of "reverse discrimination" for refusing to continue using a promotion exam that showed a clear disparate impact on Black and Hispanic firefighters(If the exam had been used, 17 whites, 2 Hispanics, and 0 Blacks would have been promoted). The court, in a 5-4 decision, sided with the white firefighters, stating that the city of New Haven's "fear of litigation" was not enough of a reason to not use the exam, nor was the disparate impact alone sufficient reason. The court gave a new standard requiring a "strong basis of evidence" to show that the city may be liable for disparate impact on a protected group, instead of the previous "good faith basis" that had been applied in previous cases. Although the court did not give a rule as to what constitutes a strong-basis of evidence, it can be easily concluded that the result of this decision will be to make it more difficult to prove claims of disparate impact regarding the use of promotional exams, both in public and private employment.

Combine this decision with the courts decision in a recent age-discrimination case, and a decision by the court blocking the right of potentially innocent people to obtain post-conviction DNA testing in order to prove their innocence(a decision the Obama administration supported-another disturbing pattern), and what we have are clear warning flags that the rights of many people (Black people in particular) are in serious jeopardy.

It is an observed trend that when the economy is not doing well, employment discrimination claims rise. As Black people, many of us are also aware that we are often the first to suffer during times of economic hardship, and that we also generally feel the effects more than others. The saying "last hired, first fired" is not a myth, but a sad reality for many of us. When times get hard, employers are more likely to attempt to find reasons to get rid of employees. Most employers will do this in a legal and ethical manner(or so we hope). However, the reality is that many will not, and when they don't, they are far more likely to use those unjust methods of firing(or not promoting, or not hiring) against Black people.

The courts decisions are a continuation of its willful ignorance, and an example of how far from being a "post-race" society we really are. The court is simply a microcosm of the rest of white supremacist/white privileged society, which is using the election of a Black president as a sort of "get out of worrying about rights" card. Although most people who don't have their heads buried in the sand realize that racism(specifically institutional) and discrimination are still issues, and that most of this conduct is not done in a blatant manner, the Supreme Court continues to make it so that a person almost has to witness or hear the act of discrimination in order to be successful. It is highly doubtful that many people will be caught saying "I designed this test so that no Blacks would be promoted", or "I am not hiring that person because they are too old".

The court, and many others in America with self-serving motives, are strongly pushing the "post-race mythology". This includes numbers of Black people as well. It is easy for those who still occupy the majority of positions of power(and yes, white people do, regardless of who our president is) to argue that things are equal now, and that there need not be any more focus on the rights of those who have been historically oppressed. It is also easier for those Black people who have achieved some level of financial success to ignore the realities still faced by far too many of us. Those who have and are prospering from the status quo, have the least motivation to want to change it. This approach of promoting the myth of racial harmony and equality over the reality of continued racism and discrimination will only result in more harm for Black people in the long term. The impetus for challenging this drive to promote the illusion of racial equality must come from us.

We must be vocal and active in the face of this machine that is working to take us backwards in time. Allowing ourselves to be blinded by a Black face in the presidential office is the worst mistake we could make. That is not an attack on President Obama, it is a message to those "fans" who think they are doing him or us a favor by not challenging him(or other elected officials, or the courts) on issues that may have a great lasting impact on us.

The Firefighters Win their Suit

In a 5-to-4 decision, made along ideological lines, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the white firefighters in their racial discrimination case. This is a direct reversal of Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor's previous decision and is sure to be an extended topic of discussion during her upcoming confirmation hearings.

I've always been wary of the way the city of New Haven handled the results of its now infamous firefighter promotion test. It never made sense to me. When test results came back, and no black firefighters had scores high enough for immediate promotion, New Haven decided to throw out the results of the test on the grounds that the test itself may have been discriminatory and that the black firefighters might sue the city for discrimination. New Haven was not being altruistic in its concerns about "racial fairness."

Click to read.

For more political news, please visit

www.YourblackWorld.com

www.yourblackpolitics.blogspot.com

www.yourblacknews.blogspot.com

Bernie Madoff Gets 150 years in Prison

I guess crime doesn’t pay.  Bernard Madoff, the billionaire who bilked investors out of billions of dollars the largest Ponzi Scheme in American history was just sentenced to 150 years in prison.

 

Get more financial news at

www.AfricanAmericanMoney.wordpress.com

ACLU To Deal with Michigan’s Expulsion of Black Children

LANSING, Mich. (AP) -- Schools are not using enough discretion under Michigan's zero-tolerance expulsion law and are disproportionately kicking out black students who ultimately end up behind bars, according to a report from the American Civil Liberties Union.

The study by the ACLU of Michigan was released Wednesday. It identifies a school-to-prison pipeline it says has been created by suspension policies, cultural stereotypes, referrals to law enforcement for school fights and factors such as not requiring expelled students to get an alternative education.

Michigan's 1995 zero-tolerance law requires an expulsion for possessing any "dangerous weapon," and the ACLU says it is broader than required by federal law. The ACLU wants state law to be eased so only firearms possession is subject to mandatory expulsion.

The ACLU's report says students were disciplined for bringing a toy gun, novelty lighter and eyebrow archer to school.

 

Click to read.

Supreme Court Rules that DNA Testing is Not a Right for Criminal Defendants

William Osborne

By Leland C. Abraham, Esq.

The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, turned down an Alaska man’s request for DNA testing. Many have argued that the Supreme Court committed a grave disservice to the cause of justice.

William Osborne was convicted of raping and nearly killing a prostitute in Anchorage, Alaska in 1993. The DNA testing at the time concluded that Osborne could have been among the 15-16% of the African-American community who could have committed the crime. This level of uncertainty is likely not to have held up in a modern court case. More unnerving is that his lawyer is reported to have advised him against seeking a better DNA test.

In the decision, the justices did not reject Osborne’s claim on the merits of his case, but rather they rejected it because they stated that it was not their jobs. Herein lies a problem with how the Supreme Court is interpreted. The function of the Supreme Court is not to make the laws, but it is to interpret the law. Thus, because the Supreme Court is not a rule-making body, it does not have the authority to declare that an inmate has a Constitutional right to DNA testing, no matter how grave the injustice. In response to this case, Chief Justice John Roberts stated, “The elected governments of the States are actively confronting the challenges DNA technology poses. . . . To suddenly constitutionalize this area would short-circuit what looks to be a prompt and considered legislative response.” The rule making authority has been left to legislatures.

What makes this case so unique is that the denial of DNA testing is usually premised on the fact that DNA testing is so expensive. Generally, DNA tests costs thousands of dollars to conduct and the state usually does not have an abundance of money to expend on every request for a DNA test. However, that is not the case for Mr. Osborne. The reports are that he offered to pay for his own test, so money would not have been a factor for the Alaska Courts to consider. This may just be an Alaskan practice. Although DNA testing has freed over 240 inmates across the nation, Alaska has not granted a single DNA review for a convicted inmate according to the four dissenting justices. One of the dissenters, Justice John Stevens said, “When absolute proof of innocence is readily at hand, a State should not shrink from the possibility that error may have occurred.” Herein lies the confusion of the Court’s decision. While it is recognized that the Supreme Court does not have rule-making capabilities, it is a court of review. The statements by Justice Stevens clearly indicate an affront to Mr. Osborne’s right to Due Process. This alone would have given the Supreme Court jurisdiction to determine whether Mr. Osborne was denied Due Process of law by lacking proper access to the DNA technology. This would take the matter out of the state court jurisdiction and put it right where it should have been, the Supreme Court. However, the Supreme Court decided that it did not have authority to rule on the matter which appears to be a misinterpretation of the Supreme Court’s authority.

Most states provide for post-conviction DNA testing. In the few that do not, the inmate is out of luck in proving his innocence. In review of Alaska’s practice, Justice John Roberts acknowledged that most states had post-conviction access to DNA technology and because those states had it, he saw “nothing inadequate” concerning Alaska’s procedure. Alaska may not have cared that it subverted the Constitutional rights of an American citizen, but it is surprising that the US Supreme Court may have cared even less.

Legal Disclaimer: This site provides information about the law designed to keep readers informed of pertinent legal matters affecting the African-American community. But legal information is not the same as legal advice -- the application of law to an individual's specific circumstances. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult a lawyer in your specific location if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is appropriate to your particular situation.

Black People and the Police: Should There Be Any Trust?

By Elliot Millner, J.D.

In the past several weeks, there have been numerous incidents involving the police and Black people, that have resulted in serious injury and death on both sides. This includes several recent incidents in Oakland, California; in Seattle, a 15-year old girl brutally beaten for being mouthy and kicking a shoe; an off-duty Black New York police officer being gunned down by a white officer; and other incidents in places around the country.

These are some of the most recent and extreme examples of a problem that, in one form or another, spans the length of U.S. history. The reality is that police forces, in varying forms, have been traditionally used as a tool to preserve and promote white supremacy, and to keep Blacks (particularly those in impoverished communities) "in their place". The idea of "protecting and serving" as it relates to policing, had as its root and initial goal the same objective as most other laws and statutes enacted in this country: To protect the interests of property-owning white males. There are few areas in the United States(if any) where the police in some form or fashion have not actively participated in violating the rights of Black people, utilizing any methods deemed necessary, including murder. Although some things have changed, it is naive (to say the least) to think that the legacy upon which the idea of policing was built in this country(white supremacy and Black oppression) has been erased from its method of operation.

Very often there is only outrage shown when an extreme incident takes place(such as some of those stated earlier). However, despite a spike in the number of documented and observable incidents of police brutality(thanks to youtube and various other sites), the reaction of many to these acts of brutality has become more indifference than anger. The increased ease with which we can see a person being beaten or harassed by police seems to have desensitized many of us to the injustice involved. This is extremely unfortunate for all of us, but particular for those Black people who live in neighborhoods oversaturated with police officers, which increases their likelihood of becoming the next youtube sensation(for all the wrong reasons).

Like most things, the issue of police misconduct as it relates to Black people does not operate in a vacuum, and it is not one-sided. Are there criminals in Black communities? Absolutely, just like there are in almost all communities. Do they need to be held accountable for their actions? Yes they do(we can debate what type of accountability and how harsh, but that's another issue altogether). Do the majority of police officers go out with the conscious goal of harassing Black people and/or brutalizing them? I'll say no to that one(although far too many seem to have that mindset). However, the next question is the one that most avoid and refuse to ask or seek an answer to(especially those who believe the fantasy that we live in a "post-racial" society): Is the American method of policing(not necessarily individual police officers) white supremacist/racist at its root, and in need of a complete restructuring? I say yes, and history(including the very recent past) bears witness to this.

I realize that many of us were raised to respect authority. That is all fine and good. However, it is imperative that police, given their position, show respect to the citizens in the communities that they serve. In many instances they do, but there are far too many situations where they don't, particularly in predominately Black communities. Also, the fact that most of the officers patrolling these communities do not live there only serves to increase the likelihood that they will be uncaring and disrespectful to the residents that they come in contact with.

We can no longer afford to have the attitude of "I'm just glad its not me" when it comes to acts of police misconduct. At the same time, it is not productive to simply scream "F*#@ the Police!" either. Furthermore, those of use who have moved to Suburbia or other areas where these issues are not so prevalent cannot rationalize the misconduct that takes place and the lack of accountability on the part of the police by following the lead of some and attempting to blame or criminalize entire communities of people. It is almost comical to see one of these "Well, if you're not doing anything wrong you don't have anything to worry about" people suddenly turn into Huey Newton when they are wrongly profiled, or are laying face down with a gun to their head for no valid reason.

One key result of regular negative interactions with police forces is the distrust and disdain for the police that is common amongst Black people, which results in incidents like the recent Oakland beating, where people who need to be held accountable may not be. The fear of testifying or "snitchin" is directly linked to the idea that the police cannot be trusted to protect a person when it counts, which is often the case.

The police are one part of a criminal justice system that is still demonstrably unjust in its dealings with Black people. This is not about hating individual police officers(My sister, whom I love dearly, is in law enforcement), it is about a way of doing things that is resulting in the absolute destruction of an entire segment of the Black population. 1 in 3 Black males between the ages of 20 and 29 is under some form of correctional supervision or control. (For more detailed statistics, check out www.hrw.org, and http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/welcome.html).

Police misconduct is not the only reason that every Black male in America is going to prison. There are aspects of this problem that we can and should deal with ourselves, in our communities. Although there are extreme problems in the criminal justice system, there are also problems in Black communities that contribute to this path of destruction (that will be another post). However, a large part of the problem is the disparate way in which the criminal justice system has and does treat Black people.

We must start at the most basic level first. Knowing what our rights are when interacting with the police is imperative. Document/report any negative interaction you have with a police officer(this can include contacting city council, mayor's office, or other representative, and even the press). Utilize the internet to spread the word or concern about a particular incident, including petitions if the situation calls for it.

In reality, there is a delusional segment of the population (possibly brainwashed by years of "tough on crime" propaganda) that will find a way to justify any act of police brutality, no matter how despicable. For everyone else, it is imperative to make it known ,through words and action, that this is a serious issue (even if this means addressing President Obama's continued silence on the matter). As stated before, many lives are at stake. You don't want to be the next face on that youtube screen.

People: Chris Brown gets probation, labor for Rihanna assault

By Tony HicksContra Costa Times
Posted: 06/22/2009 04:06:32 PM PDT

Chris Brown pleaded guilty Monday to count of felony assault on pop star Rihanna.
Brown entered his plea before a preliminary hearing was scheduled to start in Los Angeles on Monday. Rihanna had been on standby to testify.

After Brown left the courtroom, Rihanna was addressed by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg, who explained to the Barbados-born singer that she had issued a stay-away order, requiring Brown and Rihanna stay at least 50 yards from each, except at industry events when the distance is reduced to 10 yards.

Brown's lawyer, Mark Geragos, said the plea deal includes five years of supervised probation and six months of community labor. Brown will be formally sentenced on Aug. 5.

Schnegg accepted Brown's plea, but specified the community service must entail hard labor, citing Caltrains cleaning or graffiti removal as an example. She said Brown likely will be allowed to do his community service in his home state of Virginia. He'll also be required to attend domestic violence classes.

Lawyers for Brown, 20, and Rihanna, 21, refused to discuss the status of the pair's relationship. Brown was arrested Feb. 8, after police say he hit and threatened Rihanna after leaving a pre-Grammy party in Los Angeles.

Source: http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_12666987

Supreme Court narrows but preserves Voting Rights Act

The justices leave Section 5 safeguards intact while allowing municipalities with a clean record to 'bail out.' Clarence Thomas dissents, saying he would strike down the provision.

By David G. Savage June 23, 2009
LaTimes.com

Reporting from Washington -- The historic Voting Rights Act -- the 1965 law that ended a century of racial discrimination at the ballot box and gave blacks a political voice across the South -- survived a strong challenge at the Supreme Court on Monday as justices pulled back from a widely anticipated decision to strike down a key part of the law as outdated and unfair to today's South.Instead, the justices agreed to narrow the law's impact by allowing municipalities with a clean record to seek an exemption.

Though the court sided with the Texas water district that brought the case, its 8-1 decision preserved the core of the Voting Rights Act, including its special scrutiny for any changes in election rules by Southern states.The ruling also protected the Roberts court from charges of conservative "judicial activism" in its refusal to tamper with an act of Congress, a often sensitive procedure fraught with political risk.Monday's decision, considered among the most important of the term, came as a surprise and a relief to civil rights advocates.

"This is a Pyrrhic victory for those who were behind bringing this case," said Jon Greenbaum, legal director for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. "We are glad that . . . the Voting Rights Act remains intact to protect the rights of voters."Civil rights lawyers and liberal activists were prepared to denounce Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and the court's conservatives had they struck down one of the landmark laws of the civil rights era.Three years ago, Congress by overwhelming majorities in the Senate and House extended the law for an additional 25 years. President George W. Bush signed the bill extending the law.

But in January, the court voted to hear a broad challenge. Civil rights advocates were astonished during the oral argument in April when the court's most conservative justices derided the law and signaled they were inclined to throw it out.Without question, Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act is an unusual provision. Its effect has been to keep the South under special scrutiny from Washington because of its history of racism.

The law requires most states in the South and more than 12,000 municipalities to "pre-clear" with the Justice Department any changes in their voting and election procedures. These can range from the location of polling places to the shape of electoral districts in the state legislatures. Its original aim was to prevent county officials from adopting schemes such as shifting the hours and places for voter registration to keep blacks off the voter rolls.It has had an enormous impact in its nearly 45-year history, opening the polls to millions of black voters.

"This law has an extremely important symbolic effect even today," said Paul Hancock, who was a veteran Justice Department lawyer and defender of the Voting Rights Act. It forces states and counties to think twice before making changes that would have an unfair impact on black voters and candidates, he said.

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