Standing ovation for Vanessa Fluker

 By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – The auditorium of Central United Methodist Church was filled with supporters of Attorney Vanessa Fluker March 25, including victims of foreclosure, and members of numerous groups including Moratorium NOW, the People’s Crime Lab Task Force, the Original Coalition Against Police Brutality, and other activists of all colors, ages, and sexes.

Vanessa Fluker speaks at rally March 25

Fluker is called the “people’s lawyer” by many, since she works 84 hours a week fighting to keep Detroit’s poor and working people in their homes, and has been active in the campaign for a state and national moratorium on the foreclosures that have devastated cities like Detroit.

 Her office mate, attorney Jerome Goldberg, said she takes cases even he wouldn’t take.

“Her legal work has led to significant legal victories,” Goldberg said. “She won the first case in Michigan holding that MERS [a temporary holding organization for mortgages] has no standing to foreclose.  She has won cases asserting that the failure to evaluate loans for modifications is a defense to a foreclosure.  She has testified in front of the U.S. Congress exposing the ‘silent bailout’ of the banks by the federal government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that occurs with virtually every foreclosure.”

Rubie Curl Pinkins and her attorney Vanessa Fluker demonstrate against her eviction at Bank of America in downtown Detroit

But on March 1, 2011, Michigan Third Circuit Court Judge Robert Colombo, Jr. assessed $12,200 in sanctions against this distinguished attorney and her client for what he called a “vexatious appeal” of an eviction stemming from a foreclosure by RBS Services (Royal Bank of Scotland).  Her support committee is trying to raise $18,000 to allow for late fees to keep her out of jail for contempt.

“It’s not just about me,” Fluker said. “It’s about my client and all those fighting foreclosures. Judge Colombo’s action could have a chilling effect on every attorney, making them fear that vigorous advocacy could result in such sanctions.”

Fluker is an extremely passionate, precise, and articulate speaker with a rapid-fire style that calls to mind the late Kenneth Cockrel, Sr. in his heyday.

Attorney Jerome Goldberg supports Fluker

“Today, we are actually foreclosing on each other,” Fluker told the crowd. “The U.S. government through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now owns and controls 75 percent of predatory, toxic loans foisted on homeowners by the banks and mortgage companies.”

Fluker explained that the government insured those loans and has paid the full cost of defaulted mortgages to the original lenders, who received billions in tax-funded bail-outs to boot. This is despite the fact that only a very small percentage of the lenders complied with the requirements of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that they negotiate affordable terms with homeowners to keep them in their homes.

“We must understand the vast profit the banks are making off the people,” Fluker said. “I have numerous clients who are making their mortgage payments every month and still get foreclosure notices. But no one will work with them because of the profit the banks can get out of foreclosing on them. We have to let the banks, the legal system and the legislatures know that we will NOT take this anymore!”

Former Third Circuit Chief Judge Mary Beth Kelly presents "Outstanding Judge of the Year" award to Judge Robert Colombo, Jr. in 2007

Other speakers supporting Fluker at the rally along with Goldberg were Rev. Ed Rowe of Central United Methodist Church, U.S. Congressman John Conyers, Wayne County Commissioner Martha Scott, and labor author Steve Babson. Conyers said he will sponsor fund-raisers for Fluker in New York City and Washington, D.C.

Many believe the role of Judge Colombo in this matter should be closely scrutinized for conflict of interest.  Colombo has not filed Campaign Finance Reports since 1988, when he received what is evidently an eternal waiver from the Secretary of State.

James Woodham, spokesperson for the Secretary of State, said that Colombo asserted in 1988 that he was not spending more than $1,000 on his campaigns. Woodham said he does not have to request a waiver again, EVER. This reporter, however, has reviewed numerous campaign finance records in her 11-year career, and NEVER found a candidate who had not filed a single report in 23 years.

Colombo house in Grosse Pointe, financed by RBS, the same bank trying to evict Fluker's client

SOS records confirm that Colombo lives at 754 Lakeland in Grosse Pointe. Wayne County Register of Deeds records show that a $200,000 mortgage on the home, taken out in 2007, was written off  in 2009 by the very same bank that is foreclosing on Fluker’s client, the Royal Bank of Scotland.

One of Fluker’s contentions in her “vexacious” lawsuit was that her client had been named by the Center for Community Justice and Advocacy (CCJS) in a federal Fair Housing Complaint against RBS. CCJA accused RBS of discriminating against Blacks by steering them to high interest loans, and then selling their homes at Sheriff’s auctions for low values, thus precluding their six-month right to redemption which is guaranteed under state law.

“Discrimination complaints are an accepted affirmative defense in eviction cases,” Goldberg noted.

Demonstrator smashes window at RBS branch in London during 2009 G-20 protests

Folks in RBS’ home country are not overly fond of the bank either.  Over a half-million demonstrators protesting huge government budget cuts in London, England last week  included some who chose to target a branch of RBS, throwing paint and bottles at the building.

Colombo ran for State Supreme Court last year, but his candidacy was dismissed by many in labor who still remember his infamous 2008 asbestos case ruling.

According to the National Law Journal, Colombo threw out the testimony of an expert witness on asbestos cases, Dr. Michael Kelly, putting thousands more lawsuits brought by victims of asbestos exposure “in limbo.”

Heat stroke caused deaths of four patients; Colombo sentenced nursing home director to probation

In 2007, Colombo sentenced Kathryn Gillis, R.N., former director of nursing at the Northland Nursing Center, to a term of five years probation for causing the heat-related deaths of four patients in the home. She pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter and could have received 15 years in prison on each count.

An investigation by the Attorney General’s office revealed that “the facility’s air conditioning system was not functioning, the facility’s windows did not open, and there was a lack of fans for residents to use” when temperatures in Detroit reached 87 to 90 degrees during three days in June, 2001. The patients died from conditions related to heat exposure, but Gillis remained free in her (presumably) air-conditioned home.

Prior to that, Colombo, as head of the Third Circuit Court’s docket review committees, recommended that Judge Deborah Thomas, be removed from the bench, allegedly for non-adherence to trial timeline guidelines. Thomas argued back that she was being forced to hold time-consuming jury trials by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, who had ordered no bench trials for judges she felt favored the defense.

Thomas was well known for her battle, begun in 2004, to get more proportionate representation of Blacks on Wayne County juries, another reason Kelly wanted her gone. Colombo was an ardent supporter of Kelly’s. Kelly presented him with a trophy in 2007 that called him the “Third Circuit Court Outstanding Judge of the Year.

Both Kelly and Colombo eventually lost out. A mass community movement in support of Judge Thomas’ advocacy for constitutional jury representation forced her to step down. When judges on the bench voted to replace Kelly with Colombo, the State Supreme Court snubbed them, instead appointing Virgil Smith, who came direct from the Prosecutor’s office.

Checks to the Vanessa G. Fluker Appeal Fund can be sent to 2920 E. Jefferson, Suite 101, Detroit, MI 48207. For more information about Moratorium NOW, call 313-680-5008 or go to their website at www.moratorium-mi.org.

http://hiphopandpolitics.com/2011/03/23/remembering-3-little-girls-for-womens-history-month/ 

Mar 23rd, 2011

Jasiri X

Shout out to Pittsburgh artist Jasiri X who comes with a heartfelt thoughtful joint that focuses on the plight of 3 young girls who were brutally slain…

Here’s what Jasiri penned about the women

For Woman’s History Month we wanted to shed light on how violent this society is especially towards woman and girls. “Three Little Girls” tells the stories of the senseless murders of Christina Taylor Green who was killed during the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Brisenia Flores who was gunned down by anti-immigrant militia intent on starting a race war, and Aiyana Jones who shot to death while asleep in her home, by the Detroit Police Department, while they were filming a reality TV show.

Aiyana Stanley-Jones

I realize these are sad stories, but how can we not be moved to action by the cold-blooded killings of innocent little girls? We have to begin to take an unflinching look at a culture that continues to glorify guns, bombs, and war and sees violence and aggression as the only solutions to its problems.

Written by Jasiri X and featuring 10 year old Hadiyah Yates, “Three Little Girls” was produced by GM3 and directed by Paradise Gray.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgcVMvl-k7A&feature=player_embedded to hear Jasiri X on Three Little Girls.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIE7efHPIvM to hear Conscious Plat “Aiyana Jones–I wrote this song for you.”

Go to http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_200589719953498 to join the Group “Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee.”

Also go to http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/27070653/index.html to view WDIV interview with Roland Lawrence, chair of the Justice for Aiyana Jones Committee, regarding plans for commemoration of first year anniversary of Aiyana’s death this May 16. Email Mr. Lawrence at rolandlawrence@msn.com to volunteer your efforts to help in this event.

“FOUR WOMEN” PHOTO EXHIBIT BY DALE RICH AT DETROIT PUBLIC LIBRARY DURING WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH  

Photographer Dale Rich at his Four Women exhibit at Detroit Public Library

Detroiter Dale Rich has been photographing the people’s struggles for 40 years, from the days of the civil rights movement in the South, to the newspaper strike in 1995 (which he was part of). He says that strike galvanized him once again to participate in protests and record them for all time.

Nina Simone

He dedicated his “Four Women” exhibit at the main branch of the Detroit Public Library to his great-great-great grandmother, who according to historical documents was sold six times “because she would not be whipped.” He took the theme from Nina Simone’s song, “Four Women,” particularly the fourth stanza: 

Mary Shoemake in photo at bottom left

JUST GO! to former Mayor

Dozens of women from Detroit and around the world were featured in his exhibit. In keeping with the theme, Dale singled out four Detroit women for special honor: Agnes Hitchcock, leader of the well-known activist organization Call ’em Out, Maureen Taylor, President of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, Helen Moore of Keep the Vote No Takeover, and Dr. Gloria House, who first became active in the struggle, as did Dale, during the 1960’s, as a member of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee.

(Go to  AGNES HITCHCOCK 2, MAUREEN D TAYLOR,  HELEN MOORE, and Gloria House  to read their biographies as they were displayed in the exhibit.)

More women warriors

Many of the photographs are of struggles organized by these women. Some of the participants featured in the photos were Mary Shoemake of Call ’em Out, Michigan Welfare Rights, UAW Local 6000, and virtually every activist group around, who recently passe on. Also seen were Gwendolyn Gaines, Marie Thornton, Gwen Mingo, Vanessa Fluker and many more. Dale said he is particularly proud of his portraits of Winnie Mandela, taken in South African, and U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama.

But perhaps the photo that summed up the exhibit was of an elder who took part in the original crossing of the Edmund Pettes Bridge in Selma, Alabama, during the famous civil rights march in 1964. Along with many others, she was attacked and beaten unconscious by police. Dale has traveled to Selma for many of the annual Edmund Pettes bridge crossing jubilees, and he photographed her crossing the bridge once again.

Dale plans to sponsor extended slide shows of his portraits of women warriors in the coming weeks

Maryanne Godboldo’s attorney Allison Folmar talks to media as some of many supporters of mother listen

 

Maryanne Godboldo

“She did not shoot at the police”

CPS trying to force dangerous meds on child, attorney says

 Rally Sat. Apr. 2 at 9 a.m. at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church; custody hearing on child Apr. 6; mother’s preliminary exam Apr. 8

 Family calls for write-in campaign 

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT –An outpouring of national support for Maryanne Godboldo, who refused to surrender her child to an army of police with tanks and automatic weapons, resulted in her release from Wayne County Jail March 30 on a personal bond of $200,000. A rally to support the mother and her right to prevent the administration of a dangerous drug to her 13-year-old daughter is set for Sat. Apr. 2 at 9 a.m at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church in Detroit. Godboldo and her attorneys will fight to regain custody of the child from Child Protective Services Wed. Apr. 6 at Wayne County Juvenile Court.

Godboldo's sister Penny Godboldo comforts crying child as supporters including the Rev. Edie Worthy (to her right) look on March 27; Penny Godboldo is a Dunham-certified master dance teacher

“I feel wonderful and I’m very excited to see my daughter,” Maryanne Godboldo, 56, said after leaving the Wayne County Jail. “The support of the community has been unbelievable.”

Asked whether Godboldo fired a shot, her attorney Allison Folmar responded that it was just an allegation, and that Godboldo  “had to endure the onslaught of police unlawfully taking her child.”

Earlier, dozens of family, community and church members gathered outside 36^th District Court Mar. 27 as Godboldo was arraigned on  charges of “one count of Discharge of a Weapon in a Dwelling, three counts of Felonious Assault,  three counts of Resisting and Obstructing an Officer, and Felony Firearm.” The charges, brought by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, could result in more than ten years in prison.

 “We’re supporting this family, they have been a pillar of the community and of our church,” said Rev. Edie Worthy, who heads the Social Justice Ministry at Hartford Memorial Baptist Church. A rally there, at 18700 James Couzens near Seven Mile, is planned for Saturday, April 2 at 9 a.m. with a march to follow.

Judge Sidney Barthwell, Jr. had just levied a half-million dollar bond (cash or surety) on charges brought by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy against Godboldo.

Police armored vehicles roll down Linwood to battle mother and child March 27

 “The charges stem from an incident that occurred on March 24, 2011 at approximately 5:15 p. m. in the 2500 block of Blaine in Detroit,” Worthy’s spokesperson Maria Miller said.. “It is alleged that Godboldo barricaded herself and her daughter in her home for approximately 12 hours in a standoff with Detroit police officers.”

However, Barthwell contended that Godboldo “allegedly fired a shot and sprayed drywall at one officer.”

During the incident, Detroit Special Response Team (SRT) officers descended on the home with armored vehicles and assault weapons. Video footage shows individual officers staking out the house, taking cover behind trees with their weapons, as in a military operation. Godboldo eventually emerged from the home after discussions with community representatives, and was taken into custody. Her daughter is currently in the Hawthorne Family Center, although she was originally supposed to be released to her aunt Penny Godboldo.

Police with assault weapons stalk Godboldo's home

During the arraignment, Folmar argued for a personal bond, and was passionate in her defense of Godboldo and her concern for the child.

“My client did NOT shoot at the police,” Folmar said afterwards. “Child Protective Services was trying to force her child to take a dangerous medication, Risperdal, against her will. We have been able to get a court order signed by [Wayne County Circuit Court] Judge Richard Skutt, staying the administration of this drug, which is not approved by the FDA (Federal Drug Administration) in such cases. That’s why they put her in Hawthorne, so they could dope her up.”

Folmar said Godboldo has a doctor for her daughter who practices holistic treatment, which she prefers. She said CPS has not told them what medical authority said the child would be endangered without it.

Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO-nVViSEW4&feature=player_embedded#at=116 and http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lfOGLpb1q24#at=18http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=lfOGLpb1q24#at=18 to view videos by two victims of Risperdal and tardive dyskinesia.

Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy

Sidney Barthwell, Jr.

A 2007 release from the FDA said Risperdal is approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and “manic or mixed episodes of bipolar I disorder” in children.” Folmar said Arianna has not yet been diagnosed with any disorder, although she may possibly suffer from autism induced by vaccinations she received earlier.

She said the child had been taking Risperdal for months, and experienced adverse side effects, including excessive weight gain and uncontrollable facial grimaces. The last symptom, according to FDA literature, is associated with tardive dyskinesia, a usually permanent, serious and untreatable disorder. The FDA also says treatment with Risperdal can result in the onset of diabetes and hyperglycemia, and in some cases in coma or death.

Child's father, Mubarak Hakim

Folmar called the bond “outrageous,” saying Godboldo is no threat to her child or the community. She and attorney Wanda Evans, who specializes in juvenile law and is representing the child, said a motion to reduce the bond would be filed Monday. Godboldo’s preliminary exam is set for Friday, April 8 at 36^th District Court (time to be posted later).

Mubarak Hakim, the child’s father, said Godboldo set an example for numerous other families, particularly in the Black community, whose children have been forcibly taken from them for questionable reasons.

“Child Protective Services is interfering with her rights as a parent to decide what doctor and what treatment is needed for her child,” Hakim said.

Margaret Warner, Child Welfare Director for the Wayne County Department of Human Rights, said she could not discuss the case individually for confidentiality reasons.

Margaret Warner

But generally speaking, she said, “We don’t just remove children; we have to get court approval, and then the court gives us permission to place the child. The parent(s) or whoever is responsible for the child must have put them in a situation of abuse or neglect. We conduct interviews with the parent, the child or a collateral contact and provide whatever services we can to prevent out of home placement. . . .[Then] if we think the child is at risk, we try to work with the parents to allow us to take custody. We really do work with the police when we have not been able to convince the parent. Parents do routinely resist.”

Starletta Banks in 2005 with photos of her children, who she had not seen since 2000; as of today neither she nor her family members have regained custody.

Warner said a hearing must be held in Juvenile Court within 24 hours of the child’s removal to allow the parent and their attorneys to dispute the removal. Since Godboldo is charged with a multitude of crimes, her ability to regain custody at this point is questionable.

Starletta Banks filed suit in federal court in 2005 after CPS snatched her three small children, Darius, Danielle and Darren from her loving arms in 2000, claiming falsely that X-rays of Danielle showed evidence of old fractures.

“The illegal stealing of our children nation wide is a very serious problem that is happening every day and in every state,” Banks told VOD. “Those involved such as judges, prosecutors, social workers, attorneys, physicians, child placement agencies etc. should be exposed, prosecuted and sent to prison.  The sole reasons that children are being stolen from their families and homes are the financial incentives associated with each child and circumstance.  There is federal grant money given to states and child placement agencies to create situations that do not exist to generate these funds.  The state of Michigan is financially broke, thus surviving on the backs of our children.

Banks’ family friend Irwin Johnson said during a state-wide protest against Michigan’s foster care system, “In Detroit and across the nation, it boils down to a racial issue. How can Black kids be over 50 percent of the foster care system, but make up only 20 percent of the population?”

Go to http://kidjacked.com/conspiracy/mother_sues_state.asp to read complete story by this writer on the Banks-Austin case. Also go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17iqUsACRZM and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSav5qxXPkY&feature=related to view startling videos of testimony on  “Psychotropic Drug Use Among Foster Children,” in front of a Florida Senate Committee in 2009.

Dr. Shirley Moore

Dr. Shirley Moore, National Director of Legislative Affairs for the American Family Rights Association, sued Los Angeles County for wholesale kidnapping through its foster care system.

“My lawsuit showed every foster care case was tainted because officials in Los Angeles County failed to disclose their conflicts of interest,” Moore said. In response to Moore’s actions, as well as an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit and an expose by the Los Angeles Daily News, a judge ordered a review of foster care placements in that county.

“Up to half of the 75,000 children in the systems and adoptive homes were needlessly placed in a system that is often more dangerous than their own homes because the county receives $30,000 to $150,000 in state and federal revenues for each placement,” wrote the Daily News.

For more information on the rally at Hartford Memorial, located at 18700 James Couzens Fwy. between W. Outer Drive and Seven Mile Rd,  call 313-867-4841 or email justice4maryanne@gmail.com.  Ms. Godboldo’s supporters have now set up a Facebook page for her at :  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-for-Maryanne-Godboldo/178678602179610 and a Twitter account at   http://twitter.com/#!/jstice4maryanne.

Additionally, her sister Penny Godboldo is welcoming letters of support as follows:

Attorney Allison Folmar can be reached at (313) 930-2500. Starletta Banks, who has become involved with many other families experiencing custody battles, can be emailed at firststar32004@yahoo.com.  

    

MICHIGAN AFSCME COUNCIL 25 IS ASKING ALL UNION MEMBERS TO ATTEND RALLIES IN THEIR STATE CAPITOLS FROM 12 NOON TO 5 P.M. (DURING WORKING HOURS) ON WED. APRIL 13. CALL 313-964-1711.  

AFSCME IS HOLDING OPEN MEETINGS EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 5:30 P.M. AT THE COUNCIL 25 HALL AT 600 W. LAFAYETTE AND THIRD; MANY DIFFERENT UNIONS ARE ATTENDING ACCORDING TO DETROIT’S CHIEF AFSCME NEGOTIATOR CATHERINE PHILLIPS.

Iris Salters, Michigan Pres. MEA

THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND STATE LEGISLATORS HAVE BEEN IN AN UPROAR OVER A LETTER SENT BY MICHIGAN EDUCATION ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT IRIS SALTERS TO 1,100 LOCAL UNIONS ASKING THEM TO TAKE STRIKE VOTES BY APRIL 15.  READ SALTERS’ LETTER TO THE MEDIA BELOW:

  SCHOOLS, STATE CANNOT AFFORD BUDGET CUTS

By Iris Salters, President of Michigan Education Association 

I’m proud to represent 155,000 public school employees who have dedicated their lives to preparing students for a brighter future.

But I’m worried about what the future holds for Michigan students, communities, public school employees, the middle class and the state in general.

Schools face devastating budget cuts that translate into larger class sizes, fewer staff members and reduced programs. Schools will close, and some districts will face financial ruin. For a district that’s already struggling to provide a quality education, what kind of future can be provided to students with a minimum of $470 less per child?

Detroit teachers walked off their jobs in 2001 to rally in Lansing to stop Rep. Kwame Kilpatrick's bill supporting charter schools

As educators, can we stomach the thought that students will be forced to learn in classrooms with 40, 50 or 60 students next year? Or that they’ll continue to do without the most basic supplies — paper, pencils, textbooks and computers? So distraught are educators over the learning conditions of their students, many are considering how to convince lawmakers to provide help, not more hurt.

The educational future of more than a million Michigan students must not be sacrificed. We will not stand silent while Michigan’s public schools and the middle class suffer more.

And suffer they will, especially in light of a new law giving emergency managers of schools the power to take over financial and academic decisions. What kind of future are we offering students when accountants — not trained teachers and administrators — decide curriculum?

A rigorous curriculum, small class sizes, safe and clean buildings, and other important resources to ensure student success don’t just happen. Until now, school employees have used the collective bargaining process to establish learning conditions for students as well as their own working conditions.

With collective bargaining rights in jeopardy, what kind of future do students have when their learning environments are substandard?

If some legislators have their way, schools will have to bid or outsource support services. How do you bid the job of the food service employee who helps a child without lunch money, or a custodian who befriends a troubled student? When those trained and loyal school employees lose their jobs, what kind of economic future does the community have?

Gov. Rick Snyder says lots of things. He says he believes in collective bargaining and shared sacrifice. He says he believes in a better future for Michigan that doesn’t follow the path of Wisconsin.

Well, his actions are speaking louder than his words.

He signed the emergency manager bill that when applied could eliminate collective bargaining for thousands of workers. So far, his definition of shared sacrifice is to increase taxes on seniors and force the poor to pay for a massive business tax cut. And continued attacks on Michigan’s middle class put us squarely on the path to our own Wisconsin.

Snyder talks about the “we” versus “me” mentality that will move us toward a brighter future.

I’m not sure who the “we” is that he’s talking about. We the people have had enough of the attacks on schools, on school employees, on public workers, on voters, on taxpayers, on communities and on the people who built this state and the people who will sustain it.

If there is going to be a better future for Michigan, it will be these people — not the politicians — who create it.

Iris Salters is president of the Michigan Education Association, a union that represents teachers and education support staff.

JUDGE BLOCKS WISCONSIN ANTI-LABOR LAW

 By Jane Slaughter

http://labornotes.org/blogs/2011/03/wisconsin-unions-scramble-beat-new-law

A Dane County (Madison) judge issued a temporary restraining order today to block publication of Governor Scott Walker’s anti-collective bargaining law.

Continue reading →

Watch video by clicking on http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/up-to-500000-protestors-attend-anticuts-demo-2253791.html.

Half a million in London turn out against budget cuts/Getty Images

By Alan Jones, PA
Saturday, 26 March 2011

The Independent

Organisers of a huge protest against the Government’s public spending cuts tonight hailed the demonstration a “fantastic success” after hundreds of thousands of people joined the biggest event of its kind for over 20 years.

Between 400,000 and 500,000 teachers, nurses, firefighters, council and NHS workers, other public sector employees, students, pensioners and campaign groups from across the UK marched through central London to a rally where union officials and Labour leader Ed Miliband condemned the “brutal” cuts in jobs and services.

London protest/Getty Images

Violence flared away from the rally when a group of hundreds of activists, not connected with the union protest, clashed with police. They set off fireworks, threw paint and attacked shops in Oxford Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly.

Topshop and HSBC had their windows smashed, while paint and glass bottles were thrown at a Royal Bank of Scotland branch.

Covering their faces with scarves, they fought with police and disrupted traffic, throwing lightbulbs filled with ammonia at officers and lighting a fire.

Nine arrests were made and some police officers were injured.

UK Uncut, an anti-cuts direct action group, later occupied the Fortnum & Mason store in Piccadilly, claiming the firm had “dodged” paying taxes.

Marchers proceed down Whitehall St. in London/Getty Images

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he “bitterly regretted” the violence, adding that he hoped it would not detract from the massive anti-cuts protest.

He told the Press Association: “I don’t think the activities of a few hundred people should take the focus away from the hundreds of thousands of people who have sent a powerful message to the Government today.

“Ministers should now seriously reconsider their whole strategy after today’s demonstration. This has been Middle Britain speaking.”

Mr Barber said unions would now step up pressure on the Government, especially MPs in their constituencies, and launch a series of protests next week in defence of the NHS.”

London Ambulance Service said 30 people were treated for injuries throughout the day, 11 of whom were taken to hospital, ranging from assault to collapsing with illness. Continue reading →

Joyce Moore

The Observation of Joyce Moore

Recently, there was a gathering of individual members of Citizens’ District Councils (CDC).  The reason for this gathering was because there is a need to re-establish the presence of Citizens’ District Councils in their communities and to consolidate their presence through the Coordinating Council on Community Redevelopment.   Citizens’ District Councils have the highest authorized citizens group that can participate in the development of their communities, such as rehabilitation of houses, new construction, creating job training programs to name a few, with the ultimate goal, to stabilize neighborhoods and the tax base they represent. 

The main discussion of this gathering was the upcoming election on April 5, 2011 for CDC’s.    According to Public Act 344, Section 125.74 (a) “Except as otherwise provided in this subdivision, for each district area, a citizen’s district councils of not less than 12 nor more than 25 members shall be selected in a manner that ensures that the citizen’s district councils are to the maximum extent possible representative of the residents of the area and of other persons with a demonstrable and substantial interest in the area.  The majority of the citizen’s district councils shall be composed of citizens living in the development area.” Each CDC must meet the minimum requirement of twelve members to be a voting, legitimate board.  There are three ways an individual who lives in the boundaries of a CDC can be placed on the board: 1.) by having their names placed on the ballot through petitions, 2.) as a write-in candidate by having their name along with their address written on a ballot and, 3.) as an appointee by the mayor.

Speaker confronts Mayor Dave Bing at first of last year's meetings on his down-sizing of Detroit plans; state law requires the participation of elected CDC's in any such plan involving "blighted" areas, but Bing has not complied

Another issue of concern was approximately $500,000.00 dollars proposed to be allocated for administrative services to CDC’s that are not funded.  These services can consist of flyers to be circulated within the boundaries of each CDC to let residences know of upcoming meetings.   Secondly, these services can provide for a newsletter to let residences know what’s going on and what kinds of programs are available to assist them with such things as utilities, taxes and rehabilitation of their homes.  Several in attendance indicated that these administrative services were not being provided by the City.  The issue then becomes, where is the money and who is getting it? 

If you are a CDC member and would like to participate in this effort, please contact Joyce Moore at (313)465-3299. 

Ed. Note: to read more about why Citizens’ District Councils are important, click on the following VOD articles regarding why Mayor Dave Bing’s “Detroit Works Project” violates state law requiring consultation with CDC’s: http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=757 and http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=824.

Mildred Gaddis

Aiyana Stanley-Jones

News and commentary by Diane Bukowski

DETROIT-

We are in trouble in Detroit. The trouble is not only the fault of the banks, the corporations, and the police (the first time this writer has admitted same).  The fact that many people in Detroit including Mildred Gaddis blamed Aiyana Stanley Jones’ family for the police bombing of her house last May 16 and the direct gunshot to her head by a white police officer from Grosse Pointe was one indication of the depth of the trouble we are in.

Another indication was Sheila Cockrel’s comment during a forum on the police consent decrees Mar. 17 that Police Chief Ralph Godbee is “doing a good job,” and a media observation that “Certainly people in the [police brutality] coalition aren’t talking about masses of people being shot or dying in their jail cells the same way they were 15 years ago.”

Imam Luqman Abdullah, killed by Joint Detroit-FBI task force 10/28/09

As the same media source said a week previously, Detroit police admitted to killing 10 people in 2010, including Aiyana Jones.* They also helped kill Imam Luqman Abdullah as well. Who is to say who killed all the unidentified corpses in the Wayne County Morgue?

But the ultimate abomination was the conviction of Jason Alexander Gibson Mar. 23 by a jury that may have had five Detroiters on it, since five of the jurors were Black. One of the jurors from Detroit told the Detroit News, “The prosecution put on a good case.”

Prof. Carl Taylor

Probably one of the same grown folks in this city that run around talking about the young people with their pants dragging down, saying they are terrified of them, and others from outside the city (e.g. Prof. Carl Taylor of Michigan State University, a gargantuan man) who say they are afraid to come to Detroit unless they are “strapped.” Maybe one of those Detroiters who proudly advocates “snitching,” per the following from the Dec. 5, 2010 issue of The Michigan Citizen:

“[Malik] Shabazz says the group [Detroit 300] is not only after those attacking the elderly but those participating in any form of crime, bringing down Detroit neighborhoods, ‘selling drugs, stealing hub caps, breaking and entering. We’re shutting it down …’ he said. He’s encouraging the people of Detroit to come forward with information on any criminal activity in their neighborhoods. ‘Don’t snitch, just tell,’ says Shabazz.”  

Fred Hampton

Tookie Williams

Ken Cockrel Sr. and Hayward Brown

Fred Hampton, Mark Clark, George Jackson, Tookie Williams, John Percy Boyd, Mark Clyde Bethune, Hayward Brown, and countless others from Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman on down must be turning over in their graves. They knew, as did the participants of the 1967 Detroit rebellion, that the police in Detroit are an occupying force there to protect the rich, not the people of Detroit.

Even the mother of 17-year-old Jarean Blake, whose murder was the excuse for the police assault on the Jones home, found that out when police rousted young people who were holding a memorial in honor of her son (see MC article by this author at  http://michigancitizen.com/mother-of-slain-teen-claims-police-brutality-p8783-1.htm.)

Many Detroiters have lost their minds, or at least their common sense.

Jameson house (l) next to 20263 Schoenherr

That is what both Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway and defense attorney Susan Reed told the jury to use in the Gibson trial for the killing of Detroit police officer Brian Huff last May 3. Many on the street and at least one in police administration ranks believed the address at 20263 Schoenherr to be a police-operated drug house that may have been guarded by neighbor Paul Jameson, using seven surveillance cameras on his own house.

Jameson testified he came out armed on May 3 with HIS .45 Smith and Wesson because he thought the “vacant” house was being broken into, even though he had told his wife to call 911. He testified he assumed a military stance on one knee next to a red tree in his front yard, with the gun held out in both hands, as police arrived. Curiously, said Reed in her closing argument, a .45 caliber casing was found by that tree but never accounted for. Jameson also testified he dissembled the gun before turning it over to the police later, giving ample time for a little cleaning job.

Sean Bell, killed on his wedding eve by NYC police, was also called "Bird"

Reed told the jury their common sense should easily show reasonable doubt as to Gibson’s guilt.

Common sense tells us—how does one man shoot a police officer twice, run out the front door into the gun sights of dozens of other police officers, shoot three of them while the officers are madly firing off their guns, leaving at least 40 bullet casings, most from the officers’ weapons, and end up alive?

Common sense tells us—there is something wrong with a picture where Huff allegedly gets a “breaking and entering—shots fired” call and enters the house in question with his gun strapped in its holster, the only cop who did not have his gun drawn.

Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraid were stripped naked in public like Jason Gibson

Common sense tells us—there is something wrong when a civilian, Tonya Wright, called by the prosecution testifies that she witnessed Gibson’s clothing being cut off him in the street and placed on the back of a police car, but never saw a gallon bag of marijuana until the police threw the clothes in the street with the weed on top of it. And then Reed pointed out, she says she heard police repeatedly hollering down the street, “Have you found the weapon?”

Regarding that weapon, common sense tells us: why were no gunshot residue tests of Jason Gibson’s hands or body entered into evidence, if he fired the gun 10 times, as the prosecution claimed? A technician testified only that he found no GSR on Gibson’s clothes, but said it did not necessarily mean he did not fire a gun. The only evidence the prosecution introduced was a fingerprint of Gibson’s they claimed to have found on a .45 magazine–which magazine, from what gun, and how did the fingerprint get there? Gibson was previously convicted on a felony firearms count and spent two years in prison for it. 

Common sense also tells us–when the arresting officer, Gibson’s partner Joseph D’Angelo, did not see a gun by Gibson when he handcuffed him to a fence, even though he was using his magnum flashlight, how does a .45 Ruger with the serial number shaved off magically appear a foot from Gibson’s head later, “discovered” by Officers Christopher Champagne, Ernie Harris, and one Rayshaun (sp?) Gaines, who arrived after the action?

Detroit SWAT was an A&E special

Curiously, Champagne, who appeared quite nervous and had to be asked to speak up when he testified, was not among the hordes of police officers of every make and kind, from inspectors to sergeants to the gang squad to the multi-agency task force, to the four cops injured when Huff was killed, who packed the courtroom for closing arguments Mar. 22 in Gibson’s trial. Why? They hadn’t been there for the three weeks of the trial. Was it to intimidate jury and judge?

Most of the cops ,uniformed or in “plainclothes,” were armed with their guns, batons, pepper spray and every other device imaginable, except their SWAT team helmets, shields, and rifles. One of them told Gibson within the earshot of his defense attorney and the judge “I hope you rot in hell,” as he left the courtroom after the closing statements. His group did not even wait for the jury to clear the outside halls as sheriffs who regulate courtroom procedures usually require.

Cops in court were armed like this

Judge Cynthia Gray Hathaway did not even bar that officer from returning, that’s how intimidated she was. While she was asking for peace in the courtroom, three of the armed officers standing behind Gibson’s mother, father and brother glaring directly at Hathaway. No sheriff asked them to sit down.

Prosecutor Thomas Trzcinski’s closing argument was a hodge-podge that included naming some of the 447 items entered into evidence, and mixing in names of the two undercover officers, Joseph Dunlap and Bryan Glover, who identified Gibson running from the house, with the names of numerous other officers who said they could identify no one in the darkness.

Trzcinski--prosecutorial misconduct?

It included Trzcinski calling diagrams drawn of the living room of the house “photos” showing Gibson standing by a side window aiming at Huff as he entered the house. The diagrams were no such thing—there are no photos of Gibson in the house.

 It included Trzcinski challenging the defense’s comments on evidence produced by technicians, saying she impugned their personal character. It even included him hypocritically telling the jury “God Bless” after Judge Hathaway specifically told both attorneys to avoid reference to religion during the trial.

It included constant appeals for the jurors’ sympathy for the cops who were injured, despite the judge’s instructions that sympathy must not enter into deliberations.

Jason Gibson with attorney Susan Reed

Trzcinski became hysterical, screaming in his rebuttal argument after Reed’s closing, during which she cautioned the jurors to distinguish evidence that should create reasonable doubt from the confusing mass of 447 items presented throughout the long, tiring trial.

As they say, “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.” In this author’s opinion, the massive evidence list, interspersed with gruesome statements from EMS technicians and cops which sent Huff’s wife sobbing into the hall, was meant to do just that.

Defense attorney Susan Reed called for a mistrial and accused Trzcinski of prosecutorial misconduct for his presentations, but was denied both recourses by Judge Hathaway. She said later that Gibson will appeal his convictions.

But Gibson’s conviction goes beyond his own personal case. WHEN WILL DETROITERS SAY NO TO THE BRAINWASHING THAT HAS BEEN PERPETRATED ON THEM BY THEIR ENEMIES? When will they listen to Jarean Blake’s mother, Lyvonne Cargill, who told this writer, “There are a lot of young people out there getting killed. Both Jarean and Aiyana are up there in heaven looking down and asking, ‘why did this happen?’  We gotta help our kids. They want jobs, they don’t have any recreation centers, nothing to do with their lives. I want to get a foundation set up to build a recreation center in Jarean’s name.”

Kym Worthy (l) interviewed by Mildred Gaddis

*The media source was author Curt Guyette of the Metro Times. This writer congratulates him for the excellent story he did prior to the consent decree forum as well as questions he raised about what good it did afterward. One item that should also be raised, however: POLICE WILL ONLY STOP THEIR KILLINGS, RAPES, BRUTALITY AND CORRUPTION WHEN THEY ARE CHARGED AND PUT IN JAIL. WHY HAS KYM WORTHY NOT YET CHARGED EVEN OFFICER JOSEPH WEEKLEY, WHO SHOT LITTLE AIYANA TO DEATH, LET ALONE OFFICER EUGENE BROWN, WHO KILLED LAMAR GRABLE AND TWO OTHERS, OFFICER EUGENE WILLIAMS, WHO KILLED 16-YEAR-OLD BRANDON MOORE AND TWO OTHERS, AND NUMEROUS OTHER COPS WHO HAVE COST THE CITY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS IN LAWSUITS BUT REMAIN ON THE FORCE?

Regarding the current Coalition against Police Brutality’s contentions that police are not shooting and killing folks like they used to, read the following from today’s Detroit News:

Cops shoot after man pulls gun

Mar 25, 2011  Detroit News

COMPILED FROM REPORTS BY GINA DAMRON, JENNIFER DIXON AND MATT HELMS

DETROIT – Police shot a man in his mid-80s Thursday [Mar. 24, 2011] after he pulled out a handgun while officers were executing a search warrant, Detroit police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said. She said police went to search the home on the 1000 block of Adeline about 12:45 p.m., looking for the Detroit man’s grandson, who is wanted for assault with intent to murder.

When police arrived, the grandfather pointed a handgun at officers, who fired at him, striking him in the arm and leg, Stephens said. She said the injuries are non-life-threatening, and the man is being treated at a hospital, where he is under guard.

(Ed. note: this is all that came out of reports from THREE writers? Ever since the issue of police brutality in Detroit was publicized at a City Council meeting in 1998, called for by the ORIGINAL Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, police and media have refused to publish the names of police shooting victims, as well as the names of the cops involved. Prior to that, it was common practice.)

And there’s more:

WOMAN FIRES AT COPS 

A woman opened fire on Detroit police officers Thursday in an attempt to keep Child Protective Services from taking her 13-year-old daughter, who has a mental illness, for medical treatment.

No one was injured. The incident unfolded about 5:35 p.m. on Blaine on the city’s west side and led to a standoff that continued into the night. Lt. Michael Nied of the 10th Precinct said a shot rang out after he and two officers kicked in the side door of the home.The woman offered to give herself up to a local minister, but negotiations were continuing as of 10:40 p.m.

(Ed. note: according to Channel 2 news this morning, the woman was taken into custody after community members intervened. Why should community members help the police arrest anyone? Why were police involved in the first place? Ch. 2 reported that the woman simply wanted to change her daughter’s doctors. There is a well-paid industry run by CPS to take children, especially Black children, away from their families and give them to “non-profit” foster care agencies who get a certain amount per head from the feds. Now the woman faces an unknown amount of prison time for trying to protect her daughter as she saw fit.)

• AS US NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY DESTROYS JAPAN AGAIN;
• 35,000 MEXICANS DIE IN ARMS-RELATED DRUG TRAFFIC
• US/UN BOMB LIBYA;
• BAHRAINI AND YEMENI PROTESTERS SLAUGHTERED;
• MURDERER OF PAKISTANI FAMILIES FREED;  
•  US THREATENS HAITI, PANAMA, CHILE

Reflections by Fidel Castro

In these bitter days we have seen pictures of an earthquake that reached 9 on the Richter Scale with hundreds of strong after-shocks, and a tsunami 10 metres high whose waves of dark waters dragged tens of  thousands of people between cars and trucks over homes and 3 and 4 storey buildings.

Sophisticated mass media has been saturating our minds with the news of civil wars, arms trade
associated with drugs that in just five years have killed more than 35,000 people in Mexico, climatic changes in various countries, asphyxiating heat waves, mountains of ice melting at the poles, torrential rains, shortages and growing prices for foods. We really need some consolation and this has just reached us via that life-saving angel of our species, the United Nations Security Council and its colossal invention: good conduct certificates.

Of course we already know, through the Europa Press Agency, that the number of persons who died as a result of the earthquake and the tsunami were 6,539, and 10,259 were missing, “according to the latest toll”.

Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Oakland Co. L. Brooks Patterson: We Believe in Detroit

Although we still do not know “the exact whereabouts of thousands of people”, the governor of a prefecture has suggested that the survivors ought to move to another part of Japan. (VOD editor note: maybe Detroit Mayor Dave Bing should create a nuclear catastrophe in the areas of Detroit he wants to force people from.)

“Damaged airports, ports and highways are being gradually repaired”, a Japanese news agency states.

The British agency Reuters was less optimistic when it stated that “a `Chernobyl solution’ could be the last resort” but authorities say that “it is still too soon to talk about long-range measures and that first we have to try to cool the plant’s six reactors and the fuel-storage pools.”

Professor Murray Jennex at San Diego State University in California said: “They (reactors) are kind of like a coffee maker. If you leave it on the heat, they boil dry and then they crack …”

Greenpeace protest against nuclear waste

“Putting concrete on that wouldn’t help keep your coffee maker safe. But eventually, yes, you could build a concrete shield and be done with it.”

Another dispatch from the European agency stated: “We launched a `race against the clock’ to cool down the reactors, declared General Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency Yukiya Amano.”

“`We are dealing with a very serious accident’, said Amano after meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, in reference to the Fukushima nuclear plant.”

Without a doubt, the world had been jolted by the unexpected accident in Japan, that moved even the foundations of the planet’s energy development; 442 nuclear plants were functioning, great need for repairs; the Chernobyl accident in 1986 had paralyzed construction programmes of new facilities which were about to resume and be extended.

Wouldn’t our concerns over NATO’s war actions in northern Africa to occupy the rich Libyan fields of light oil and ensure the enormous energy resources in the Middle East after the revolutionary eruption in Arab nations be exaggerated [according to U.S. reports on Japan]?

Serious threats of a new economic crisis were upsetting economists.

Bad news on the political front keeps on coming.

Funeral for Bahraini protester was fired on

AFP states that thousands of Shiite demonstrators were shouting anti-government slogans near Manama after Friday prayers, even though Bahraini authorities have prohibited crowds from gathering.

“Repression […] this week caused at least eight deaths: four demonstrators and four police.”

“`We are ready to sacrifice our blood and our souls for Bahrain’, shouted the demonstrators.”

“Bahraini authorities decreed the exclusion state this week […] within this small kingdom where the US has a base for its Fifth Fleet.”

AFP, March18, 2011

Shell casings from government gunfire during Yemeni protest

“More than 30 died and around a hundred were injured on Friday after demonstrators were shot at as they demanded the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh in Sanah, accordingto a new toll reported by medical sources.”

“`Most of those injured were hit by bullets to the head, neck and chest area’, a doctor told AFP.”

This is a close United States ally that also has the support of Saudi forces.

AP, March 18, 2011

“King Abdullah (of Saudi Arabia) spoke after Muslim prayers on Friday. He thanked residents and security forces for being `the hands’ of national stability.”

Pakistanis protest in Karachi against U.S. military operations and drone attacks in tribal areas

“Islamabad, March 18, (AFP) – thousands demonstrated on Friday in the streets of several Pakistani cities to protest against the American unmanned plane attack that killed 35 people this week and the liberation of a CIA employee who was being held for murder.” He had been set free after two million dollars had been paid to the relatives of the two men he killed in a Lahore street.

Why do we have the Security Council, the veto, the anti-veto, the majority, the minority, abstention, speeches, demagoguery and the solemn declarations of Ban Ki-moon?

Above all, why do we have NATO, its 5.5 million soldiers (according to highly qualified specialists) and its 19,845 tanks, 57,938 armoured vehicles, 6,492 fighter jets, 2,482 helicopters, 19 aircraft carriers, 156 submarines, 303 surface vessels, 5,728 nuclear missiles, tens of thousands of atomic bombs with the destructive power equivalent to hundreds of thousand times the capacity of those dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

There is more than enough of such stupid power, it wouldn’t be used, nor can it be used; we would need dozens of planet such as Earth. Its only purpose is to demonstrate the waste and the chaos generated by capitalism.

We can dedicate our time to other things, less sinister and more ludicrous.

For example, the DPA agency informs us:

Jean Bertrand Aristide ready to return to Haiti

“Port-au-Prince, March 18, 2011. The arrival of Jean-Bertrand Aristide in Port-au-Prince this Friday cannot have taken anyone by surprise.”

 
“January 20: The American State Department is opposed to the return of Aristide before at least the end of the electoral process…”.

The State Department has gotten mixed up even in this: it was the US that gave birth to Papa Doc, and it had overthrown and expelled President Aristide to Africa 7 years ago.

A Notimex dispatch, dated in Panama today, March 18th, informed that WikiLeaks revealed the entry of US warships to Panama:

“January 19: From South Africa, Aristide published an `open letter’ where he says he is `ready’ to return to Haiti’ at any time to `contribute as a simple citizen in the field of education’…”

“The covenant was signed on April 15, 2009 so that military vessels could enter Panamanian waters between May 3rd and the end of Torrijos’ term on June 30th this year, when the president was succeeded by the right-wing Ricardo Martinelli.

“`Until now, the Panamanian government has always refused to do this requirement arguing that operations with the United States Army were a sensitive matter for Panamanians’…”

Another interesting tale about the trickery of US foreign policy is told today by AP:

“Chile and the United States signed a nuclear energy treaty on Friday, despite the fears of the spread of radiation in Japan”.

“The fear arises after a devastating earthquake and subsequent tidal wave severely affected the nuclear reactors in a plant on the north-eastern coast of Japan”.

“The treaty was signed on Friday morning by US Ambassador Alejandro Wolff and Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfredo Moreno.”

Obama in Chile Mar. 21, 2011

“…White House officials were not able to confirm the highly awaited signing which one supposes would be a notable event during the visit to Chile on Monday of President Barack Obama.”

But no matter, appearances can always be life-saving and public opinion can be manipulated by
appearances; White House officials emphasized “that the treaty focuses on training nuclear engineers and not on the construction of reactors.”

Since Japanese nuclear technology is basically Yankee, their technicians surely would acquire more experience studying what happened in that beleaguered country whose population was victim of a cruel and unscrupulous predecessor of the current president of the United States.

Who are Obama, NATO and Ban Ki-moon going to fool with good conduct certificates?

Fidel Castro Ruz
March 18, 2011
8:54 p.m.

Obama to visit Ghana as he bombs Libya

Posted by Ngone Aw on March 23, 2011 at 4:30am 

http://theblacklistpub.ning.com/

View Ngone Aw’s blog

 Written by Sekou Nkrumah, Chairman of the Pan African Improvement Organization. He has written two books,”Repatriation and Pan Africanism, the Suppression of Two Movements” and “Notes on White Supremacy and  Capitalism.”

Unfortunately many Ghanaians are being deceived by Barack Obama’s presidency and his scheduled tour to Ghana. Many Ghanaians think that Obama will be coming to help develop the country, provide money or establish friendly relationships with Ghana. All three reasons are far from the truth. The truth of the matter is the U.S. has economic interest in Ghana, which they must guard militarily. This economic interest and military action presupposes political control. The implementation of U.S. political control of Ghana is predicated upon terrorizing the leadership, and consequently the Ghanaian masses out of their resources.

Terrorism is defined as the use of organized intimidation systematically to evoke extreme, intense and overpowering fear with violence or the threat of violence. Obama represents a country, from its inception that waged state and international state terrorism against African countries and Ghana, aimed at intimidating them to the point of dispensing of their human and material resources; through slave raiding.

AFRICOM--tool of U.S. imperialism

Through the Africa Command (Africom) which became fully operational October 2008, by the Bush administration, terrorism is now being carried out by Obama in Africa. Although the U.S. foreign policy makers have stated, “Africom is about helping Africans build greater capacity to assure their own security” the actual fact is the U.S. plans to manipulate African militaries against their own people and interest.

Assuring African security is another fabrication of the truth because the U.S. has never helped Africans, much less African countries, become more secure. Africans in America have been terrorized by such groups as the Klu Klux Klan for over 100 years, and the U.S. government never took one step, passed one law, outlawing the organization, or ending the violence committed against African people. Even after chattel slavery the U.S. government facilitated the Black Codes, which supported the Klu Klux Klan’s reign of terror on African people.

The U.S. was conceived in terrorism by murdering over 100 million “Indians” Indigenous People of the Western Hemisphere, and by destroying families and villages throughout Africa with the slave raid. As a consequence, Africans were enslaved for over 300 years and over 100 million Africans lost their lives in Africa, during the middle passage, and on America’s plantations – NAKED TERRORISM!!!

The U.S. has supported Mobutu of Zaire (1965-1997), Houphet Boigny of Cote D’Ivoire (1960-1993), Ian Smith of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe (1953-1980), Said Barre of Somalia (1978-1991), Arap Moi of Kenya (1978-2003), Hastings Banda of Malawi (1962-1995), Omar Bongo of Gabon (1967-2009), and the military support given to the racist apartheid regime of South Africa (1910-1994) in which hundreds of thousands of Africans were tortured, raped, and murdered in cold blood.

Kwame Nkrumah

The (CIA) Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S. has trained and armed reactionary movements that have murdered millions of Africans. These movements are and were directed toward the overthrow of legitimate governments in Africa. For example, Jonas Savimbi of UNITA in Angola, Afonso Dhlakama of Renamo in Mozambique, and the Selous Scouts in Zimbabwe. Since 1950, there have been 186 military coups in Africa, and 26 wars with many of them inspired by the CIA. In 1966, the CIA violently overthrew our first President Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. Today Obama is covering up the torture by CIA interrogators in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The CIA murdered Congolese Prime Minister Patrice Lumumba and aided BOSS, apartheid South Africa’s secret service, in the capture of Nelson Mandela which took 27 years of his life and forestalled the ending of apartheid. The irony of this is the U.S. labeled Nelson Mandela and other African National Congress (ANC) leadership as terrorists, while they were supporting the Apartheid government’s terrorism against Africans in Azania South Africa.

Patrice Lumumba

Sekou Toure

The CIA sought to overthrow the Revolutionary Republic of Guinea in 1970, by aiding the Portuguese invasion of the country, which was aimed at murdering President Sekou Toure and co-President of Guinea at the time, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah. They planned to also murder the Pan Africanist and Revolutionary, Amilcar Cabral, of the African Independence Party of Guinea and the Cape Verde Islands (PAIGC), Kwame Ture of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party and leader of the Black Power Movement in the U.S., and his wife Miriam Makeba, Africa’s premier revolutionary songstress—who recently died, may her soul rest in peace.

Remember Hanna Qaddafi

The U.S. shot down two Libyan jets on August 21, 1981, and bombed Tripoli and Benghazi on April 14, 1986, in an attempt to kill Qaddafi. The bombing killed Qaddafi’s daughter, Hanna, and were attempts to destabilize Libya (the country with the highest living standard in Africa). In 1989, the U.S. shot down two Libyan jets. In August 1998, the U.S. launched a number of cruise missile attacks on Khartoum, Sudan, killing innocent women, children, and babies. In December 1992, the U.S. invaded Somalia with 28,000 troops, slaughtering innocent women, children, babies, and elderly people, looking for a fictitious warlord who never raised one finger against America. In April 2007, the U.S. bombed Somalia from off its coast, along with using Meles Zenawi in the same year to invade Somalia, causing untold damage to the country and the loss of many lives. The U.S. has imposed sanctions on Zimbabwe because Africans have taken their land back from a white racist illegal settler regime. Obama has continued the sanctions against Zimbabwe’s elected government, while he hasn’t imposed sanctions on the illegal military coup makers in Honduras, lead by
General Romeo Vasquez, who was trained by the U.S. military in the “School of the America’s.”

Obama is obligated to continue this U.S. foreign policy, which is international state terrorism, because he represents the American capitalist class, who has tentacles of exploitation in countries world wide. It is this interest of the capitalist class and the protection of their profits, which is the reason for all of the terroristic violence that has plagued Africa, which is what Obama will advance when he tours Ghana.

US-Israeli mass killing of Palestinians 2009

When Israel invaded Palestine in January 2009, it was with Obama’s full approval. Over 1,500 Palestinians died in one week, and hundreds of thousands have been systematically murdered and tortured over the years at the hands of the illegal white supremacist settler colonialist Zionist state of Israel.

Obama even laid a reef at the holocaust memorial in 2009 for Jews that were murdered during WWII by Hitler, although Hitler murdered them with the help of some Zionist organizations and agencies who are running the state of Israel today (read Ben Hecht’s book, Perfidy). In the same vein he has no remorse for the Palestinians who are being massacred by the terrorist state of Israel. This provides evidence of how Obama supports racism, even against African people,
because he refused to allow American participation in the 2009 U.N. World Conference Against Racism, in Geneva Switzerland, because of possible condemnation of Israel for its crimes against the Palestinians and the demand for reparations by Africans for the U.S. crime of enslavement.

U.S. war on Afghanistan

Obama has stepped up his war in Afghanistan by providing an additional 20,000 troops in search of the CIA trained Al Qaeda, while killing untold numbers of Afghan women, children, and babies. Obama was shooting Drone missiles into Pakistan while bribing President Zardari, which forced him to break a truce and wage a war against his own population near the Afghanistan border, in search of the Taliban. All of this is a result of U.S. international state terrorism, to satisfy the unquenchable thirst of the U.S. oil cartel. In Iraq Obama is nowhere near his campaign promise of pulling out U.S. troops, who are killing Iraqi’s like flies. There are hundreds of thousands that have been raped, tortured, defiled, and have lost their lives, and millions of Iraqi’s scattered throughout the Middle East as refugees.

Likewise it is clear, through Africom that Obama is planning to turn Africa into a war zone, by using international state terrorism to crush any movement by thepeople to take control of their resources in Africa, and distribute them equitably to the African working masses.

This is the same type of terrorism that Obama and the U.S. will bring to Ghana.
By 2015, America plans on getting 50% of its oil from Africa. The Bush administration and Obama has continued his policy, which defines African oil as a “strategic national interest.” This policy has caused, among capitalists, Africa’s status to go up in U.S. national policy and military affairs. That is, the U.S. is prepared to go to war over Africa’s resources in the interest of their national security. The inference is that taking Africa’s oil in the interest of U.S. national security is more important than Africa’s resources being used to provide food, clothing, housing, education and health care for Africa’s own citizenry. Continue reading →

REPORTS FROM MEETINGS

What a Joke, the Sad Part is I am not Laughing!! 

By Sheila Crowell

Mark Schrupp

I was at the meeting on March 22nd, when Robert Bobb was brought to the public as a pawn, he had to be playing along with this game. After all, Robert Bobb is not going to do anything without it helping only Robert Bobb.. I have been asking R.B and Mark Schrupp for some time to meet with our neighborhood. Not just me but the people, families, parents, youth, of our 48210 Claytown Neighborhood, but nothing have I heard except a few emails from Mark Schrupp with promises to let me know what is going on, sad to say I am still waiting.

Maybe R.B. feels we’re not worth talking to, after all the Skillman Foundation did put a label on the people of our Claytown families. “Low income,” they even went as far as to use the words we are below “property value level, adding we have the highest teenage births. Even if this is true, it doesn’t mean we are worthless. Some have jumped on the band wagon of ‘let me get a grant, grant, grant.’ I am not saying it’s wrong to ask for help, but you must be able to do for yourselves. Think of it like this, what would you do if Skillman ran dry, or they just don’t like it because you want to take the help you received, and try your best with others in your neighborhood to make it on your own, wouldn’t they be proud that their help, had instilled the desire to better our community for all involved?

Robert Bobb sighting

Elvis Presley sighting

The other night’s meeting was a plan: if the word was put out that Robert Bobb was going to be at the meeting just watch and see how many people show up. Give them what you said would be in the flier, Robert Bobb. He will answer a few questions that had been written out ahead of time, with no surprises. A white board was held up for all to see, after he gave his answers and spoke for a few minutes, then Robert Bobb became Elvis, leaving the building with his merry men following by his side, what a joke.

Then a woman and a man came to the mike, played out a scene about a bus trip, and how much it would cost to go to Washington DC, for equal rights never saying a dollar amount. As I sit down in the front on the floor, I  I saw youth with signs and the ministers standing next to or behind the youth. All at once I saw Marie Salines of NCDI was holding a gold pot up in the air, they were asking for money, donations. Where was Skillman?

tudents and parents protest closing of O.W. Holmes, first proposed in 2007

We were told at a parents’ meeting at OW Homes, the meeting was going to be about closing OW Homes and Logan, and being involved in the designs of the new school that is to be built. A parent had gone to a meeting where RB was, this was the information she brought back. Nothing was said about OW Homes or Logan. A woman who was with the group on the stage did make statements her group wanted to be involved in the designs for Munger. If the 48210 Claytown Neighborhood, is left out of anything for our neighborhood, I promise all I will get an attorney. Enough is Enough…

That alone is a joke, the designs have already been made…I wonder why she didn’t ask Robert Bobb about the designs after all he was there, and she was a part of this team, unless it really was planned?  

PS There were people in the front of the building [ed.—By Any Means Necessary, BAMN students) not for Robert Bobb holding up signs. They made them leave from the entrance of the church.

The only thing that is left for me to say is I felt dirty when I left….I feel sorry for the parents that will have to deal with people who are only interested in using them to gain power. 

Sheila Crowell 

John Van Camp, CEO Southwest Solutions

Editor: Here are comments on the same meeting from wealthy John Van Kamp, who runs the allegedly non-profit Southwest Solutions, but profits from numerous poorly-kept apartment buildings its affiliates have turned into for-profit enterprises using government funds.

 I need to tell you about the inspiring rally that took place Tuesday night, called “Coming Together for a Better Detroit”!!

 About 900 people filled the pews of a spacious church in southwest Detroit. Their faces represented the wonderful diversity that characterizes our community. And their call for change filled the sanctuary like a chorus.

Grayling Elementary rotting after DPS closure

 We all listened intently as parents and youth spoke from the podium and described issues in our community that need to be addressed, like improving our schools, making our neighborhoods safer, and protecting the rights of immigrants and minorities. The speakers directed specific requests to the key policymakers in attendance, including Robert Bobb and leaders in the City and local law enforcement.

 The policymakers agreed to each request in principle, and with each commitment the audience reacted enthusiastically. All of us felt that we accomplished something important at this event, and it was time well spent. 

The rally was the result of two years of hard work by our Community Partnerships program and the dedicated team of young organizers at the Harriet Tubman Center. Together, they have been mobilizing parents, youth, educators, faith leaders, community organizations, and others into a powerful, grass-roots movement determined to help create a more civil and just society.

On the same day that the census was released, revealing the disheartening news of Detroit’s historic decline, the rally represented palpable hope. Undoubtedly, if we are to change our city, this inclusive and growing movement is necessary to help make it happen.