THE REAL STORY OF THANKSGIVING

Most of us associate the holiday with happy Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a big feast. And that did happen - once.

The story began in 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left behind smallpox which virtually wiped out those who had escaped. By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived slavery in England and knew their language. He taught them to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags.

But as word spread in England about the paradise to be found in the new world, religious zealots called Puritans began arriving by the boat load. Finding no fences around the land, they considered it to be in the public domain. Joined by other British settlers, they seized land, capturing strong young Natives for slaves and killing the rest. But the Pequot Nation had not agreed to the peace treaty Squanto had negotiated and they fought back. The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought.

In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared "A Day Of Thanksgiving" because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered.

Cheered by their "victory", the brave colonists and their Indian allies attacked village after village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with a many as 500 slaves regularly left the ports of New England. Bounties were paid for Indian scalps to encourage as many deaths as possible.

Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut, the churches announced a second day of "thanksgiving" to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts -- where it remained on display for 24 years.

The killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War -- on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux in Minnesota.

This story doesn't have quite the same fuzzy feelings associated with it as the one where the Indians and Pilgrims are all sitting down together at the big feast. But we need to learn our true history so it won't ever be repeated. Next Thanksgiving, when you gather with your loved ones to Thank God for all your blessings, think about those people who only wanted to live their lives and raise their families. They, also took time out to say "thank you" to Creator for all their blessings.

Our Thanks to Hill & Holler Column by Susan Bates susanbates@webtv.net

NATIONAL ACTION NETWORK CHAPTER PRESIDENT WILLIAM RICHARDSON, III, CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION INTO DEATH OF MAN SHOT BY INDIAN RIVER COUNTY SHERIFF

Wednesday, November 21, 2007 (Gifford, Florida)---William Richardson, III, President of Rev. Al Sharpton’s Port St. Lucie Chapter of National Action Network, and Pastor of Grace Baptist Church, has called for a rapid investigation into the shooting last Friday November 16th of an unarmed 44-year-old black man who was killed by an Indian River County Sheriff Deputy. Similar to the New York case of Khiel Coppin that is eliciting outrage from community leaders and activists around the country, and for whom Rev. Sharpton delivered a eulogy yesterday after the young man was shot at 20-times while holding a hairbrush, the man in Gifford likewise suffered from clinical depression and a mental disability, calling into question what procedures are for dealing with people who have disabilities.

Bryson Green, affectionately known as “Hip,” was killed by an Indian River County Sheriff Deputy with a questionable record, and according to Reverend Richardson, III, “There are gross contradictions between the sheriff department’s report and the story of eye witnesses.” The sheriffs department has said that Green was brandishing a pocket knife and that the sheriff was threatened and therefore tasered Mr. Green. The Sheriff Department said that when this did not stop Mr. Green, the deputy shot him in the stomach. Allegedly, the Sheriff department wanted to transport Mr. Green to a mental health facility but he did not want to go with these particular deputies and stated that he did not trust them. The deputies, according to Mr. Green’s mother and sister, stated that there was nothing they could do if he did not want to go with them. Since he was not a threat to anyone, the deputies left and the family went to another relative’s home nearby. While the family was away, a friend came by and sat in the truck with Mr. Green in front of his mother’s house on his mother’s property. When they had finished talking, Mr. Green got out of the truck to head back to his mother’s house at the same time that the sheriff deputies returned to the house (for what reason we don’t know), and entered into Greens mother’s property and told the friend to leave. Eye witnesses (a friend and neighbor) stated that the deputy holding the shot gun was approximately 20 to 30 yards away. Eye witnesses state that Mr. Green had his hands in the air repeatedly yelling “don’t shoot, I don’t have a gun.” This is when shots were heard. Eye witnesses say the deputy, then approached Green, who was on the ground, kicked him and asked him where the weapon was and tasered him after he was already shot and incapacitated. Mr. Green was a harmless and unthreatening figure. It is important to note that the deputy, who shot Green, was fired for DUI and later rehired. It is in question whether he was on duty at the time.

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Another Black man shot. Have we turned back the clock to the 40s ad 50s where a black mans life is worth nothing? Why do we continue to hear about unarmed young black men being shot 20 to 50 times by police? As law enforcement professionals we must look into the institutional perception and policies of policing when it come to people of color or we will loose an entire generation of black men to police brutality, police misconduct ,and racist intuitional polices that allow them to call this "JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE"

BLACKWATCH

D.A.R.E. HONORS AN OFFICER AND AN EDUCATOR

Officer George Stephens did not like the energy he was getting from the seventh grade students in his Drug Abuse Resistance Education class at Briggs Chaney Middle School in Burtonsville. So the Montgomery County Police veteran stopped his lesson for a dance break.

Suddenly, two dozen students rose from their chairs and slowly started dancing behind their desks. Everyone was soon happily moving and singing a call-and-answer song about D.A.R.E., Stephens included.

Once the song ended, the students returned to their seats and the lesson continued as if nothing happened.

‘‘You have to keep them going," Stephens said later. ‘‘Teach, then have fun. Teach, then have fun."

Stephens has been doing both for 12 years with the D.A.R.E. program, teaching thousands of students at 30 county schools. His work was recognized this summer in Nashville, when he was awarded the D.A.R.E. America Lifetime Achievement Award.

The normally talkative Stephens, 42, of Burtonsville, was at a loss for words discussing the honor. ‘‘To be recognized for something you love to do and be recognized by D.A.R.E. ... It was unbelievable," he said.

On the way to class recently, however, it was Stephens doing the recognizing in the hallways. ‘‘You better stop running or I’m gonna call your mama," he called out to one student.

Stephens greeted and playfully teased many, complimenting one student on his new glasses and telling others to keep moving to their next class.

The constant movement and energy carried over to the classroom, where Stephens’ lesson dealt with the effects of drugs on the brain. His discipline comes across casually (‘‘Please stop talking, because I’m the police and I can see and hear everything") as to not interrupt his lesson.

Many of Stephens’ teaching methods were subtle but purposeful. Instead of calling on students raising their hands to answer questions, he tossed a ball for them to catch. Not only does that keep students involved, he pointed out, but it empowers them as the focus of the entire class.

Stephens also made clear there was nothing wrong with being wrong. ‘‘That’s the best learning opportunity," he said to a group of students afraid to guess an incorrect answer. ‘‘Do your best, that’s all I want."

Stephens became a county police officer 17 years ago after a stint with the FBI. One day he saw a notice for D.A.R.E. training and decided he wanted to teach.

For six years, Stephens was one of the county’s full-time D.A.R.E. officers until that department was disbanded. Currently, Stephens works in the police recruitment department and teaches D.A.R.E. part-time at Briggs Chaney and Galway Elementary School, as a well as a parent version of the program in the Northeast Consortium. Stephens also trains prospective D.A.R.E. officers both locally and around the world.

But home for Stephens is with his students, and not only in the classroom. He attends sporting events, recitals and other after-school activities and has even chaperoned field trips, often on his own time.

That is what makes Stephens effective, said Kimberly Johnson, Briggs Chaney’s principal. ‘‘There’s an honesty that comes along with George that students appreciate and respect," she said. ‘‘He gives students another image of what police are there for."

Before last week’s class ended, Stephens took questions ranging from how police know if something was bought with drug money (‘‘We have ways") to the veracity of a scene from the movie ‘‘Friday" (not true).

The D.A.R.E. lessons have evolved since Stephens began from ‘‘say ‘no’ to drugs" to focusing more on decision-making and group learning, which Stephens thinks is an improvement.

‘‘[Students are] very savvy and very educated," he said. ‘‘We can’t teach them like they don’t know anything."

Not surprisingly, Stephens’ favorite part of teaching is interacting with students. His greatest joy, though, usually comes from former students. Like the ones who wear their D.A.R.E. T-shirts the year after his class. Or the three Bowie State University students who gave him hugs during a recent recruitment visit to the campus and proudly told him they were still drug-free.

That he can have an impact on students’ lives well after class ends drives Stephens to reach out to as many students as possible.

‘‘It’s the intangible reward," he said. ‘‘You never know who you are going to touch."

by Danny Jacobs Staff Writer Gazette.net

VIGILANTE NYPD OR ROGUE POLICE OFFICERS

Chanting ''enough is enough,'' ''community activists and members of the Black clergy held a rally in front of the office of Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan on Nov. 2, to protest against racial injustice.Attended by more than 60 people, the rally was Edward Josey, head of S.I. Chapter of the NAACP, the S.I. African American Political Assoc. (SIAAPA), S.I. Committee Against Bigotry, People on the Move, and several area churches.

It also sought to highlight what organizers termed the disparity in which the DA applies the law.

During the planning meeting, activists said they were angered by Donovan's failure to apply hate crime charges against two white men who have been accused of beating a 20-year old Black male.

Organizers were also outraged over the DA's failure to put bail conditions on either of the two men, who each have only been formally charged with second degree assault.

In the days leading up to the demonstration, two more racial incidents were reported in the area, each of them involving white police as the central characters.

The incident, which seems to appall activists most took place on Halloween night. That's when high school freshmen Rayshawn Moreno was accosted by police over allegedlly throwing eggs at moving vehicles.

''Rayshawn was taken to a secluded wooded area, stripped of his clothes, beaten and left by the officers,'' James ''Whammy'' Hazel said of his son.

''What kind of person does this to a child?'' Telisa Hazel asked in defense of her 14-year-old son.''They were going to teach him a lesson?''

According to local Staten Island news reports, the officers have indicated that was indeed their intention, adding that when they returned to the area to pick him up he wasn't where they left him.

James Hazel also shot down a Staten Island Advance report that Moreno took off his own clothes ''because he wanted to blend in with the woods.'' Hazel said not only did officers take his son's clothes, they used racial epithets while threatening him.

''It's nothing more than a kidnapping. It's outrageous. It smacks of something from the Deep South in the '40s and '50s, not modern-day New York,'' observed the family's attorney, Jason Rosenthal.

The officers have been Identified as Thomas Elliassen and Michael Danese, both of the 120th Precinct. Each has been charged with unlawful imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor, both misdemeanors carrying up to a year in jail. Both men joined the force in 2004.

''We have to stay the course and remained focus, because there are forces attacking us from all sides,'' long-time community activist Dow Kevin Buford told the AmNews.

The NAACP is making a ''call to action,'' Josey told the crowd. ''We are asking people to pressure their elected officials to pass effective legislation banning racially motivated crimes,'' he said.

''This is a wake-up call for Staten Island,'' shouted the Rev. Demetrius Carolina, pastor of the First Central Baptist Church.

Rev. Carolina called for sweeping reforms in the judicial system to make sure justice is meted out fairly across the board.

''I'm seeking justice,'' claimed cab driver Stephen Springle, of Queens, who said Staten Island police officers, beat, kicked and sprayed mace in his face, as he sat in his cab on Oct. 28.

''We are here today to sound the alarm,'' Josey said.''Enough is enough.''

Added retired police detective Marq Claxton, these police officers should have been charged with nothing less than kidnapping.''

In recent days, Rosenthal said he happened across Eliassen's MYSpace.com page in which the officer describes himlself as a ''gansta'' and poses with a woman on each arm.Ablaring headline reportedly reads: ''Let's Do Lines Off A Strippers A-A--!''Rosenthal termed both officer's actions as ''outrageous'' and a disgrace to the badge.''

by SAEED SHABAZZSpecial to the AmNewsOriginally posted 11/9/2007

THE CONNECTION BETWEEN WEALTH AND HEALTH

In a country where 13 million children live in poverty and nine million children are uninsured, most of them in working families, money determines a lot about the circumstances that affect children’s health. Health should not depend on wealth, but far too often it does.

For a child, wealth might determine whether your parents can afford to pick up the phone and take you to the doctor every time you are sick, or whether they may end up putting off care so long that a routine illness lands you in the emergency room. Even if your family has some health coverage, wealth might determine if you can go to the dentist when you have a toothache, get glasses when you cannot see the blackboard, or talk to a mental health professional when your family is facing a crisis or whether those things are just "frills."

Wealth might determine whether you live in a home with clean air, or a home where you are exposed to peeling lead paint, insects, rodent droppings, dust and mold that aggravate your asthma; and whether you spend eight hours every school day in an old, rundown building that has the same problems. It might also determine whether your family can afford fresh fruits and vegetables, or rely mainly on less expensive, less healthy packaged and fast food.

Wealth might determine whether your family lives in a neighborhood with green playgrounds and parks, or whether you live next to a treatment plant or power lines, in a neighborhood with no place to run and play. Wealth might also determine whether you live in a neighborhood where you are not allowed to play outside at all, and where you are more likely to be a victim of gun violence.

In the wealthiest nation on earth, the fact that we still cannot promise a healthy start to all children is shameful. I first learned lessons about race and health as a little girl growing up in the segregated Bennettsville, S.C. I remember when little Johnny Harrington, who lived three houses down from my church parsonage, stepped on and died from a nail because his grandmother did not have a doctor to advise her or any money to pay for health care.

I also remember the migrant family who collided with a truck on the highway near my home, and the ambulance driver who refused to take them to the hospital because they were Black. And I remember when my classmate Henry Munnerlyn broke his neck when he jumped off the bridge into the town creek because only White children were allowed in the town swimming pool. I later heard that the creek where Blacks swam and fished was the hospital sewage outlet.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane. Forty years later, Black children are almost twice as likely and Latino children are almost three times as likely as White children to be uninsured. It is unacceptable that access to health care and safe, clean places to live and play are still separate and unequal for so many Americans. Hurricane Katrina ripped the blinders off many different kinds of contemporary American injustice, including health care. When people are able to survive a massive hurricane, but may not survive an asthma or panic attack in its wake because they do not have access to health and mental health care, it is a problem.

Some people may think this does not affect their family. But when the average health insurance premium for a family of four costs $11,000 a year, and when half of all bankruptcies in this country are related to healthcare costs, that is not necessarily true. Some people may think our nation just cannot afford to cover its nine million uninsured children. But the recent round of $1.9 trillion in tax cuts, when fully in effect, will give the richest one percent of all taxpayers $57 billion each year. That is more than twice as much as would be needed to provide health coverage to all nine million uninsured children for a whole year.

We also spend almost $6 billion every month on the war in Iraq. Less than four months of this spending would also pay for health coverage for every uninsured child in this country.

The fact that our nation does not yet guarantee all its children a healthy start is a problem for all of us. But it is a problem that we, as a nation, can afford to fix.

(Marian Wright Edelman is president and founder of the Children’s Defense Fund.) finalcall.com

MOTHERS 911 CALL ENDS IN MENTALLY DISTURBED SONS DEATH

NEW YORK (Nov. 13) -- A young man was fatally shot last night in a hail of more than a dozen bullets fired by five police officers who responded to his mother’s 911 call for help in a domestic dispute in Brooklyn, the authorities said.

According to the police, another witness described Mr. Coppin as concealing the hairbrush under his shirt, pointing it outward.A restless crowd quickly gathered and grew to as many as 150, as some neighbors shouted protests against police brutality. "You need training — this is absurd!" one woman shouted out a window to the police. Another man pressed against a yellow crime-scene tape and said: "I’m not trying to start a riot. I’m just saying it’s not right."

The site and surrounding blocks were cordoned off as dozens of police officers, detectives and community affairs officers arrived to investigate the shooting and control the crowd. Community leaders at the scene included City Councilman Albert Vann.Witnesses and the police offered different details about how the shooting occurred.

Mr. Sanchez said that just before the shooting, he went outside and saw several officers there with guns drawn. Mr. Coppin approached the window, backed away, then returned and stood on the sill, Mr. Sanchez said. When an officer told him to get down, he jumped to the ground and started to go through a gate in the fence in front of the building, Mr. Sanchez said.An officer told Mr. Coppin to put up his hands, and when he did he dropped the hairbrush and the shooting began, although one officer called out to stop the gunfire, Mr. Sanchez said.Officers started chasing Mr. Sanchez and knocked him to the ground after, he said, he protested: "Why you got to shoot him like that, for nothing?"

A similar description of the shooting was given by Precious Blood, 16, who said she heard about 10 shots fired, most if not all by one officer. Another officer called out: "Stop, stop, stop shooting — he’s down," she said, but the shooter kept firing, "like he was playing with a toy."

The law enforcement official gave a different version of the encounter, saying that Mr. Coppin charged toward the officers and refused repeated orders to stop.

The police said they were also exploring the possibility that Mr. Coppin was trying to prompt a shooting, a phenomenon that a handful of studies in recent years have shown can account for a small fraction of police shootings in some American cities. One study by researchers at Harvard Medical School in 1998, for example, looked at all officer-involved shootings in Los Angeles County in a 10-year-period — about 430 shootings in all — and found that "suicide-by-cop" incidents accounted for 11 percent of the shootings over all and 13 percent of the fatal shootings.

Mr. Coppin’s mother was at the 79th Precinct station house last night and gave a statement to the police, they said.The five officers who fired all passed Breathalyzer tests, the law enforcement officials said.


By BRUCE LAMBERT and ANAHAD O’CONNOR,
The New York Times

THE IMPACT ON THE HIGH BLACK MALE PRISON POPULATION RATE

Each year, when 650,000 ex-prisoners return to communities all across the United States, many suffer from deteriorating health conditions and must confront a hostile environment where their rehabilitation will be difficult to achieve.

What’s more, the families and communities they are rejoining may have changed significantly during their absence—creating a totally new dynamic for these ex-prisoners to overcome at a time when their circumstances already make them vulnerable.

When America embarked on its aggressive campaign to “get tough on crime” by swelling the nation’s prison ranks, it’s now clear that not enough emphasis was put on creating healthy prison environments or considering the impact that incarcerating so many people would have on the families and communities that they left behind.

Needless to say, with America’s criminal justice system primed to incarcerate Black men, in particular, the impact of the mandatory sentencing and strict drug laws is being felt heavily in Black communities from coast to coast. Of the 2.1 million people incarcerated in jails and prisons in 2005, 548,300 were Black males between the ages of 20 and 39. Put another way, 4.7 percent of all Black males in the United States were incarcerated, compared to 0.7 of the White males.

The original “war on crime” back into the late 1960s centered on providing social programs to address poverty, which was widely seen as an incubator for crime. Many programs were developed that emphasized rehabilitating offenders. Twenty years later, however, the new mandate to the criminal justice system was “do something about drugs,” and that translated into the biggest increase ever in the nation’s prison population. Instead of training people for jobs, government money was spent on building more prisons.

Arrests for drug violations skyrocketed from 661,000 in 1983 to 1,126,300 in 1993. From 1980 to 1993, the percentage of White inmates rose 163 percent, while the percentage of Black inmates increased by 217 percent. And by the end of 1993, half of all federal and state prisoners were Blacks.

Perhaps the biggest victims of this policy were children—the sons and daughters of the prisoners. By 1999, there were 721,500 parents in federal and state prisons, and they were parents to1.5 million children. The social impact of so many children with parents in prison is devastating, especially in low-income communities. It fosters an environment where children don’t have role models and may fall into the same bad habits of their parents. We also must consider the psychological impact. While the father is incarcerated, children and families not only lose the financial and emotional support of the missing parent, but must deal with the stigma of having a family member in prison.

Moreover, the community receives another jolt—when the prisoner comes home. Prisons have become a nest for many infectious and chronic diseases ranging from HIV/AIDS to hepatitis to tuberculosis. In fact, the rate of confirmed AIDS cases in prisons runs five times higher than the general population. Inmates are ineligible for Medicaid when they are incarcerated, so their healthcare services are limited. When Medicaid benefits, as well as other benefits, are lost upon incarceration, there is often a lengthy lag time for reinstatement when a prisoner is released.
Generally, there are no federal or state requirements to ensure that benefits are available upon release from prison, a situation that increases homelessness and blocks access to needed health care. Unfortunately, because of lapses in record keeping neither federal nor state agencies know how many former prisoners permanently lose benefits. The federal government requires the suspension of benefits while someone is in prison, but allows a flawed process to exist for restoring those benefits. Thus, when inmates return home, they are usually in poor health—mentally and physically. Their poor health is another burden for their families, many of which don’t have health insurance; meanwhile, their community has to deal with the spread of diseases.

Clearly, the negative results from increasing the prison population has taken away any benefit that political leaders sought by supposedly taking criminals off the streets.

If America sticks with this misguided policy, there has to be significant changes made to better ensure that real rehabilitation takes place in prisons, that inmates have access to quality healthcare and that more support is available to help inmates on their reentry into their families, as well as their communities. Let’s correct bad public policy.

We have seen the impact of what more prison walls have brought us; now it’s time to invest in the health and well-being of people.

(Dr. Henrie M. Treadwell, associate director of Development at the National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, is also director of Community Voices, a non-profit working to improve health services, and healthcare access, for all Americans.)

UNJUSTLY IMPRISONED BLACK MAN SET FREE AFTER TWO YEARS IN STATE PRISON

FORSYTH, Ga. (AP) - During more than two years in state prison, Genarlow Wilson was confident that he would find justice and be set free.

On Oct. 26, the hopes of the young man who had been sentenced to 10 years in prison for having consensual oral sex with another teenager finally became reality: The state’s highest court ruled that his sentence amounted to cruel and unusual punishment.

“I’d seen it coming,” Mr. Wilson said of his release. “But I didn’t exactly know when.”
Mr. Wilson, with his hands in his pockets, wore dark blue dress pants as he left prison. His attorney, B.J. Bernstein, said she had carried them around in the trunk of her SUV for months hoping for his release.

Mr. Wilson said he first heard about the court’s decision from another inmate who said he’d heard it on the radio. But Mr. Wilson said he didn’t want to believe it until he heard the decision himself.

His case led to widespread protests of heavy handed justice. His supporters said race was one reason he received such a severe sentence, noting that he and the girl—both black—were only two years apart.

He said he also wants to help other teens, offering this initial advice: “They should be very hesitant before they join certain crowds and make certain decisions.”

In its 4-3 decision, the Georgia Supreme Court noted that state lawmakers later scrapped the law that required a minimum 10-year prison term.

That change, the court said, represented “a seismic shift in the legislature’s view of the gravity of oral sex between two willing teenage participants.”

The justices also said Mr. Wilson’s sentence made “no measurable contribution to acceptable goals of punishment,” and his crime did not rise to the “level of adults who prey on children.”
After he was imprisoned, Mr. Wilson became the subject of prominent editorials and national news broadcasts. His sentence was denounced even by members of the jury that convicted him and the author of the 1995 law that put him in prison.

Supporters including former President Jimmy Carter said the case raised troubling questions about race and the justice system. Mr. Wilson and the girl are both black.

Mr. Wilson was convicted of aggravated child molestation following a 2003 New Year’s Eve party in a hotel room where he was videotaped having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl.

Mr. Wilson, who was 17 at the time, was acquitted of raping another 17-year-old girl at the party. The man who prosecuted Mr. Wilson, Douglas County District Attorney David McDade, said he disagreed with the decision, but he respects the court “as the final arbiter.”
Mr. Wilson’s supporters were jubilant.

“I never gave up hope in our judicial system, and I never gave up hope in all the prayers people sent out for us,” said Mr. Wilson’s mother.
Rep. John Lewis, an Atlanta Democrat, said: “Each day that this young man spent in prison was a day too long.”

The 1995 law Mr. Wilson violated was changed in 2006 to make oral sex between teens close in age a misdemeanor, similar to the law regarding teen sexual intercourse. But the state Supreme Court later upheld a lower-court ruling that said the 2006 law could not be applied retroactively.

The high court had turned down Mr. Wilson’s appeal of his conviction and sentence, but the justices agreed to hear the state’s appeal of a judge’s decision to reduce Mr. Wilson’s sentence to 12 months and free him. That judge had called the 10-year sentence a “grave miscarriage of justice.”

Mr. Wilson said he plans to return to school and sports and possibly study sociology. For now, he was looking forward to spending time with relatives.

“I feel I’ve been away from them long enough,” he said. “At times, we’ve dealt with adversity. Now my family, we finally get to deal with happiness.”

Associated Press writers Dorie Turner in Atlanta and Ben Evans in Washington contributed to this story.

WESTCHESTER NBPA AND YONKERS NAACP TAKE A STANCE AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY AND MISCONDUCT

On October 6, 2007 history was made in Westchester for the fight for justice for people of Yonkers. The Yonkers chapter of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored Peopl( NAACP) and The Westchester Chapter of the National Police Association(NBPA) took a firm stance on Police Misconduct and Police Brutality.

"As the Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association (NBPA), we applaud the federal investigation of the Yonkers Police Department. It is no secret to the law enforcement community in Westchester County, that the attitudes and actions of some of Yonkers Police Department professionals are appalling. Look at how they have treated the citizens that they protect and serve, especially the communities of color. We all can say that these are alleged complaints. The mayor and the police commissioner seem in complete denial about these alleged complaints. This is always the case when the victims are poor white, Black, and Hispanic citizens that lack the funds, knowledge and resources to fight City Hall", said Sterling Dixson Westchester NBPA President.

The Yonkers NAACP and the National Black Police Association are recommending:

More diversity on the YPD (currently approximately 35 African Americans are in the YPD, 38 Hispanics, no African-American Lieutenants, Captains, Deputy Chiefs in a department of approximately 650) to reflect the diversity of the City.

A newly created Independent Civilian Complaint Review Board or at least immediately, a police oversight committee within the City Council.

Police officers to reveal both their names and badge numbers while on duty

Cameras installed in patrol cars especially in the 3rd and 4th precincts

"The vast majority of Yonkers Police officers are professionals that put their lives on the line daily to protect the citizens of Yonkers. However, there are serious issues of abuse of authority and misconduct that need to be addressed. . The mere fact that the Justice Department has chosen to investigate serves notice that this indeed is a problem that we must face together and develop a process that will improve police professionalism," said Karen Edmonson President of the Yonkers NAACP


The police department has said that they have only 35 complaint and boasted that most of them came from people that had extensive police records.

"How many complaints are to many? I haven’t turned in complains in months because you cant rely on them to investigate. All the complaints I receive are forwarded to the Department of Justice." Said Edmonson

"It is the opinion of the Westchester Chapter of the National Black Police Association, NE Region, that an "Independent Civil Complaint Review Board" (CCRB) is established as an effective mechanism to adjudicate the ongoing epidemic of Police Brutality within Westchester County." Said Westchester NBPA Second Vice President Ray Gonzalez

"Our criticism is not an attack on the YPD as a whole or the fine officers that serve and protect the Yonkers community. Instead we are demanding critical and fair accountability of the few police officers that cross the line and that the administration recognize and correct their failure to address this ongoing epidemic .As stated in previous press releases, it is no secret in the law enforcement community of Westchester that the attitudes and actions of some YPD professionals are appalling. These attitudes have been ignored for years. More often these negative attitudes are displayed in the underprivileged communities of color", said Westchester NBPA Executive Director Damon Jones

"Yonkers PD has 650 members and only 35 are Black and 40 are Hispanic (keeping in mind that the black population in Yonkers is 19%). At least half of the 35 are soon to retire. The last academy of police officers was completely white and the majority were children of white officers who are currently employed by the YPD. Where is community policing? Where are the young adults of color that wouldn’t want a job making good money and benefits? On the other hand, why would a young adult of color be a part of a system that they see on a day to day basis, abusing there authority and power over the powerless" Said Dixon

The situation in Yonkers is a sign of the rest of Westchester. Black police represent only 9% of the total police force of departments that have 100 or more full time employees. With over 15% of our young black males in Westchester caught in the criminal system (parole, probation, jail). It will be harder and harder to find black men to their place in the law enforcement ranks in Westchester.

"If we dont take a stance for our people the black cop will never be respected in the black communities like the white cop is respected in their own in Westchester. If we continue down this road. In the next 50 years there will be no black cop in Westchester ," said Jones

CORPORATE EXPLOITATIOIN OF PRISON CALLS

Ever thought about that? Many of us have heard that recording telling us the call is coming from a jail, the cost of which is $1.50 or more for the first minute or so, and that we should say “Yes” to accept the charges. Why do local calls from jails cost so much?

I thought all calls were pretty much the same. Long distance calls from prisons are expensive enough, and we know the phone carriers are ripping us off for them, but local calls? Why the exorbitant charge? That’s a rhetorical question, Brothers and Sisters—I know you know the answer.

Like other greedy, unethical, money-grubbing, corporate thieves, the phone companies that charge those outrageous rates for jail phone calls are among the list of profiteers that are steadily taking advantage of this country’s prison industrial complex by exploiting prisoners and their families.

Why do some local calls cost more than other local calls? The answer: Because the phone companies say they do.

I don’t know, but I would imagine that one of the rationales used to justify the high cost is the number of men and women who would be on the phones if the costs were normal. But, couldn’t that be solved by prison officials regulating the number of calls and the time spent on the phone by each prisoner?

This is probably a trivial point to many of you, but my reason for writing about it is to illuminate the fact that Black folks are, in many cases, allowing ourselves to be used as wealth creators for others, even to the ridiculous extent of doing stupid stuff that will land us in jail or prison. Then when we get to jail, we want to call our friends and families, at usury phone rates, to help get us out or just to “stay in touch.” Of course, that does not excuse the greed of the phone companies, and the only thing we can do about it is what Nancy Reagan said, “Just say no” to accepting the charges; but you know that’s not going to happen. We are going to continue to go to jail, and we are going to continue to accept the charges for the millions of phone calls that go out from jails and prisons everyday. Thus, a trivial thing like a phone call becomes a billion dollar advantage.
A close look at the jails will reveal that Blacks occupy the cells at a disproportionate rate.

Black people are not building jails, supplying the needs of the jails, doing the maintenance in the jails, or selling hair grease, toilet paper, T-shirts, jumpsuits, flip-flops, books, or anything else to the jails.

A multi-billion dollar industry located in our hometowns, in many cases funded by our tax dollars, and we have no economic interest in that industry. All we do is fill the cells.

Phone companies that charge $1.50 for a local call are ripping us off, but filling their coffers with the easiest money they have ever made.

No increase in their cost of goods sold, no added cost for personnel, and no additional expense for advertising and marketing; they are just sitting there raking it in, hearing cha-ching every minute of the day. Who’s the sucker in that scenario? We have given new meaning to the term, “phone home.”

It’s all about economics. The prison-jail system, both supply and demand, has grown exponentially, because of the high profit from prison-building and prisoner warehousing. We already account for the profit margins of many consumer product companies—that we do not own, spending our $800 billion willy-nilly on whatever someone else makes.

Now we are providing a huge profit margin for the prison industrial complex as we do our daily Bataan Death March into court rooms to stand in front of corrupt prosecutors and judges and be accused by “testi-lying” cops, in many cases. And the first thing we want to do when they escort us to that cell is make a phone call that cost the person on the other end an arm and a leg.

That’s stupid, as I have said before, especially if you intentionally do a crime or neglect to pay your child support or fail to show up for a court appearance for an outstanding warrant or traffic ticket. That’s stupid! It is also evil and just plain wrong if you are doing the more serious crimes like robbing, raping, assaulting, or killing. At the end of it all there will be someone, who looks nothing like you, who will profit from your stupidity and your evil deeds, while you sit in a cell and waste your life away.

When you get out of jail you look for a job, mostly from someone who does not look like you, and get frustrated because you can’t get hired. Then after so many turn-downs you decide to do something else stupid and go right back into the same system. Can’t you see the pattern here?
It is sad that Black people, especially, would subject ourselves to such a no-win situation, but we do it everyday. Even sadder is the fact that our illogical actions have a negative and exacerbating effect on our friends and families. We end up paying on both ends of the system folks.

This article started with a simple phone call, but you can see the implications of our behavior when it comes to crime and punishment—and, I might add, wealth. In a system, things work together, in conjunction with one another; everything fits together, Brothers and Sisters.
As for the money-making prison system, let’s stay out of the cells and get into sales—legal sales. In the meantime, maybe we should look into using carrier pigeons to talk to one another.

By James ClingmanNNPA Columnist