VOICE OF DETROIT: The city's independent newspaper, unbossed and unbought

Edward and daughter Shay during visit several years ago

Friends of Voice of Detroit:

Edward Sanders (featured in the article above) is a long-time friend of mine whose story I have covered often in the pages of the Michigan Citizen and in the Voice of Detroit (see articles citing Edward’s case at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/03/06/voice-of-juvenile-defendants/ and http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/06/15/dpd-msp-and-worthy-guilty-in-crime-lab-cases-says-peoples-task-force/), as part of the campaign to abolish juvenile life without parole in Michigan and the U.S., one of only two countries in the world that allows this barbaric practice.

VOD is asking that you sign a petition (at end of article) on his behalf, requesting his transfer from Kinross Corretional Facility in the upper peninsula of Michigan, for his safety. Over 75 people have already signed, and we are shooting for at least 100 before sending it to Warden Thomas Mackie.

His life was nearly taken by another prisoner on July 11, 2011, a prisoner who never should have been placed in Edward’s Level 2 facility at Kinross. The attacker has been transferred to Marquette, a Level 5 facility, but Edward is still not safe. 

It is unclear why his attacker was placed at Kinross in the first place. Previous to this attack, Kinross denied Edward mail from the Voice of Detroit consisting of printouts of VOD articles (since this newspaper is only published on-line). Some of those articles cited Edward’s unjust imprisonment and advocacy for others like him. 

In an Aug. 25 letter to Thomas Mackie, Deputy Warden at Kinross, Edward wrote: 

“While in my assigned room in E-Unit (ECF), on July 11, 2011, shortly after 9:15 p.m. count rounds were made by unit staff, I was viciously attacked by one of my roommates. Inmate Dudley, my attacker, is huge, weighing at least 340 lbs. I weigh 164 lbs. During the attack, Dudley stabbed or sliced me repeatedly with a sharp object and beat me about the head and face—as I lay pinned under him on the floor at his feet. Unable to get past Dudley to leave the room for safety and with no immediate sign of staff help coming, I was forced to escape my attacker by jumping out of my first floor unit window. Thereafter, I immediately re-entered E-Unit, reported to staff that I needed medical assistance. My wounds required 34 stitches to close. Plus, there are other permanent disfigurements on my face, nose and emotions. 

Edward after the attack July 11, 2011; prison reports say blood drenched him head to toe

I hereby request compensation where: 

1. Under the circumstances, KCF staff failed to exercise the degree of attention, knowledge and judgment required for my protection from a predator and/or extremely violent inmate.
2. Inmate Dudley is a known violent sexual predator. He has a prior conviction for CSC. Plus, in C-Unit, he attacked a young inmate (5’5” and 135 lbs.). He has received numerous tickets at this facility for DDO’s, drugs, and fighting—amongst other major misconducts.
3. Inmate Dudley has been in and out of administrative segregation at least four times in the past year, and had numerous violent altercations with other roommates. I was subjected to that violent nightmare—attacked with a dangerous weapon and beaten. 

MDOC Policy Directive, 03.03.130 states, “Facility staff shall identify prisoners who are assaultive or predatory. Such prisoners shall be placed at the level of security necessary to control such behavior. A prisoner shall be placed in a single occupancy cell when necessary to ensure the safety of the prisoner or others. 

KCF staff’s failure to properly classify inmate Dudley to his correct security level—due to his particularly violent and clearly documented recent behavior—deprived me of my basic human need of reasonable safety. Compounded by facility’s reliance on multiple-bedding in housing unit practices, KCF staff demonstrated deliberate indifference to my safety and health when they knew or should have known they were placing me in an unsafe living condition by housing me with a dangerous prisoner known to be aggressive and violent. 

In conclusion, I respectfully submit below my compensation request. Please compensate me fully for my physical and emotional injuries, where the abovementioned facts are a violation of my Eighth Amendment right against cruel and unusual punishment. The brutal attack I survived was both horribly cruel and easily preventable.” 

Sanders goes on to ask for compensation for his TV, which his attacker destroyed, rescission of the misconduct charge HE received although the attack was unprovoked (he has never received a misconduct charge at Kinross and has a virtually spotless record otherwise), and monetary damages.  He has filed a grievance and a request for a re-hearing on the misconduct charge. As part of the process to support him, I am obtaining copies of his and Dudley’s central office files through the Freedom of Information Act.

Edward is also asking for an immediate transfer to a Wayne County region prison, with a stipulation for a two-man room or cell housing. 

The Voice of Detroit fully supports Edward in this matter.

Please take a minute to sign the petition below, created through SignOn.org, to help get Edward transferred for his safety, while we continue the battle for his ultimate release and that of hundreds of others like him. Thank you so much, in the struggle, Diane Bukowski, editor, Voice of Detroit

Subject: Justice for Edward Sanders    (please forward widely)
 
Hi,
 
Edward Sanders #141545 has been incarcerated in Michigan’s state prisons since 1975, when he was 17, sentenced to life without parole. (He was not the shooter in his case.) He has a bachelor’s degree, legal skills and assists others spiritually. His prison record is virtually unblemished.  In July, 2011, he was nearly killed at Kinross prison by another prisoner known for his history of repeated violent assaults on prisoners he is housed with. It is time for Michigan to grant clemency to Edward; meanwhile he must be transferred back to Wayne County with a stipulation for a 2 man room or cell housing.
 
So I created a petition to Thomas Mackie, Deputy Warden, Kinross Correctional Facility and Governor Rick Snyder, which says:
 
“Immediately transfer Edward Sanders, MDOC #141545, from Kinross Correctional Facility to a Wayne County, Michigan prison in partial compensation for the unprovoked brutal attack which nearly took his life July 11, 2011, due to the negligence of prison authorities.”

Will you sign this petition? Click here:
 
http://signon.org/sign/justice-for-edward-sanders?source=c.em.cp&r_by=527375
 
Thanks!

Questions may be directed to myself, Diane Bukowski, at 313-825-6126 or email diane_bukowski@hotmail.com.

Edward (r) with family and friends in his youth before he was sentenced to life without parole

Families of juvenile lifers, and of victims, campaigned in Michigan’s legislature in 2006 to give their loved ones a second chance

KEY MICHIGAN JLWOP CASE REMAINS ALIVE AS STATE APPEALS

STATE HAS 2^ND HIGHEST RASE OF JUVENILE LIFERS IN COUNTRY, SPENDS $2 BILLION ON PRISONS, WHILE CUTTING 15,000 FAMILIES OFF PUBLIC ASSISTANCE

CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY FAILS TO TAKE UP SB 9

(VOD Ed. note: This is a revision of the original VOD article which inadvertently ignored the juvenile lifers’ motion to keep all nine plaintiffs in the case, and an update with regard to the California bill.)

By Diane Bukowski

USDC Judge John Corbett O'Meara

DETROIT—U.S. District Court Judge John Corbett O’Meara denied the state of Michigan’s motion to dismiss a key lawsuit to allow nine juvenile lifers to be considered for parole July 15, a partial victory for the plaintiffs.

He is now considering motions from the juvenile lifers and the state for reconsideration, from opposing standpoints.

Judge O’Meara’s full decision can be read by clicking on Hill decision.

Keith Maxey was 16 years old in 2007 when he went to prison; he was not the shooter.

Many juvenile lifers, those sentenced to die in prison for crimes committed when they were under the age of 18, and their advocates hailed parts of O’Meara’ ruling in what is now known as Hill v. Snyder (click on Hill v. Granholm complaint to read original suit).

While striking eight of the nine plaintiffs, all but Keith Maxey, who was sentenced in 2007, from the case on statute of limitation issues, the judge left alive key elements relating to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2009 decision in Graham v. Florida.

In that case, the nation’s highest court ruled that it is unconstitutional to sentence juveniles to life without parole in non-homicide cases.

Terrance Graham; his case is key to juvenile offenders' fight for fair sentencing

O’Meara ruled that Michigan’s claims that the Graham v. Florida decision barred any consideration of claims by juvenile lifers involved in homicide cases did not hold water.

“Defendants [the state] suggest that the Court ‘effectively reaffirmed’ the constitutionality of life without parole sentences for juvenile homicide offenders. The Graham court did not expressly consider that issue, however, and much of its reasoning could be read to call into question the constitutionality of such sentences,” O’Meara said.

He also cited the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Roper v. Simmons, which outlawed the death penalty for those who were juveniles when their crimes were committed, as another example of a ruling recognizing that the treatment of juvenile offenders should be differentiated from those who are mature. 

Simmons, whose death sentence was outlawed by the U.S. Supreme Court

Later, he denied a motion by the National Organization of Victims of Juvenile Lifers to file an amicus brief in the case after they missed the deadline. 

Attorney Deborah LaBelle of the Michigan American Civil Liberties Union, co-counsel for the plaintiffs in the case, said O’Meara’s decision is a “first step.”

“By ignoring a child’s potential for rehabilitation and denying judges and juries any discretion, the state doles out unforgiving sentences that violate basic fairness and human rights principles.” LaBelle said. “This decision is the first step toward correcting this fundamental injustice” 

Lead plaintiff Henry Hill

The ACLU, however, filed a “motion for partial re-hearing or reconsideration” of O’Meara’s ruling July 28. It argues that the suit should be kept alive for all nine plaintiffs despite O’Meara’s finding upholding the state’s statute of limitations claims for eight of them.

“First, prior to Graham v. Florida, 130 S. CT. 2011 (2010), plaintiffs did not have a viable Eighth Amendment claim,” the ACLU wrote. “Graham changed the Eighth Amendment  legal landscape . . . Plaintiffs allege that Michigan’s statutory scheme violates the Eighth Amendment by failing to recognize the lesser culpability of juveniles. . . . Second, Defendants continue to deny Plaintiffs access to the Parole Board on a regular basis by ongoing implementation of an unconstitutional statute, thereby sontinuously violating their constitutional rights.”

Edward Sanders has been in prison since 1975 at the age of

The ACLU cited the state parole board’s refusal on Oct. 21, 2010, to hear lead plaintiff Henry Hill’s request for parole eligibility and lifer review.

Edward Sanders, who has been in prison since 1975, convicted of first-degree murder at the age of 17, but not as the shooter, earned his bachelor’s degree in Michigan’s prisons while college education was still part of the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) curriculum. He has studied law and acted as a “jail-house lawyer” for many years since. 

“The District opinion came out just about as I viewed it—hold on to just one plaintiff which is what is needed,” Sanders said. “. . . Everything the court said about Graham v. Florida reads very much on point . . .  The defendants have nothing to appeal. They would not want to take this to any appeals court and have it upheld.”

Timothy Kincaid has been in prison since 1978, when he was 17

Sanders said ongoing legal proceedings in the suit would “allow defense and appeals attorneys around the state to use this discovery and expert reports. This may move Michigan lawmakers sooner or later Allah willing.”

Despite Sanders’ assessment, however, the state filed a “motion for certification of interlocutory appeal and request for stay pending appeal” July 28, meaning they want to take the case to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court if O’Meara certifies their request.”

The state essentially claims that it has the right to contest O’Meara’s assessment of the U.S. Supreme Court decisions at a higher court level.

Charles Lewis was 16 when he was sentenced to LWOP in 1976

Attorney Kimberly Thomas, writing about Graham v. Florida in the Michigan Bar Journal, noted that Michigan stands out among other states for its recalcitrance on the juvenile life without parole issue.

“This scrutiny should be a signal to Michigan to examine its own jurisprudence on juveniles receiving sentences of life without parole,” Thomas said. “Michigan has the second-highest number of persons serving sentences of life without parole for offenses committed when they were 17 years old or younger. Michigan’s constitution, article 1, §16, provides broader protection than the federal constitution under its analogous ban on “cruel or unusual punishment.” Further . . . .in many cases, juveniles sentenced to life without parole in Michigan will never have a judge assess anything about their individual culpability, maturity, or relative role in the offense.”

Even the Detroit Free Press, in articles by editorial writer Jeff Gerritt, has repeatedly campaigned for the elimination of Michigan laws allowing children to be sentenced to die in prison.

Hundreds of protesters confronted Gov. Rick"tator" Snyder in Benton Harbor earlier this year.

Michigan plans to spend $2 billion a year on its prison system beginning Oct. 1 under Governor Rick Snyder, $11 million more than last year. At the same time, 15,000 families, including children and babies, will be cut from state assistance effective Oct. 1, supposedly saving $75 million a year, leaving them to starve in the streets.

 Snyder did not see fit to comply with a plan laid out in a March, 2011 symposium that would cut $500 million from the prison budget. The symposium, “Finding the Path to a $1.5 Billion Corrections Budget,” was not a gathering of wild-eyed radicals, but instead a joint effort of the generally conservative Citizens Research Council, the Center for Michigan, and the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending.

Snyder can parole juvenile lifers instead of cutting 15,000 families off public assistance Oct. 1; families, children and their advocates have been protesting this action every Thursday at 12 noon in "Resurrection Marches" outside Cadillac Place in Detroit, where the state's local offices are located.

According to the Center for Michigan, there are 18 reasons for cutting Michigan’s prison budget. Click on http://www.thecenterformichigan.net/18-reasons-michigans-prison-costs-cannot-be-ignored/ .

Damion Todd is another plaintiff in Hill V. Snyder

It cites the first five as follows: “1) Inflation-adjusted prison expenses are up 10-fold since 1973; 2) The prison system has grown from 2 percent of state general fund budget to 23 percent since 1973. 3) For many reasons, other states are finding far more strategic, and future-oriented investments for their tax dollars. For example, for every dollar Michigan spends on universities, we spend $1.19 on prisons. For every dollar Minnesota spends on universities, it spends 17 cents on prisons. 4) Since 1973, Michigan’s prison population has grown 474 percent, much faster than the crime rate. 5) The average stay in a Michigan prison was 28 months in 1981. By 2005, it had grown to 44 months.”

Plaintiff Jennifer Pruitt was 16 when she got JLWOP, was not the killer

Many states have already outlawed juvenile life without parole sentences, or have no one serving them, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“Commendably, twelve states either forbid JLWOP or presently have no such juvenile offenders that we know of serving that sentence,” says HRW. “The states that currently prohibit JLWOP are: Alaska, Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Montana, New Mexico, and Oregon. The states where there are no people known to be serving JLWOP are: Maine, New Jersey, New York, Vermont, and West Virginia. There is also no one known to be serving a JLWOP sentence in the District of Columbia. The federal government does sentence youth to LWOP—there are currently at least 36 people serving JLWOP in federal prison.”

Plaintiff Bobby Hines of Detroit

Altogether, according to The Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, ONE-HALF of states in the country either have abolished JLWOP or have less than 10 individuals serving these sentences (http://jjpl.org/new/?page_id=428).

According to HRW, there were 2,750 individuals serving juvenile life without parole as of 2009.

The map below, by the national ACLU, shows their distribution by state as of 2007. Pennsylvania, Michigan, Louisiana and California have the highest numbers and rates, with Michigan running second in total numbers, and barely third in per capita rate.

 

 

CALIFORNIA ATTEMPT TO ABOLISH JLWOP DELAYED

California State Senator Leland Yee

On Sept. 12, the California State Assembly failed to take up Senator Leland Yee’s Senate Bill 9, which would have brought California in line with the rest of the world by ending life without parole (LWOP) sentences for children.

“I am confident we had the 41 votes for passage, but disappointingly the Assembly failed to take up this important measure,” said Yee. “The neuroscience is clear – brain maturation continues well through adolescence and thus impulse control, planning, and critical thinking skills are not yet fully developed. SB 9 reflected that science and provided the opportunity for compassion and rehabilitation that we should exercise with minors. The bill was an incredibly modest proposal that respected victims, international law, and the fact that children have a greater capacity for rehabilitation than adults. We cannot give up on our kids or this bill.”

Michigan plaintiff Bosie Smith-El's case involved self-defense

The Huffington Post reported at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/17/juveniles-life-in-prison-sb9_n_929648.html,  “According to the bill, defendants who were sentenced to life with no parole for a crime committed as a minor would be eligible to apply for a lesser sentence of 25 years to life. 

“If the bill passes, an eligible defendant would need to first serve 15 years before submitting a statement of remorse, as well as evidence supporting work towards rehabilitation. Defendants would have three opportunities to apply. If accepted, a case would then be reviewed and considered for a lesser sentence. As a minimum, defendants would need to serve at least 25 years total, with no exceptions. But the bill would give some defendants the opportunity to someday live outside of prison.”

Michigan plaintiff Jamal Tipton

Prosecutors here in Michigan, including Wayne County’s Kym Worthy, and Oakland County’s Jessica Cooper, testified against earlier bills that were even more stringent than California’s. Those bills died in session despite the round-the-clock efforts of the Second Chance coalition of juvenile lifers’ families as well as some victims.

But San Francisco District Attorney George Gascón testified in support of SB9 at a hearing, saying, “I recognize the ability of young people to reform their behavior and rehabilitated as they mature. SB 9 holds youth responsible for their actions. It creates a rigorous system of check and balances, and provides a limited chance for young offender to prove they have changed – both to a judge and to a parole board.”

Michigan plaintiff Kevin BoydMichigan plaintiff

Here in Michigan, the hopes of over 350 individuals serving JLWOP, having been repeatedly thwarted at the legislative level, by county prosecutors such as Worthy and Cooper, and by state courts, now rest to a great degree on the speedy progress of Hill v. Snyder in the federal court.

VOD will provide updates as this case progresses.

For previous VOD articles on this issue, click on

Michigan plaintiff Matthew Bentley sentenced to JLWOP at 14

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/04/23/aclu-argues-against-michigan%e2%80%99s-no-parole-law/

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/03/06/voice-of-juvenile-defendants/ 

http://voiceofdetroit.net/2010/11/24/aclu-lawsuit-challenges-life-without-parole-for-michigan-juveniles/

NATO backed rebels killing during prayer of Eid al-Fitr

Government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim at a press conference in Tripoli, Libya

Click on link below to read Libyan government spokesman Moussa Ibrahim’s update on the people’s battle against NATO and the counterrevolutioniaries, given Sept. 5, 2011.

http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=628540 

LIBYA: NO NATO REBELS’ VICTORY; BIG NATO PSY-OPS, INCLUDING UN HAND-OUTS 

Deborah Dupre

Human Rights Examiner

September 3, 2011 – Like this? Subscribe to get instant updates.

The imperialist geopolitical agenda for Libya supported by U.N. intervention and “NATO Rebels,” include destruction so extreme, many Libyan have become refugees attempting to flee while the U.N. humanitarian coordinator warned of critical shortages of drinking water, food, fuel, and medicine; World Health Organization (WHO) ensured vaccines and other medical supplies for all Libyans with €100 million ($142 million) released by the U.N. sanctions committee; and WHO with Libyan authorities are prioritizing items for the nation according to the UN News Center Friday, but human rights defender, journalist Don DeBar told the Examiner late Saturday that Libyans are regaining their nation amid the ongoing psychological operation.

Don DeBar, WBAIX radio

“The war is far from over,” DeBar told Dupré in an exclusive Skype interview Saturday, soon after he had received direct communications from Libya.

Abuses abound since NATO-led rebel attacks began

“Our lives are under threat here,” Pastor Anthony Ojieseri, 32, a Nigerian said with sad eyes as he led an open air Church service in one of many of the nation’s makeshift refugee camps according to The Telegraph on Saturday. “Rather than staying here I would rather risk my life at sea in one of these old boats with a chance of getting out.”

Nigerian refugees queue for food at a disused army base and port in Janzoor, outside Tripoli

Ignoring U.N.’s warning that it is illegal to assassinate Colonel Muammar Gadhaffi, “NATO Rebels’,” (as the NATO backed rebels are called in Libya) ultimatum for his surrender continues. 

“A massacre, a genocide, a razing of a town to the ground” has occured over the past few days in Gadhaffi’s hometown, Sirte according to Pravda.Ru..

“Their crime? None. The only way NATO terrorists can take the town is if they kill everyone.” 

A man expresses his anger at the NATO bombing of sites in Libya during a rally in the Gaddafi hometown of Sirte

According to Pravda, Gadhaffi’s hometown is under siege from NATO with so far in the 4 days plus campaign, “over 1,400 civilians have been killed.” 

“A thousand people alone were killed in a bombing by NATO aircraft during the prayer of Eid al-Fitr on this Tuesday morning (31st).” 

“The believers were killed by 12 rockets within a few minutes,” reported Pravda, furthering, “NATO has not cared the least that this has been Ramadan for Muslim believers.” 

(VOD: Below is report on mass graves into which troops loyal to the Libyan government have been thrown after atrocities.)

After the U.N. helping prompt the insurrection, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Gadhaffi’s arrest, and the NATO security force offered a 1M pounds cash bounty dead or alive for the Colonel, Panos Moumtzis, Libya’s U.N. humanitarian coordinator announced Friday while many Libyans attempt fleeing NATO bombs, rapes and other human rights abuses, that the U.N. has taken 11 million bottles of water and will take 600 metric tons of food and 100 million euros worth of medicine to Libya.

 (VOD: AS SEEN IN VIDEO ABOVE, NATO HAS DESTROYED PARTS OF LIBYA’S GREAT MAN-MADE RIVER PLANTS WHICH SUPPLIED WATER TO THE LIBYAN PEOPLE. Click on http://www.mathaba.net/news/?x=628492 to read more about this wonder of the world, which NATO is now demolishing.)

“This country has a lot of resources and we view the humanitarian needs as short-term,” he said. 

Libyan boy carries bottled water in wake of NATO destruction of water plants; image reminiscent of Detroit water shut-offs

The humanitarian crisis will last as long as NATO continues to destroy the once thriving nation, according to independent journalists, a situation neighboring countries are also battling.

Italy and southern France, burdened with the Libyan refugee crisis, have established checkpoints at their common border where Libyans, many of whom are youth now without parents, are being pulled from the lines, observed by Dupré this spring. As the Telegraph highlighted Saturday, the real victims are Libyan families and young men who end up in Zanzour.

“They know they are risking their lives by going to sea – two hundred died in one sinking alone in 2009 off Libya – but the prospect of life in Europe is a tantalising one.” 

Most of those stuck in the port had held good jobs in Libya that was thriving until the NATO-led “rebel uprising” in February. “Many interviewed by The Sunday Telegraph lost all their possessions in the fighting, and, in some cases, family members.”

Not all Libyans, however, are fleeing. Many are organized to defend their nation against the NATO invasion. Furthermore, they are experiencing victories according to DeBar, as reporter Lizzie Phelan in Libya until recently escaping, had explained was being planned and was possible.

Libyans understand what too few Americans do: Deep geopolitical agenda to occupy its nation under guise of “Libyan rebellion”

Recently reporting from Libya and now in New York, WBAIX  radio host, journalist Don DeBar asserts what numerous other independent journalists are reporting, including those recently targeted for killing in Libya. These reporters concur that, as a matter of upholding human rights of Libyans and Americans, the geopolitical agenda driving the “NATO rebel” war on Libyans needs to be recognized.

“The first and foremost fundamental geopolitical consideration is that the US and EU are determined to take direct control of Africa’s resources,” DeBar said Friday. Among those resources are its oil, one among many aspects of which mainstream media continues failing to report, thus painting Gadhaffi as worthy of U.S. “targeted killing.” Unlike the U.S. government leadership, Gadhaffi ensured that Libyans reap personal benefit from their nation’s oil in the form of monthly stipends, in the thousands of dollars, according to DeBar.

Top deep geopolitical analyst Ian Crane plus other seasoned independent journalists including DeBar are increasingly reporting what is so contrary to mainstream media reports, that subsequently, the Libyan war has been been called a “media war,” propaganda against best interest of human rights of Libyans and Americans. 

U.S. media, including many “alternative news” sources have not aired the massive Libyan protests to what locals call the “NATO Rebels,” as highlighted by DeBar recently. (Watch “1Million+ Libyan Civilians Protest Against NATO And Its Rebels Attacks 01 07 11 (1) In Libya,”) 

DeBar told Press TV  that truth about the invasion of Libya, facts, have “not made the media in the west at all – including on programs like Democracy Now! and Al Jazeera which is carried on progressive radio networks.”

In the article, “Hillary Clinton mocked: Gadhaffi Goodwill glamour daughter,” this writer highlighted the woman slated to some day replace Col. Gadhaffi, his glamorous lawyer daughter and Goodwill Ambassador, Aisha Gadhaffi is battling against AIDS and violence against women plus her personal battle of losing her infant daughter killed in US led bombing. Aisha Gadhaffi is hailed as a major present leader in the Libyan’s struggle against NATO forces, as seen in Tripoli on April 14, and documented in “Aisha Gaddafi visiting Bab El Aziziz in Tripoli, Libya 14 Apr 2011, Youtube,”

Continue reading →

Michael Harris, incarcerated at Kinross Correctional Facility

FROM DESHON HARRIS SEPT. 4, 2011

I would  like to inform you that my brother, Michael D. Harris, ( on behalf of all Michigan prisoners who have been wrongly accused and convicted) , who is currently incarcerated in the Michigan prison system is trying to start an internet rally on 06September2011 @ 12pm regarding that the Detroit Police Crime Laboratory as well as the Michigan State Police Crime Laboratory-Lansing falsification of DNA and ballistics in hundreds of cases over a 30 year span and wrongly accusing and convicting innocent men. He is asking that all parties concerned log onto their computers and contact these news services to ask for an investigation regarding these atrocities of injustice. Thank you very much for your time and patience concerning this matter. The rally will be aimed at asking for thorough investigations from these particular investigation agencies: http://www.primetime.com, http://www.today.com, http://www.ac360.com, http://www.48hour.com and http://www.dateline.com respectively. Once again thank you for your time and patience concerning this matter.

Michael Harris is a founder of the People's Task Force to Free the Wrongfully Convicted, shown in earlier protest outside Pros. Kym Worthy's office

href=”http://voiceofdetroit.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Muammar-Qaddafi-speech-Sept-11.jpg”>

Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi speaks to the Libyan people and the world Sept. 1

Since six months fighting the major world aggressor armies alone, with Russia and other powerful nations falling into the banker elite gulag, Libya and African hero Muammar Qaddafi cannot be defeated in spite of crimes against humanity on an unimaginable scale being committed by NATO and allies.

(Rush translation posted on   http://www.mathaba.net/news/libya)

“In the name of Allah the Merciful, first of all I greet you for Eid Alfitr,  Mubarak, and I read the Qur’an for the ones who are martyred, the ones who gave their blood for our land and the ones who are still giving their blood for Libya to prevent it from being colonized by France, or taken by traitors or any other crusader. We will fight and we will make them spend and spend and spend their money until they are gone. I tell you the colonizers will be defeated and so will the traitors. Traitors and agents can’t continue existing here because they don’t have the ability and they don’t have supporters, they are colonizers’ agents and the Libyan people won’t accept colonizers; no one respects them.

Now NATO is getting defeated and they still want to stay here, but they don’t have the Power of the People on their sides, they don’t have the women on their sides, the Libyan people want to rule themselves by themselves.
 
Martyrdom won’t be forgotten, the tribes who lost their sons won’t forget this, you [crusaders] want to rule the Libyan people? The Libyan people will not surrender and will not accept to be governed like animals. There are too many problems between the traitors and NATO; the crusaders and traitors will be defeated to soon. You have to continue resistance, Tripoli you have to continue resistance in every area, attack their checkpoints like they attack us. Every tribe should control an area in Tripoli and so should the youth. Make checkpoints in the streets. Don’t fear them, you are millions so attack them from everywhere.
 
Who can control the armed Alnwahi Alrabaa? Who can control the Warshfanaa tribe? They never can. Who can control the armed Ben Walled? Who can control the armed Sirte? Now that all tribes are armed, Ben Waled, Sirte, Sabha, Aljfarah, Misurata, who isn’t armed? Our brothers in Barqa (east), who can contol the Ben Waled or the Almashashia Tribe? Without permission of these tribes no one can move forward, you are armed so make it hell for them.

Of course the enemy has advanced technology. They don’t want you to listen to my voice and they bombed our TV and phone lines. They thought with that they would silence my voice, but they failed, we will fight them in every city and village, we are not afraid!
They fear my voice, to only hear me is already dangerous to the colonizers, if we communicate with tribes that’s dangerous to the colonizers and the agents, but this all proves that the enemy is weak. If they weren’t weak they wouldn’t have bombed our TV and they would have allowed us to communicate with each other. They are afraid of our tribes to be in touch with each other; this all proves that they are weak and they only want you to watch their TV channels, which also proves that they are weak.

Why does it scare them when Libyan people are listening to my voice? Because they are weak and afraid. This is a trick, all you are listening to are lies, it’s false. Let this war be as long as necessary till we win. They can’t rule Libya because we are armed. They have to surrender in front of the Libyan people. They don’t have anything, only agents. The colonizers will not be here forever, this will be finished soon. NATO won’t protect those agents forever; they want you to be afraid because they are afraid themselves, because they can’t breathe. They cut off all communications because they can’t breathe, they made this plan to steal our oil and to occupy our Land, so don’t surrender to those agents.”

Uploaded by huey3manTV on Sep 1, 2011

By Lizzie Phelan, Independent Journalist

 Axis of Logic

Saturday, Sep 3, 2011 

http://axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_63691.shtml

Lizzie Phelan on RT news earlier in her time in Tripoli

Editor’s Comment: Lizzie Phelan is one of the few independent journalists who weathered the storm of the US/NATO bombing of Tripoli and their mercenaries’ invasion of the city. She was reporting from inside the Rixos Hotel and then moved nearby to the Hotel Corinthia, still amidst raging gun battles between government forces and the NATO mercenaries. She escaped Libya in a fishing boat which took her and others to Malta earlier this week. Today, she gives her first report since leaving Libya. We are indebted to Lizzie and other independent journalists whose work removed the mask of the corporate media and their paymasters. We look forward to more of her reports based on the months that she covered the war from inside Libya.

– Les Blough, Editor Axis of Logic  

Amidst all the media furor about the fall of Tripoli from the grasp of the Libyan government, it’s not easy to get a clear picture of what things look like under their new rulers. Upon being released from five days of entrapment in the Rixos hotel with 35 other foreign journalists, it was hard to believe that the streets I was driving through were the same ones I had become familiar with during the month I had spent in the capital.

The previously bustling roads with families rushing around toing and froing from the beach and getting ready for the meal to break the fast were empty, the green flags replaced by rebel ones, and the sparse checkpoints previously run by male and female volunteers, ie residents with Kalashnikovs, had been replaced by checkpoints every 100 or so meters, manned by tanks and exclusively male fighters holding sophisticated weapons supplied by the world’s most powerful military force, NATO.

The proud young black Libyans protecting their neighbourhoods were gone. Later we would see the images of them being rounded up and put on pickup trucks, a sight that in the previous months had been confined to places like Benghazi and Misrata. These are the victims of the claim that Gaddafi had hired mercenaries from the African continent, a claim which has been profusely rejected by human rights organisations as lacking any evidence. But in the new Libya they are some of the first – along with those from the largest tribes, Wafalla, Washafana, Zlitan and Tarhouna – suspected to be supporting the Muammar Gaddafi, a crime punishable by death and much worse.

Moammar Gadhafi with African leaders who support the Libyan Jamahiriya

The Red Cross convoy transporting us pulled into the Corinthia hotel. When I had stayed there on a previous trip just a month before, just two or three armed guards manned the entrance. This time it was overrun with men wielding weapons sent from NATO and Qatar and just a handful of swamped and exhausted staff remained.

Later, I saw some Libyan faces I recognised, their eyes looked filled with trauma. “How are you?” I asked one, “he is still in our hearts” she responded. Later when we had more time to talk in privacy she broke down, apologising as she cried. She said it was impossible to talk to anyone, “Libya is like our mother, but we can’t talk to our mother anymore”. A Wafalla woman from the tribe’s area of Beni Walid – she knew that she and her family could be rounded up at any second, simply because of the Wafalla’s steadfast backing of what they call their “guide” – Muammar Gaddafi. She told me,

“Beni Walid people have always been very proud, generous, humble and dignified people. Under that [the rebel] flag of King Idris, we had to kiss the feet of the king before we could say a word to him, we have gone back to those times.”

She was one of the many who warned me to keep my head down and get out as soon as possible. I had been one of the few reporters that focused on the effects of NATO’s bombing campaign in the country and had tried to highlight the million marches and mass tribal conferences in favour of the Libyan government that indicated it was not quite as unpopular within Libya as it had been portrayed to be.

I had also tried to expose the links of the rebels to Al Qaeda, which NATO was on the other hand fighting in places like Afghanistan. Since the admission by the rebels that the assassination of former rebel commander Abd al Fatah Younis was carried out by Al Qaeda-linked groups within their ranks, the presence of the extremists threatened to become clearer as the then Libyan government prepared to release files and phone recordings exposing Al Qaeda’s involvement in the crisis and how the west had worked with them.

But following the fall of Tripoli only unflinching acceptance of the new Libya would guarantee your safety, my Wafalla friend urged me to get home and speak about what was happening.

With fighting still raging on the roads out of the country, and them being particularly unsafe for anyone without rebel protection my only prospect of getting home was via the Mediterranean.

For days this was a very slim prospect – the commotion between the rebels that would frequently break out in the Corinthia hotel over who was the real authority, extended not just to the harbor via which I needed to escape, but to much of the city. For four days other foreigners and I would be told every few hours we would be leaving, only for the person who had given the go ahead in the harbor to disappear and be replaced.

With so many different groups, like the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, the National Front for the Salvation of Libya and those loyal to the defectors from Gaddafi’s government, the western forces now openly on the ground seemed out of their depth.

On my second day in the Corinthia, three butch British guys strutted around insisting they were now in charge of the security of the hotel. One of them told me he had come over from Kabul, which was “getting a lot worse”. “Do you think this is going to become like Kabul?” I asked, “It’s very likely, with so many different groups fighting for power”, he replied.

Meanwhile the cost in lives lost in the fall of Tripoli has received little investigation. The last concrete figures came from the then existing Ministry of Health on the second day of fighting in Tripoli which put the death toll in 12 hours in the capital alone at 1,300 with 900 injured. The Ministry reported that in the previous day over 300 had been murdered and 500 injured. This surpasses the 1,400 massacred during the two week onslaught by Israel’s Operation Cast Lead on Gaza which sparked outrage worldwide.

After heavy bombing and attacks by Apaches in Tripoli’s poorest neighborhood and one of the last areas to fall, Abu Saleem, eye witnesses reported seeing masses of bodies covering the streets. A relative of one of those feared to be amongst the carnage visited the local hospital where he said just one doctor and two nurses were left. Like masses of the capital’s workers, many hospital staff had fled, were in hiding or perhaps dead. When he asked to see the bodies, the guards told him there were none – his family fears they have been dumped in mass graves in locations that may for a long time be unknown.

This bloodbath does not fit into the narrative of a “free Libya” in which civilians are “protected”, but in such an atmosphere charged with the hunger for control at any cost, it is near impossible for those on the ground to be honest about the images before their eyes, while they remain in rebel held territory.

One young armed rebel donning the French flag on his fatigues creeped up behind me and asked me where I was from. “London” I replied, “Ah Cameron, we love Cameron,” he beamed. I forced a smile; to even criticize my own prime minister would betray disloyalty to Libya’s new rulers.

In the harbor as we looked at the ship that had been waiting to be relieved of its supplies and replaced with passengers, an Italian commented that it was like “a kid running a university” as the new people in charge worked out how to operate the cranes and other machinery necessary to keep the ships coming and going.

We were told that ship may not be able to leave for another five to ten days and the only option for exit by sea was a 20 yard long fishing boat for 12 people lacking most safety equipment, like diving gear.

43 of us prepared to board. The rebel then in charge of monitoring our boat checked our identification repeatedly over four hours insisting that no Russians, Serbians or Ukrainians would be allowed to leave. Neither would a Cuban and Ecuadorian citizen. Their countries relations had been too good with Muammar Gaddafi during the crisis.

Finally at about midnight, we were all allowed on, except for one Russian man.

As the sounds of tanks and firefights and the smell of death that filled the air grew more and more distant, I remembered the peaceful, welcoming and safe city I had driven into.

Lizzie Phelan is an independent journalist and commentator who reported from Tripoli during NATO’s bombing campaign and takeover of the capital. She can be contacted at phelanlizzie@gmail.com

Source: Axis of Logic (received from Lizzie Phelan via e-mail.)

Killer cop Joseph Weekley, a/k/a "Brain," as featured on "The First 48" website

Weekley’s “rights don’t trump the right of the public and the press” in Aiyana Jones death, says Judge Daphne Means-Curtis 

By Diane Bukowski 

Sept. 1, 2011 

DETROIT – Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Daphne Means Curtis today struck down Detroit police officer Joseph Weekley’s motion to keep secret all material in the civil suit brought against him by the parents of Aiyana Stanley-Jones, until after the case concludes. 

Weekley shot the seven-year-old child to death on May 16, 2011, while cameras from the reality TV show The First 48 were rolling. 

Aiyana Stanley-Jones, 7, at birthday party with other children who were in her home when police attacked last year

The judge ordered that only Weekley’s own deposition will be kept from public view due to the possibility of criminal charges, and because he will likely take the Fifth Amendment anyway if deposed. 

“The defendant wants too much,” Judge Means-Curtis said. “His rights don’t trump the right of the public and the press to materials that normally would be a matter of public record . . . .It is my intent that there be no gag order, except for the Weekley deposition. The rest of discovery will go forward in this case.” 

Weekley’s attorneys Kenneth Lewis and Randall Brown, of Plunkett & Cooney, had sought to deny public access to everything in the case, including the depositions of at least 20 other police officers involved, videotapes, transcripts, and interrogatories.

Detroit police officer Kata-Ante Taylor

One of the police officers on the witness list is Kata-Ante Taylor, who shot 18-year-old Artrell Dickerson to death as he ran from him after a friend’s funeral at the Cantrell Funeral Home on Mack in Detroit, in 2008. (Click on http://michigancitizen.com/police-executed-teen-at-funeral-say-witnesses-p4173-1.htm.) No charges have ever been brought in that case either.

Attorney Jonathan Marko of Geoffrey Fieger’s law firm, who represents Charles Jones and Dominika Stanley, Aiyana’s parents, said during the hearing that Fieger does have a videotape related to the events of May 16. It was not clear which videotape it is, since attorneys for the producers of “The First 48” have refused to turn over their tape. However, Marko said he would provide a copy to the defense the following day. 

Curtis ordered that Marko schedule depositions of the police officers immediately, prior to depositions of Stanley-Jones family members by the defense. Lewis and Brown refused to allow Weekley’s deposition five times over the last year, then filed for the protective order after Means-Curtis ruled in March that he must be deposed whether or not a criminal investigation had concluded. 

Atty. Kenneth Lewis of Plunkett & Cooney

The defense only recently sought depositions of the child’s family members and other witnesses, including that of Chauncey Owens, her aunt’s fiancé. Owens is currently in the Wayne County Jail awaiting sentencing for the killing of  Je’Rean Blake, 17, two days prior to the police assault on the Jones home. 

Police said they were looking for Owens, who lived in the upstairs flat, when they lobbed an incendiary grenade through the living room window of the lower flat and opened fire on entry, killing the child.

 Lewis became verbally combative after the hearing, when asked whether Weekley wants to depose Owens to divert attention to Charles Jones, Aiyana’s father. 

Court records show that Owens never said Jones gave him a gun to kill Blake, despite media reports to the contrary. Owens’ sentencing has now been postponed twice, until Oct. 31, pending his statement to “truthfully” disclose who gave him the gun. Prior to his guilty plea, his attorneys had repeatedly sought to throw out his confession, alleging that it was taken under extreme duress. (See VOD story at http://voiceofdetroit.net/2011/05/23/owens-never-said-aiyana-jones%e2%80%99-dad-gave-him-gun-used-in-teen%e2%80%99s-killing/). 

Owens’ court records also include his statements to police and psychiatrists that he was in the upstairs flat when Aiyana was killed, meaning he did not witness her shooting. 

“We want to hear it out of his mouth,” Lewis said. “Have you heard it out of his mouth?” 

State police conduct investigation at Jones home last year

Lewis refused to disclose how much his law firm is being paid by the City of Detroit to defend Weekley, but VOD has filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the city for that public information. 

Judge Means-Curtis addressed the issue of the unusual length of the supposed investigation of the child’s shooting death during the hearing. 

“The Michigan State Police turned over the results of their investigation in March,” Means-Curtis said. “There is still no indication from the Wayne County Prosecutor as to who if anyone will be charged in connection with the death of seven-year-old Aiyana Jones.” 

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy

She said she based her order to depose Weekley on her belief that the criminal investigation “would surely” have concluded by this time. Lewis said in court filings that it is likely the State Police requested a warrant for Charles Jones, not Weekley. 

Asked after the hearing whether he believed a criminal investigation was still ongoing, Marko said, “Do you?” 

“I know the family wants the criminal investigation to conclude as soon as possible and we hope the prosecutor’s office will move it along quickly and judiciously,” he said. 

Roberto Guzman of the People’s Task Force to Defend the Wrongfully Convicted was less tactful.

“Investigation on top of investigation,” he reacted. “A code word used by her [Kym Worthy] simply to deny justice.  This is going nowhere and that’s exactly what she wants.  I mean, come on.  Even Congressional investigations into scandals like Iran Contra, Watergate and more did not take this damn long!  It is offensive what we know is going on here – a deliberate denial at justice.”

Tashi Kiya protests outside Water Board Bldg. on Randolph

Detroit is under attack! Authorities from Oakland and Macomb Counties have asked Federal Judge Sean Cox to take the Water & Sewerage Department away from Detroit and convert it to a stand-alone entity which they can control. This will lead to massive privatization of the entire system. We can and we must defeat this latest assault on the nation’s largest black community. Everyone that believes in equality and democratic rights must say, “Hell no!” We will not allow Detroit to be stripped of its assets and jobs like we were an abandoned building being stripped of its metal. 

In July 2011, the Water Department requested that Judge Cox (brother of former Republican state Attorney General Mike Cox) release the department from control of the federal courts, a situation in effect since 1977. So Oakland and Macomb counties submitted legal responses asking the judge to legally separate the Water Board from the City of Detroit, specifically “overriding, as necessary conflicting provisions in the Charter, ordinances, city polices and labor contracts.” Since Judge Cox has effective control over the Department, this poses a real threat to Detroit beyond the many undemocratic rip offs, takeovers and takeaways to which Detroit is frequently subjected. 

Last year, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing diluted Detroit’s control of the department by giving up the right to appoint all the members of the Water Board of Commissioners, now Oakland and Macomb politicians hope to push their advantage by taking the Board away from Detroit without compensation. Bing and the City Council must oppose this thievery or lose whatever credibility they may have left in the community. 

The organizations and individuals sponsoring this press conference are announcing our intention to organize, fight and defeat this blatantly racist attack on Detroit’s assets and future. We urge all those who believe in basic democracy and fairness to join us.

 AFSCME Local 207: 313-965-1601, 313-919-5011, 313-995-5691

Lynna Kaucheck, Food & Water Watch: Cell: (586) 556-8805, Email: lkaucheck@fwwatch.org

By Diane Bukowski 

Aug. 27, 2011

DETROIT – The story told by former U.S. Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney during her appearance in Detroit Aug. 27 was agonizing, appalling and  rage-inspiring. 

It is the story of Libya under Moammar Gadhafi and the socialist Jamahiriya, and the imperialist campaign to wipe it from the face of the earth. 

Group "Siaire and Reign" performed at beginning of meeting

Under Gadhafi’s revolutionary administration, established in 1969, McKinney explained, Libya has guaranteed and paid for housing, health care, education and utilities for all its citizens out of its vast oil wealth. At the same time, it has opened its borders to workers and students from across Africa and the world to share in its peoples’ good fortune. Shop owners have also migrated there, she said, sending aid home to their families. 

“Libya is the wealthiest country in Africa,” McKinney said. “The quality of life there was good—the best in all of Africa. Now that tremendous wealth is being squandered and reduced to rubble by bombs we pay for. Not only is it war on Libya, it is war on all of Africa. Libya began the discussion of an African currency backed by 144 tons of gold. Libya has no debt, while the US is virtually bankrupt, with $60 trillion in obligations according to David Walker, former comptroller.” 

She said Libya therefore represented a threat to the Western world. 

“Not only did Libya advocate an Africa-wide currency that would separate the French economy from its parasitic relationship to the African states, they proposed building a one million person army so that Africa could stand on its own. Moammar Gadhafi announced he had set $90 billion aside for the creation of a United States of Africa. Moammar Gadhafi and Libya came to the rescue of the people of Northern Ireland as well as Nelson Mandela and the people of South Africa. The attack on Libya is an attack on all of us.” 

Audience member thanks Cynthia McKinney for standing up for the people of Libya

For these reasons, McKinney said, the U.S, the U.K., France and Italy with NATO launched their brutal war against the Libyan people, which currently has the streets and hospitals of Tripoli running red with the blood of civilians, especially Black Libyans and immigrant African workers. Their intent is to destroy every vestige of Libya’s achievements in the most brutal way possible. 

“People of African descent have a right to be able to live on this planet in dignity,” McKinney said, citing the message of the Pan-African Conference held in Libya in January.“If you can’t live in dignity, then come back home to Africa. That was the message–come back home to Africa, to Libya.” 

McKinney said at the time of the conference, the imperialist powers had just lifted economic sanctions against Libya. 

“Libya was in a building frenzy—they were building high rises all over the country because in the socialist Jamahiriya housing is a human right, therefore the government provides housing to everybody,” McKinney said. 

Speaker from audience

“Education under the socialist Jamahiriya is a human right. Whatever your talents are, Libya will pay for your education at Al Fateh University, which I visited after it was bombed . . . or the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, which a Libyan national who has been with us on this tour was attending. Also health care is a human right and if a Libyan national has an ailment and there is problem with treatment in Libya, then government will fly that person and family members to whatever country that has the expertise that is needed. . . . .Electricity is also free of charge. Can you imagine not having a utility bill?” 

McKinney said the Libyan U-Mass student told her he received an allowance of 2500 dinars a month, his portion of revenue-sharing from the country’s oil wealth. In addition to his tuition, the Libyan government was paying for his living expenses and that of his family. McKinney said he has just discovered that these payments are now suspended due to the war. 

Imperialist banks froze at least $50 billion in Libyan assets, $30 billion in the U.S. at the direction of President Barack Obama. The plundered wealth of the Libyan people is now being handed over to the so-called Transitional National Council of the counterrevolutionaries, who are led by the CIA and NATO. 

Audience gives McKinney a standing ovation

McKinney said her observations of Libya in January and during a previous trip led her to establish the Dignity Delegation of independent journalists, which left June 1 to tour the country with her, at the outset of the U.S.-NATO bombing campaign. She and some of those on the tour have now spoken in 36 cities across the U.S. 

“They were charged to do what journalists do, go there, hit the ground running, interview people, videotape, write stories and tell the truth,” McKinney said. They included Wayne Madsen (http://www.waynemadsenreport.com ), Jocelyn Barnes of DC TV in the District of Columbia, who shot most of the video, and a South African journalist from Channel 4 in Capetown, South Africa. 

“I was an eyewitness to NATO’s war crimes,” McKinney said. “They are targeting the civilian population, which is denied food, fuel and medicine under a naval blockade, even as the bombs are falling. Targeting civilian populations is a war crime. They also targeted Moammar Gadhafi for assassination. Targeted assassination is illegal under any aspect of international law.” 

Admiral Samuel Locklear

She said U.S. Admiral Samuel J. Locklear III, Commander of U.S. Naval Forces in Europe and Africa, and  Commander of the Allied Joint Force Command based in Naples, Italy, admitted that part of the NATO mission is to murder Gadhafi. 

She said just during the week of the Aug. 27 meeting, 3,000 Libyan civilians in Tripoli alone.had been killed by bombs and ground forces, including Westerners.

“But what I also saw there was a spirit of resistance,” McKinney said. “The residential compound of Moammar Gadhafi, Bab Al-Azizia, was bombed every night. When I was there, people would go there at nighttime and have a party, with drums and dancers. They camped out there increasingly as people’s homes were bombed by NATO, setting up a tent city. Every night when NATO bombed they knew they were bombing unarmed civilians. Bab Al-Azizia now is rubble.” 

She said the tent city included migrant workers who refused to go back to their home countries in solidarity with the Libyan people. 

McKinney said a worker from Cameroon she met at the tent city called her three days ago. 

Blacks killed in Libya by terrorist counterrevolutionaries Aug. 27

“He was in tears,” McKinney recounted. “He said ‘My skin is Black, my children are Black, my wife is Black—they are going to kill us.’ People are being targeted, threatened, intimidated, killed and lynched because of the color of skin. Can you imagine the ethnic cleansing of people of dark skin in Africa? About 58 percent of people in Libya look like me. What does it mean when the Voice of America writes a story about “New Libya More Arab, Less African?”  (To see VOA story with photos go to http://www.voanews.com/english/news/africa/decapua-libya-au-arab-laegue-25aug11-128388573.html. Also  “The deadly face of racism revealed by the NATO led war in Libya as Black Africans are being slaughtered,” from the Sierra Leone Telegraph. http://www.thesierraleonetelegraph.com/articles/100576.htm

McKinney said she visited the family of one of the dark-skinned Libyans murdered by the counterrevolutionaries. 

“They were called on their loved one’s cell phone and told ‘we have your loved one—watch what we do to him on Al Jazeera,’ and the family witnessed the torture and murder of their loved one.” 

McKinney said the damage to Libya’s infrastructure from NATO bombs is immense. 

“I tasted the grit of bunker-buster bombs, when NATO bombed during day, morning, afternoon, evening, night, eight to nine times a day. The clouds were not white, the sky was not blue, but an off-black color because so many bombs had been dropped that dust particles were hanging suspended in the air. Lib;yan scientists have now determined it to be depleted uranium. 

But to demonstrate the determination of the Libyan people to fight back, McKinney showed a video sent to her by a Libyan national she met during the Dignity Delegation’s tour in Texas.

The video (below) shows house to house fighting and gunfire in the streets Aug. 27, the day of the Detroit meeting.

Libyan war. Gaddafi supporters battling with Rebels Abu Salim suburbs Tripoli Today 27/08/11

 “What you just witnessed was sent to me from a Libyan national whose skin is dark just like mine, who is a businessman here in the U.S.,” McKinney said. “He joined us in Houston Texas for our truth tour.  He made a statement tha the people of Libya would fight house by house, inch by inch, bullet by bullet, body by body to defend their country. That young man is now one of those volunteers who feel so deeply about their country that they have gone back to defend the integrity and sovereignty of Libya. What we saw on that film is going to take place for a long, long time to come.”

Even a video from the Western media backs up her assertion. Filmed at the same time as the one above, it says Gadhafi is still in Tripoli leading Libyan forces against the counter-revolutionaries, utilizing a system of tunnels built under the capital to prevent his capture.

 McKinney said corporate media in the U.S. and world-wide are directly complicit in the slaughter in Libya. 

Walter Fauntroy

“I just received a phone call from a friend and supporter, a fellow peace lover who lives in Canada. He literally started crying on the telephone. He was crying because his best friend is being held in a hotel that is controlled by rebels—the NATO allies. The gentleman’s best friend committed the crime of being an alternative journalist who went to Libya to tell us the truth.” 

She said former U.S. Rep. Walter Fauntroy and other independent journalists are also at the hotel, where gunfire was heard. 

“One individual who is a representative of the mainstream corporate media in the US tried to turn this alternative journalist over to the rebels. What has brought us to this point in Tripoli is that fact that embedded in the media under the guise of journalism are members of  the press from various NATO countries who have been transmitting information for targeting purposes to NATO.”

Pres. Barack Obama, Commander-in-Chief

McKinney said President Obama’s role as commander-in-chief of the U.S. forces operating with NATO against Libya is creating problems abroad. Previously, Pres. George Bush’s Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began calling African migrants to Libya “mercenaries,”setting the stage for the current racist purge in Libya. 

“Now people are blaming us because we have allowed the policies of the imperium to take place in black face. If we don’t stop the war machine it will run right over us all.  No war is an acceptable war for us to fight.” 

But McKinney was upbeat in describing the potential for resistance against the war on Libya and the war on Black and poor people at home. 

“Something is happening in our country because many cities began to react to our tour,” McKinney observed. “With little notice people’s organizations came together in each city, and there has been standing room only at every one of our events.  We the people will make a new and better America. We’re here to kickstart the revolution. What we are trying to create is a better United States. We know that our war-mongering government does not represent the peace-loving people of the U.S.” 

Also speaking during the meeting were Debbie Johnson, of Workers World Party, who chaired it, Mark Fancher of the National Conference of Black Lawyers, Maureen Taylor of the Michigan Welfare Rights Association, Fred Vitale of the Green Party, and Abiyomi Azikiwe of the Michigan Emergency Committee Against War and Injustice. Several of their talks are included along with the video of McKinney’s speech below, taken by Lou Novak.

Below is the last video known to have been broadcast by Lizzie Phelan Aug. 25, 2011, one of the independent journalists McKinney referred to, whose lives have been threatened by CIA plants in the western media. All of Lizzie Phelan’s outlets, her WordPress site called “Lizzie’s Liberation,” and her Facebook and Twitter pages, have been shut down, clearly by forces who did not want her broadcasting the truth from Tripoli.

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