Hundreds rally in support of Egyptian revolution outside Dearborn City Hall Jan. 29

Express solidarity with the poor of Detroit, U.S.

By Diane Bukowski

DEARBORN, MI – As the 30-year regime of Hosni Mubarak teetered on the verge of collapse, hundreds rallied in front of the Dearborn City Hall Jan. 29 to support the millions who have taken to the streets in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and other Arab nations. The crowd here demanded an end to poverty and repression in their homelands, and to the U.S. military aid which has fostered it.

Essam Mohamed and Tarek Baydoun

“The youth led this in Egypt because they have no jobs,” said Essam Mohamed. “There is 50 percent unemployment and no social justice. There is no other way for change. President [Barack] Obama must stop choosing both sides. There is only the people’s side. Mubarak has been a dictator in Egypt for over 30 years. He must resign and the people must take over with a new constitution and new elected parliament. The police are Mubarak’s dogs, but the people are counting on the military to move to support their side.”

Mohamed expressed solidarity with the people of Detroit and other poor communities in the U.S. who face conditions similar to those of impoverished Egyptians.

The crowd carried Egyptian flags and signs calling on Obama to end support for Mubarak, chanting in Arabic and in English, “Mubarak, out, out we don’t want you.” They also condemned                            Suleiman, who Mubarak has installed as vice-president in the hope of maintaining control of the reins of power.

Nour Saker (center) and youth from Existence is Resistance carried Palestinian flags in support of Egyptian uprising

Nour Saker and other Palestinian-American youth from “Existence is Resistance” carried Palestinian flags in support of the uprisings in the Arab world.

“The PEOPLE of Egypt have always stood by the Palestinians,” Saker said. “Mubarak’s politics are not their fault. Their struggle affects Gaza, because as in Gaza, 90 percent of the people make only two dollars a day if they are working. There have been 30 years of Mubarak and 62 years of occupation in Palestine. The leaders are nothing but puppets put in place to oppress the people, and millions of our people are dying. The people’s battle in Egypt is the same as those in Palestine, Yemen, Africa and Haiti. It is a humanitarian issue.”

Saker said Existence is Resistance is a national grassroots organization that was founded in New York City.

“You can compare the ghettoes in New York City and in Detroit to the ghettoes in Palestine,” she said. “We all have so much in common and we all must stand up for our rights.”

Family carries photo of Khaled Said, murdered by Egyptian police who bashed his head into a wall; this photo circulated on the internet throughout Egypt and helped give rise to the current rebellion

Aly Lela rallied the crowd from the steps of city hall.

“Egyptian students, farmers and professionals are united, because 80 percent of them live in poverty,” Lela said. “Egypt is not Mubarak and is not the ruling party, it is the people who are in the streets right now. Instead of building alliances with dictatorships, the U.S. should build alliances with the people. The people are fed up, they want to choose their own leaders and build a brighter future.”

Lela denied contentions that the alternative to Mubarak is a regime like that led by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“Egypt is full of very qualified people who know how to run the country, especially the youth who have stood up to say enough is enough,” Lela said. “It is time for the White House to act.”

Tarek Baydoun of the Arab-American Political Action Committee said that further support actions here are being planned as the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen proceed.

“We are contacting the White House and everyone else in Congress and elsewhere to tell them that we want justice,” Baydoun said. “If Mubarak is out, other dictators will be out.”

Thousands also turned out to support the Egyptian revolution in the streets of dozens of other cities across the U.S., from New York to San Francisco.

Speakers with their children gathered on the steps of the Dearborn City Hall

Egypt’s Struggle against US Funded Repression

Tales of US Sponsorship of Repressive Regimes

By Solomon Comissiong Daily Journal (Opinion), Media, War and Peace, World News

Jan 29, 2011

On January 25^th, 2011 scores of Egyptians decided they were no longer going to tolerate widespread repression from the hands of their own government. This longstanding Egyptian government, headed by Hosni Mubarak, has ruled with a heavy hand for three decades. Throughout this regime thousands have been killed, unjustly imprisoned, or tortured. Starting in Tunisia, a wave of revolution built momentum; soon it became a tsunami of radical change.

Thousands still fill Egyptian streets

People throughout the Maghreb have reached their social Rubicon, vowing to no longer succumb to widespread suppression, hunger and poverty; meanwhile their elected leaders live like fat cats. This truly is a historical moment in recent history, and perhaps longer. Few media outlets have comprehensively covered this ongoing event—none were US corporate media outlets. We should seldom be shocked at the blatant omission of critical facts, regarding geopolitical events, that the US media has become rather adept at. For that matter, they also practice the same type of “journalism” with regards to critical domestic issues.

The US corporate media has followed the lead of Al Jazeera in terms of actually reporting the mass protests in Egypt (well, kinda sorta); however that is where the similarities begin and end. Instead of showing the story from multiple angles the US corporate media has chosen to focus from primarily the “US perspective” and the possible ramifications to American interests if the protests go a certain way.

 For instance CNBC contributor, Erin Burrnett, stated Friday January 28^th, 2011 on the MSNBC “Morning Joe” program that, “If this spreads, the United States could take a huge hit because democracy in a place like Saudi Arabia, you’ve talked about who might come in power, what that means for oil prices. They’re going to go stratospheric.”  She, like “Morning Joe” host, Joe Scarborough, who then replied, “No doubt about it.” was speaking from the point of view of the US elites’ interests.

Ongoing revolution in Egypt AP Photo

 US elites, like the US government, could give a damn if the people of Egypt suffered another 30 years of brutal repression so long as their precious financial and imperialist interests go unscathed. Instead of featuring expert guests with a wide range of perspectives on the social climate in Egypt, as Al Jazeera has done throughout, the US corporate media has done the complete opposite. They have provided little broad based contextual perspective, made sure their guest “experts” did the same, and negated any comprehensive exposure regarding the US government’s relationship with the Mubarak regime.

Faithful and zombie-like US corporate media viewers will get no understanding regarding the fact that their government funds the repressive Egyptian military and riot police to the tune of 1.3 billion dollars per year. Even the tear gas canisters that were responsible in bashing in the heads of some protesters had “Made in USA’ written all over them. I guess the US corporate media did not want to trouble Americans with that valuable knowledge.

Acting Israeli President Ehud meets then Sen. Joe Biden in Jerusalem in 2006.

They also found no reason to explain to viewers how brutal and oppressive the Mubarak regime has been during his 30 year tenure as president. I guess if they did that they just might have to explain why the US government has politically and financially supported such an authoritarian government. Vice President Joe Biden pretty much summed up which side of history the US government has become accustomed to being on when he said, “Mubarak has been an ally of ours in a number of things. And he’s been very responsible on, relative to geopolitical interest in the region, the Middle East peace efforts; the actions Egypt has taken relative to normalizing relationship with – with Israel. … I would not refer to him as a dictator.”

Any reputable professional media would have challenged Biden’s statement. Mubarak has been a faithful ally to the US; however whether or not Joe Biden refers to him as a dictator does not change the fact that Hosni Mubarak is in fact a dictator.

The US media system functions like a fourth branch of government and because of this they are compliant to their partners in Washington by providing as little perspective and information as possible. After all, too much information given to Americans would raise too many pesky questions. Americans are blindly obsequious to the US government due to their rather limited point of reference regarding America’s historically dubious role in global destabilization and support for some of the planet’s more repressive governments. The US government and their corporate media sycophants have masterminded the cultivation of a societal culture that has trained Americans to selectively defend the interests of ruthless oppressors all the while vilifying those being oppressed.

Financed by U.S., Colombian army terrorizes poor community

The US seldom predicates its allegiances with other countries on conscience, it bases them on convenience. The U.S. government’s own self-interest is at the top of their decision-making process regarding foreign policy. These decision rarely include justice, freedom or democracy. This is why American has long supported repressive regimes like that of Egypt, Colombia, and yes, Israel. Despite its horrendous record regarding the murder of trade union organizers and its use of the military to terrorize civilian, Colombia has received over seven billion dollars in military aid from the US since 2000. In exchange, the US has almost unfettered military access throughout Colombia so long as their military bases are built and maintained in the South American country. The U.S. has also funded Colombia’s indiscriminate rogue war on drugs, “Plan Colombia.” Colombia’s right-wing ex-President who oversaw much of the human carnage now teaches in Washington, D.C. at Georgetown University.

However, Colombia is outdone by Israel when it comes to receiving military aid from the U.S. Israel continues to serve as one of the most repressive states in recent history. The government of Israel’s outright suppression of Palestinians is deplorable by any human standards. Palestinians continue to live in some of the most oppressive conditions throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They cannot control their water system and electricity, and are subject to degrading checkpoints throughout the region. Brutal military force from the Israeli Defense Forces has taken the lives of scores of Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Those who were outrated at what the white minority apartheid regime did to Black South Africans prior to the early 1990’s should be equally incensed by what the state of Israel is currently doing to Palestinians. However, it seems as though the US government lacks a moral compass on this issue as they supply Israel with 8.2 million dollars a DAY in direct military aid. This comes by way of U.S. taxpayer dollars.

The US government has spoken with a forked tongue for a long, long time. Year after year after year, the US government masquerades around the globe as the self-proclaimed paragon for freedom, justice, equality and human rights. However, in the meantime they are engaged in bloody illegal wars and financially supporting destructive and repressive governments. As long as the American people allow themselves to be kept in the dark, as well as choosing to remain socially apathetic, there is no conceivable end in sight.

The American people have a choice. They can either speak out against the actions of their government in the name of the American people, or they can remain silent as their tax dollars continue to be used as “blood money.” As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in its as he who helps perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.” How long will we continue to cooperate?

Solomon Commissiong is an educator, community activist, author, public speaker and the host of the YourWorld News media collective at www.blogtalkradio.com/Your-World-News and www.yourworldnews.blip.tv.

Opinion Petition to the Michigan Legislature                        

Increase funds available for other vital state and local human needs

By taking these wise steps to reduce an excessive prison population:

Allow Credit for Good Behavior.  Permit the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) to use this valuable rehabilita-tion tool by providing well-behaved inmates the chance to once more earn monthly/yearly time reductions for obeying its rules.

Honor Older Good Time And Special Good Time Credit Awards.  Instruct the MDOC to stop the unjust practice of withholding sentence reduction credits already promised to some prisoners decades ago as a reward for their earned, positive behaviors during their incarceration period.  Currently, administrators too often unfairly refuse to grant months – or even years – of credits for good behavior instead of honoring its own past practice of recognizing inmate worth by such sentence time reduc-tions.  This failure to be fair wastes millions of dollars by keeping hundreds of older prisoners past their earned release dates.

Rethink Options On LIFERS & Others.  (1) Push the Michigan Parole and Commutation Board (PCB) to offer parolable lifers a release by reducing the subjective criteria being used for denials on some, (2) change sentences for lifers convicted as juveniles to life with the possibility of parole, and (3) encourage expanded investigations and more favorable recommendations to the governor for commutations and pardons (a) for worthy non-parolable lifers who have changed their lives, (b) for those with very long-term sentences who behave well, and (c) for inmates whose cases show evidence of wrongful convictions, raise unusual facts on investigative, prosecutorial, or sentencing abuses, and/or demonstrate other questionable circumstances.

Require Fair Parole Requirements.  Mandate the PCB release prisoners on their first eligibility date unless it can show by substantial and compelling reasons – based upon institutional (prison) behavior – why not.  The PCB now unjustly refuses to re-lease some well-behaved prisoners based on their type of crime, even though the minimum term of time given by the sentencing court already fully takes into account the nature of the crime and other objective variables.  (The maximum term is designed for those who fail to behave in prison life.)  And restore to prisoners the legal right to obtain judicial review for PCB decisions.

Petitioners calling for these corrections’ reforms               

Send your petitions – with one or more signers on each one – to your STATE representative and/or senator.

State Senator ______________________  State Representative ______________________

P.O. Box 30036                                            P.O. Box 30014

Lansing, MI 48909-7536                                          Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Senate Clerk:  517-373-2400                                  House Clerk:  517-373-0135

Relevant Web sites (01/30/11):  www.michigan.gov, www.michigan.gov/corrections, and www.restorativejustice.org

WBAI’s Radio Building Bridges: Your Community & Labor Report 
Monday, January 31, 2011, 7- 8 pm EST, over 99.5 FM or streaming live at http://wbai.org      
Produced & Hosted by Mimi Rosenberg and Ken Nash 
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NYC students demand: don’t close school doors

Bloomberg Stop The Snow Job On Public Schools!

with
. Stefanie Siegel, teacher, Paul Robeson High School
. Lowena Howard, teacher, Paul Robeson High School
. Letitia Ingram-Brown, teacher, Paul Robeson High School
. Lizabeth Cooper, student, Paul Robeson High School
plus
Highlights from the Stop Schools Closing Rally

Bloomberg’s Department of Education (DOE) plans to close 26 more schools this year. Despite the DOE’s claim that these school closings are aimed at reforming schools, they have instead opened the door to privately-run charter schools and have limited school options for those affected. According to the accounts by parents, students and teachers, DOE policies have had the effect of undermining the schools that are slated to be closed, not “fixing” them.  Bloomberg has played a shell game with our most vulnerable children, shuffling them around from closing school to closing school. This process has disproportionately affected students of color, only serving to further perpetuate a separate and unequal school system in New York City.  A discussion about and sounds from a rally for quality resources and support for our public schools, not closings and privatization!
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Teachers are seen at a rally outside the Brooklyn Tech High School Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2010, where they were protesting school closings. (Photo by Robert Mecea)

Bloomberg and Cuomo Declare War on Public Sector Workers,
Public Services and the Poor

with
. Arthur Cheliotes, President, Local 1180, CWA
. Diane Savino, NY State Senator

In a one-two punch both Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo are attacking public sector workers and their unions. Both are demanding benefit and pension concessions and are threatening large scale layoffs to balance their budgets. Bloomberg also wants what he calls major “reforms” in the
civil service system giving him more power in hiring, and laying off workers. While NYC’s budget currently has a $1.7 billion surplus, Cuomo is projecting a $10 billion deficit next year for because of lower revenue forecasts caused by the recession and decreased federal aid. Many of the cuts Cuomo is considering will unbalance the NYC budget. Yet, neither “leader” is willing to consider taxing the rich to generate more money or cutting outside contracts to save money. They prefer to wage war on public workers, public services and the poor.
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                                    Listen on your Smartphone
WBAI live streams are available on the iPhone, BlackBerry, Android & other smartphones. For more information, go to http://stream.wbai.org              

Nathaniel Abraham in recording studio during his brief period of freedom; behind (l) Dr. John Telford, (r) John Cromer

Mother and child re-union in Black America

By Diane Bukowski

ADRIAN, MI – During the 14 years from the time Nathaniel Abraham was 11 to the present, most of which he has spent in prison, the major media nationally has subjected him to unrelenting attacks. But the love and dedication his mother Gloria Abraham-Edwards has for her child has never wavered.

On Jan. 24, she stood firm, as did her son, during a court hearing on two counts of assaulting prison employees at the Adrian Correctional Facility in November. Each charge carries a sentence of two to four years on top of the four to twenty years he is already serving.

Mr. Abraham refused to waive his preliminary exam. It was scheduled, but not held, since court-appointed attorneys there appear to routinely advise their clients to bypass this crucial legal proceeding. A new date was set for April 13.

Ms. Abraham-Edwards, Mr. Abraham’s grandfather and a young relative drove 80 miles from Pontiac over dangerous snow-covered roads to be present.

Nathaniel Abraham in arms of loved one

“We are here for moral support,” Ms. Abraham-Edwards said. “I believe my son, he said he didn’t do it and he is not going to take a plea. I encouraged him to keep his head up. He is a strong young man and he has the prayers of his family and friends going up for him. He’s going to get through this just like he has everything else. I was so glad to see him on his birthday.”

Mr. Abraham, who turned 25 Jan. 19, was transferred to the Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility, 120 miles from Pontiac, and placed in segregation after the November incident.

“We had to see him behind a glass wall, and they had him in shackles,” his mother said. “The last time I went to see him, we could sit down together and I could buy him food. I don’t like seeing him in handcuffs. He had to talk to us on a phone, and it was hard for him to hold it up because of the shackles. I don’t like what’s going on, but the Lord is keeping us, and I give all credit to the Lord.”

Nathaniel Abraham tried as an adult at 11; his feet wouldn't reach the floor in courtroom chair

Mr. Abraham drew national attention as the face of America’s war on Black children in 1997. He was charged with first-degree murder at the age of 11 for shooting and killing 21-year-old Ronnie Green in Pontiac, with an old gun that had no stock and could not be aimed, according to experts who testified at his trial. Green died as a result of what appeared to be random gunplay by a child.

But on front pages locally and nationally, a storm arose during which white America appeared united in calling for Mr. Abraham to be tried as an adult and even to face the death penalty. It was only after the Rev. Al Sharpton and others led marches in front of the Oakland County, Michigan courthouse and famed attorney Geoffrey Fieger took the child’s case, that the judge in the case exercised his option of sentencing him as a juvenile.

When Mr. Abraham emerged from detention at the age of 21, the media once again pounced.

He was photographed leaving prison dressed in what white reporters appeared to think was inappropriate garb—a white suit with a pink tie. Readers commented on newspaper websites that he looked like a “thug.”

Reporters then discovered that the state had made arrangements to pay the initial cost of an apartment for the young man, as part of a routine housing program for ex-offenders, and tuition costs at a community college, while he sought employment. The resulting publicity resulted in cancellation of those arrangements.

Recording company logo

But Mr. Abraham forged ahead. While incarcerated, he had become a talented rapper. Supporters from churches and from the America Works! program helped him find employment utilizing those skills. A promising career was ahead.

“He is employed, he is the President and CEO of New Life Records, and has his first contract with a major recording company, Hits Entertainment Group, to bring out a debut album,” John Cromer of America Works! said in 2008. Links to Abraham’s recordings appeared in newspaper articles in the only positive coverage he ever received.

But other reporters, contacted by an anonymous informant, claimed that Mr. Cromer had taken Mr. Abraham to a nightclub to live the high life. Cromer said in fact they had gone there to meet a leading recording executive.

State Trooper Jay Morningstar during arraignment in killing of Eric Williams

A short time later, in May, 2008, an army of 10 state troopers and Pontiac police officers arrested Mr. Abraham at a gas station where his car had broken down. They said they caught him with hundreds of Ecstasy pills and charged him with a 20-year felony, “delivery and manufacture of a controlled substance.” Among the troopers was Jay Morningstar, who had previously been tried and acquitted by a mostly white jury for gunning down a Black homeless man in Detroit.

Mr. Abraham eventually took a plea deal and was sentenced to four to 20 years for an offense that likely would have resulted in probation for a well-to-do suburban youth. He was due for his first parole hearing this coming August.

But in November, Mr. Abraham’s girl friend went to visit him at the Adrian Correctional Facility.

“She had had her visiting privileges suspended for three months until November 19,” Ms. Abraham-Edwards said. “She went all the way to see him on November 21, but they still wouldn’t let her visit, claiming there were some paperwork problems.”

Michigan Department of Corrections spokesperson John Cordell said in published remarks, “He allegedly assaulted staff at the Adrian Correctional Facility.”

Attorney Daniel Bagdade (l) with Nathaniel Abraham and another attorney during court hearing on drug arrest

Mr. Abraham’s former attorney, Daniel Bagdade, who visited him after the incident, told a different story in published remarks which he told this reporter to use.

“Nathaniel steadfastly denies he ever assaulted any prison guards,” Mr. Bagdade said. He said Mr. Abraham said the guards jumped him after isolating him.  Numerous prisoners report that guards frequently create incidents to interfere with their chances for parole.

“I’ve known Nathaniel for years, and the one thing I can say with confidence is that Nathaniel is absolutely not an assaultive person,” Bagdade said. He said Mr. Abraham was injured by the guards and was frightened by the attack.

In court on Jan. 24, however, Mr. Abraham carried himself proudly, holding his head up as he informed the judge that he wanted his preliminary exam held. He steadfastly locked his gaze on the faces of his family members.

“Since our long ordeal, I have a different view of the media now,” his mother said afterwards. “They like to invade people’s privacy. They don’t know Nathaniel and they don’t know me. To damage someone like they have—they need to leave us alone.”

People take over streets, torch government buildings in Cairo

BREAKING NEWS: DEMONSTRATE AT DEARBORN CITY HALL TODAY, SAT. JAN. 29 AT 2 PM WITH LOCAL SUPPORTERS OF EGYPTIAN UPRISING

Regional ruling party headquarters is torched amid renewed protests, as death toll from unrest crosses 90.

Jan. 29, 2011

http://english.aljazeera.net

Go to Al Jazeera link above for ongoing coverage of revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and now Yemen. Live streaming coverage, along with numerous stories, photos and videoes are available.

Also go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzrbySzggWM to watch video from Real News citing continuing U.S. support for Hosni Mubarak’s regime.

Commentary from VOD’s Greg Thrasher after Al Jazeera article.

Tens of thousands of people in the Egyptian capital Cairo have gathered on the streets, in continued protests demanding an end to Hosni Mubaraks’s 30-year presidency.

Egyptian people defy world-wide austerity measures

The demonstrations continue in defiance of an extended curfew on Saturday, which state television reported will be in place from 4pm to 8am local time.

A military presence also remains, but Al Jazeera’s Ayman Mohyeldin said that soldiers deployed to Tahrir Square in Cairo are not intervening in the protests.

“Some of the soldiers here have said that the only way for peace to come to the streets of Cairo is for Mubarak to step down,” he said.

Similar crowds were gathering in the cities of Alexandria and Suez, Al Jazeera’s correspondents reported.

Reports have also emerged that protesters attempted to storm the interior ministry in Cairo, and that the military have been trying to prevent police from shooting at protesters.

All photos from Al-Jazeera

Fears of looting have also risen, and the army on Saturday warned local residents to “protect their property and possessions”.

The Egyptian cabinet have formally resigned in response to the protests, and Ahmed Ezz, a businessman and senior figure in the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) has resigned from his post as chairman of the Planning and Budget Committee.

Protesters ransacked and burned one of his company’s main offices in Mohandiseen, an area of Cairo.

State media reported on Saturday that some protesters held up posters with a cross marked over the face of Ezz, who is chairman of Ezz Steel.

Overnight protests were also held on Friday in cities across the country, in what has been viewed as unprecedented anger on the part of the Egyptian people.

In Alexandria, Al Jazeera’s Rawya Rageh reported that scores of marchers were calling on Hosni Mubarak to step down.

“They are calling for regime change, not cabinet change,” Rageh said.

She said that they were blocking traffic and shouting “Illegitimate, illegitimate!”

Protester outside mosque in Cairo

The Reuters news agency reported that police had fired live ammunition at protesters, but there is no independent confirmation of that report.

 In Suez, Al Jazeera’s Jamal ElShayyal reported that 1,000-2,000 protesters had gathered, and that the military was not confronting them.

ElShayyal quoted a military officer as saying that troops would “not fire a single bullet on Egyptians”.

The officer also said the only solution to the current unrest was “for Mubarak to leave”.

ElShayyal said that 1,700 public workers in Suez had gone on an indefinite strike seeking Mubarak’s resignation.

The latest protests reflected popular discontent with Mubarak’s midnight address, where he announced that he was dismissing his government but remaining in power.

U.S., world banks behind uprising

The several hundred protesters in Tahrir Square demonstrated in full view of the army, which had been deployed in the city to quell the popular unrest sweeping the Middle East’s most populous Muslim country since January 25.

They repeatedly shouted that their intentions were peaceful.

According to the Associated Press, the road leading from Tahrir Square to the parliament and cabinet buildings has been blocked by the military.

Al Jazeera’s Jane Dutton, reporting from Cairo, said the normally bustling city looked more like a warzone early on Saturday morning.

Tanks have been patrolling the streets of the capital since early in the morning, and a statement from the Egyptian armed forces asked citizens to respect the curfew and to avoid congregating in large groups.

An extended curfew has now been ordered by the military, running from 4pm to 8am local time, in Cairo and other major cities.

State television is also reporting that all school and university exams have been postponed.

Rising death toll

Tunisian revolution was victorious

Cities across Egypt witnessed unprecedented protests on Friday, with tens of thousands of protesters taking to the streets after noon prayers calling for an end to Mubarak’s 30-year rule.

The number of people killed in protests is reported to be in the scores, with at least 23 deaths confirmed in Alexandria, and at least 27 confirmed in Suez, with a further 22 deaths in Cairo.

Al Jazeera’s Rageh in Alexandria said that the bodies of 23 protesters had been received at the local morgue, some of them brutally disfigured.

She added that human rights activists had reported that a further 13 bodies were present at the general hospital.

ElShayyal, our correspondent in Suez confirmed 27 bodies were received at the morgue in Suez, while Dan Nolan, our correspondent in Cairo, confirmed that 22 bodies were present at a morgue in Cairo.

More than 1,000 were also wounded in Friday’s violent protests, which occurred in Cairo and Suez, in addition to Alexandria.

Dutton, in Cairo, said the number of the people on the streets “increased after president Hosni Mubarak’s speech shortly after midnight”.

Poor re-distribute wealth from stores

Regarding the situation in the capital on Saturday morning, she said “there is broken glass everywhere … a lot of the burnt out shells of the police cars have been removed but you are aware that there were hours and hours of skirmishes on the streets of the capital city [last night]”.

The ruling NDP headquarters in the capital is still ablaze, more than 12 hours after it was set alight by protesters.

The Egyptian army said it had been able to secure the neighbouring museum of antiquities from the threat of fire and looting, averting the possible loss of thousands of priceless artefacts.

Armoured personnel carriers remain stationed around the British and US embassies, as well as at the state television station.

Some mobile phone networks resumed service in the capital on Saturday, after being shut down by authorities on Friday. Internet services remain cut, and landline usage limited.

Authorities had blocked internet, mobile phone and SMS services in order to disrupt planned demonstrations.

‘Mobs’ and ‘criminals’

Maged Reda Boutros, a member of the ruling National Democratic Party, told Al Jazeera that the political regime in Egypt was “admitting” that it was not meeting the expectations of the people, and that was why the cabinet was resigning.

Ousted Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali

“It shows a response to the demands of the people,” he said.

He alleged that the protests have been taken over by “mobs” from the “lower part of the society”, who are now engaged in “burning, looting and shooting”.

“Now it has turned from a noble cause to a criminal cause,” he said, saying that most of those involved in the protests were criminals.

He said that half of those killed are members of the security forces, who died while acting in self defence.

“People should wait and see what’s going to happen. But if they continue doing protests and letting those criminals loose in a large city of 17 million people … we cannot play with the stability of the country.”

Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition figure, told Al Jazeera that protests would continue until the president steps down. He also stressed that the political “system” will have to change in Egypt before the country can move forward.

He termed president Mubarak’s speech “disappointing”, and called on him to resig. The former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also expressed “disappointment” with the US reaction to the protests, though he did stress that any change would have to come from “inside Egypt”.

He said that Mubarak should put in place an interim government that would arrange free and fair elections.

ElBaradei added that he was not aware of his reported house arrest.

Friday’s demonstrations involving tens of thousands of people were the biggest and bloodiest in four consecutive days of protests against Mubarak’s government.

Greg Thrasher, contributing editor VOD

AMERICA’S POOR IN THE STREETS

By Greg Thrasher 
 
Our government has a long and ugly legacy of influencing our domestic media in all kinds of areas from accurate data about the rates of crime, cancer, wealth, poverty to the truth about the existence of UFO’s and related usual phenomena. The massive scope of technology also lends itself to the government ease in influencing media accounts and information. The barrier between truth and fiction is the most important question in the media and it is a question that no longer is under the privy of media corporations.

Our government has secretly spied on civil rights leaders and invoked national security themes to get our media outlets to partner with them on the creation and development of propaganda and disinformation. Our media outlets have partnered with the government on all types of filtered news that is reported to the American public.  On many occasions this interference with the free flow of information, data and knowledge has been welcomed by our political parties and our leaders in both the private and public sector. 

MLK Day in Detroit at Martin Luther King HS Jan. 17

When the news accounts involve foreign affairs and military concerns the injection and excuse of national security surfaces, which provides cover and rationales for our government’s control, filtering and manipulation of news and information. The events in Tunisia & Egypt scare the ruling class in America, from concerns about the economic fallout to the notion that America’s poor will parrot the protests of those in the streets of Tunis & Cairo.
 
It is to longer a secret or a conspiracy in the modern world many governments engaged in propaganda and information for a number of reasons.  It is not a far-fetched fiction that those in the ruling class and our political parties fear the possibility that America’s poor will take to the streets and engage in an American regime change.
 
The poor and underclass here in America share the same misfortunes , poverty, hopelessness and impotency as those in the streets of Tunisia and Egypt. The plight of the poor is a universal condition and international boundaries are not relevant nor a barrier to those suffering common fates and realities. There is hunger and homelessness right here in Detroit, whose streets share the visuals of any third world country. 

Families of striking prisoners in Georgia protest retaliatory beatings

It is therefore incumbent to understand how close to the edge our nation is to a civil war right here on Main Street in America, from foreclosures to high unemployment to educational systems that fail our inner city youth to prisons and jails which warehouse large proportions of America’s population.
 
These are perilous times for the entire world the events in the streets of foreign nations matter here in streets of America as well. The importance of news outlets like Voice of Detroit should not be overlooked and under-appreciated.

 No Racist Takeover! Keep Your Dirty Hands Off Detroit Water System!Videotape by Kenny Snodgrass of Press Conference held by Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson Jan. 27, 2011 in front of Coleman A. Young Municipal Center.

Kenneth Snodgrass –
Author of “From Victimization to Empowerment
The Challenge Of African American Leadership
The Need of Real Power” website: www.trafford.com/07-0913

eBook available at http://ebookstore.sony.com/search?keyword=Kenneth+Snodgrass

KennySnod – 205 Video’s on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/KennySnod

 

Dear Community Leader: 

On January 20, 2011, State Representatives Heise and Kowall introduced House Bill No. 4112 seeking to ‘take over’ The City of Detroit’s water system (a water system which was paid for by Detroit citizens, and which is wholly owned by The City of Detroit). 

As you know, Detroit’s water system—the third largest in the nation—has been subject to other take-over legislation in years past; however I am convinced that this will be our toughest fight! I am asking that you stand with us during a press conference to be held this Thursday, January 27, 2011 at 2 p.m. at the Spirit of Detroit statue at Woodward and Jefferson. Then it will move inside to the Erma Henderson auditorium, 13^th Floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center; and immediately thereafter attend a brief strategy session in my office on the 13^th floor of the CAYMC (light refreshments served). During the strategy session we will outline plans for a rally in Lansing, discuss messages to send to Governor Rick Snyder, and outline other organizing efforts to stop this latest water take over legislation. 

Please join us at the press conference, and if you are able to bring a position paper opposing House Bill No. 4112 along with members of your organization to stand with us, we would be appreciative! 

You can access a copy of House Bill No. 4112 at Heise water bill 2011-HIB-4112, or request a copy during the press conference, which will be convened by State Senator Bert Johnson, State Representative Shanelle Jackson, and Members of The Detroit City Council. 

 Jo Ann Watson 

Sandra James 

Executive Asst./Scheduler 

Council Member Jo Ann Watson 

Detroit City Council 

2 Woodward Ave., Suite 1340 

Detroit, MI 48226 

(313) 224-4535 (O) (313) 224-1524 (F)   

City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson

THE PEOPLE MUST FIGHT!! TO STOP WATER THEFT 

Detroiters paid for, built and own DWSD; Watson plans peoples’ fight against Rep. Heise’s bill, march on Lansing  

By Diane Bukowski 

DETROIT – Not only Detroiters, but people in the entire region served by the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), and its 43 million customers, will suffer if a bill proposed by State Rep. Kurt Heise (R-Plymouth), previously head of Wayne County’s Department of Environment under Executive Robert Ficano, comes to fruition. 

H.B. 4112  proposes not only regionalization of DWSD governance as Heise claims, but actual seizure of DWSD assets by a pseudo-public authority, and operation by a private entity. Heise is also calling for the refinancing of DWSD’s entire $5.2 billion debt, an interest-rate windfall for Wall Street. 

John McCulloch, Oakland Co. Water Resources Commissioner, Pamela Turner, former Interim Director DWSD, and Kurt Heise when he was Director of Wayne Co. Dept. of Environment under Exec. Robert Ficano

“I’m the only candidate who has worked for over 15 years with – and against – the Detroit Water & Sewer Department on complex litigation and water and sewer rate disputes,” Heise declared in his campaign literature last year. “I’m the only candidate in Michigan with a plan to create a regional authority for suburban customers to assume control of the DWSD System and put it in the hands of a private operator.” 

Private for-profit operation, regional control involving more politicians in the pockets of greedy contractors, and higher debt payments to the banks will not only mean higher water and sewerage rates for Detroit in particular, but for residents of all eight counties and 126 communities the system serves. 

Click on Heise water bill 2011-HIB-4112 to read the entire document (it is co-sponsored by State Rep. Eileen Kowall (R-White Lake); see part two of this story for an analysis of the bill’s provisions.)   

Detroit Wastewater Treatment Plant

Detroit City Councilwoman JoAnn Watson says she is not waiting in the wings to see how Heise’s bill pans out in the Republican-dominated state legislature or in the hands of Governor Rick Snyder. She plans to mobilize the people of Detroit to wage war against Heise and his collaborators to save the city’s most prized jewel. 

“Detroit’s water system – the third largest in the nation– was paid for by Detroit citizens, and is wholly owned by The City of Detroit,” Watson said in a release. “It has been subject to other take-over legislation in years past; however I am convinced that this will be our toughest fight!” 

She called for Detroit community leaders and others to join her in a Jan. 27 press conference (see above) and plan a mass march on Lansing to head off the theft.  

Maureen Taylor, president of the Michigan Welfare Rights Organization, said, “The people of Detroit will not stand for a takeover of the Water Department by private or external sources. Instead, the current Board of Water Commissioners, which was nothing more than a rubber stamp for the biggest thefts already committed against Detroiters, should be replaced by a People’s Water Board to oversee contracts and the department.” 

The Board of Water Commissioners is appointed by Detroit’s Mayor and includes representatives from the tri-county area. 

Watson said State Sen. Bert Johnson and State Rep. Shanelle Jackson are co-convenors of the Jan. 27 press conference. 

State Sen. Bert Johnson

State Rep. Shanelle Jackson

“This blatant attempt to steal an asset from the City of Detroit is as misguided in substance as it is divisive in style and the City and its allies must stand united against the bill,” Sen. Johnson said in a release. He contradicted two reasons Heise used in introducing the bill: high water rates, and corruption in DWSD allegedly demonstrated by the “Kilpatrick Enterprise” indictments. 

Johnson said DWSD rates are among the lowest in the nation. 

Detroit’s Lake Huron Water Treatment Plant, built and paid for with bonds issued by the City of Detroit

“If people living in the suburbs are paying too much for their water, the real culprits are their own city leaders,” Johnson said. “The roughly 125 communities served by the department do a lot of upselling. For example, Eastpointe charges their consumers 305.67% more than the wholesale cost of water from Detroit. Garden City charges 136.61% more. Oak Park upsells by 224.18% and Rep. Heise’s own town, Plymouth, charges 119.51% extra.” 

Johnson said that since Mayor Dave Bing is now in control, the corruption of the Kilpatrick era is a thing of the past. 

However, Bing was a member of U.S. District Judge John Feikens’ Business Leadership Group (BLG), formed in an effort to get Detroit to cede control of DWSD voluntarily. That body ultimately negotiated the sale of the massive 21-mile Macomb County Interceptor, in violation of Detroit’s City Charter, which mandates a vote of the people of Detroit before any utility is sold in whole or in part. Bing’s administration authored the sale documents. 

U.S. District Judge John Feikens, now retired

U. S. District Judge Sean Cox now oversees DWSD consent decree

Also serving on the BLG were Bing’s close ally Anthony Earley, CEO of DTE, representatives of Ford and GM, and movers and shakers like DWSD contractor James Nicholson of PVS Chemicals, a major contributor to both Bing and Kilpatrick’s campaigns. 

(Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=3644 to read “The Feikens Enterprise” and on http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=3624 to read “The History of the Feikens Enterprise.”) 

Feikens claimed that only a federal mandate, not state law, could overrule Detroit’s Home Rule Charter. He said, however, that he did not want to use his authority to take DWSD away completely. However, it is not clear whether his successor, U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox, whose name was drawn at random to handle the consent decree, will have even those reservations. 

George W. Bush appointed Judge Sean Cox

Former President George W. Bush appointed Cox to the federal bench. He is a member of the notorious, ultra-conservative Federalist Society. He is also the brother of former State Attorney General Mike Cox, the only Republican politician to OPENLY support the anti-affirmative action Proposal 2. 

Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner John McCulloch wasted no time taking advantage of Cox’s oversight. On Jan. 26, he asked Cox to appoint a five-member regional board to run the system. Detroit’s Mayor, representatives from Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties and a fifth member named by Cox would comprise the board. 

“To hell with regional cooperation,” remarked Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson. 

Representatives for both Bing and Heise’s former boss Ficano were asked if they supported the bill, had discussed it with either Heise or Gov. Snyder, or supported any other measures including privatization. They were also asked what actions they planned to take to stop the bill if they did not support it. 

To date, Bing’s office has not responded to the request for comment.   

Mayor Dave Bing and Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson.

Crain’s Detroit Business reported that Bing “said that he thinks people lack data about the system and that a reasonable conversation should occur once data is amassed.” Crain’s also reported that the Mayor “plans to begin carrying out his plan to resize the city of Detroit in the second quarter of 2011.” 

 That statement speaks volumes when linked with the city’s ownership of the mammoth DWSD. 

Ficano said in a statement, “I’ve had several discussions with the Mayor, and have faith in his leadership. I believe in giving him an opportunity to correct the mistakes and practices by the previous administration, and allowing him to move forward with an accountable, transparent operation. At this time, I have not had any discussion with Representative Heise regarding the bill.” 

Wayne Co. Exec. Robert Ficano with Bing at 2009 Mackinac Island Conference

Ficano was a key originator of state legislation that seized control of Detroit’s Cobo Hall and turned it over to a regional authority. 

Bing’s remarks as reported by Crain’s were made at a luncheon meeting of the so-called “Big Four:” Bing, Ficano, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Macomb County Executive Mark Hackel. Crain’s said Hackel spoke against the takeover bill, but expressed confidence in Bing as “one of the nicest men I’ve ever met.” 

Crain’s reported that Patterson claimed the system has been financed largely by federal tax dollars and suburban ratepayers. He completely ignored the fact that Detroiters have paid for billions in bonds that built DWSD. 

The positions taken by these politicians give all the more weight to Watson’s call for immediate action.   

Ford Exec. and BLG member Tim O’Brien (l) heads Southeast Michigan Water Quality Consortium; Heise was a member

Heise claims close ties with both the BLG and Judge Feikens, arising from numerous previous roles. He may be a rookie state legislator, but he is no rookie in dealing with water and environmental issues and the politicians (of both parties) involved. 

He served as Ficano’s head of the county Department of Environment and Wayne County Drain Commissioner from 2003-09. During that time, according to his resume, he was: 

• Leadership Team Member of Southeast Michigan Water Quality Consortium (headed by Ford Motor Co. Executive Tim O’Brien of the BLG, this Consortium along with the BLG initiated the sale of the Macomb County Interceptor.)
• A member of DWSD Director’s Council.
• DWSD Technical Advisory Committee Bylaws Subcommittee
• Co-Chair of Rouge Gateway Project and former chair of Rouge River Remedial Action Plan Advisory Council.
• Principal organizer of Alliance of Rouge Communities and Co-Chair of Organizational Committee.

Dearborn Heights City Hall

From 1994 to 2003, he was the Dearborn Heights Mayor’s Deputy and Assistant City Attorney. He represented Dearborn Heights on its Rouge River stormwater management plans, Downriver sewer system consent decree, and its stormwater permit compliance issues. 

(Click on http://voiceofdetroit.net/?p=3436 to read “One Man’s War Against Detroit Contractor Corruption,” which deals specifically with several disastrous Rouge River Outfall tunnel contracts.) 

Heise received  substantial campaign contributions from the Bolger Restore Michigan PAC. Newly-elected State Rep. Jase Bolger (R-Marshall) is now Speaker of the House of Representatives. That PAC in turn was funded by the Business Leaders for Michigan, Mortgage Bankers, Michigan Bank, and Dow Corning PAC’s, among others. 

Speaker of the House Jase Bolger (R-Marshall)

DTE CEO Anthony Earley

James Nicholson, PVS Chemicals, heavyweight Republican fundraiser

The DTE Energy PAC (BLG member Anthony Earley), The Commanders Majority Fund (which received $134,000 from BLG member James Nicholson along with funds from many utilities and insurance companies), Michigan Insurance Coalition PAC, the Bank of America PAC, Associated Builders and Contractors, and many other big business interests also heavily funded Heise. 

KEY PROVISIONS OF HEISE/KOWALL’S H.B. 4112 

 

(Press Release) Posted by Danny Weil Education Jan 24, 2011

 “This isn’t Florida, and the DFT is Not a George Bush Union,” Declared the Real Winner, Steve Conn

Steve Conn at school board meeting Dec. 6, 2010

In a hotly contested runoff election for President of the Detroit Federation of Teachers, challenger Steve Conn of Defend Public Education/Save Our Students, (DPE) declared victory after the Election Committee refused to conduct a fair recount. The vote count separated Conn from incumbent Keith Johnson by only 41 votes, with as many as 700 votes uncounted.  Dozens of ballots are missing, and teachers have signed affidavits stating that they voted and demand that their votes be counted.

“The DFT Election Committee rejected DPE’s demand for a hand count, and denied DPE candidates the right to observe the recount, violating DFT’s bylaws,” stated Joyce Schon, attorney for DPE. “Every state in the nation does a hand count when an election is this close,” Schon said.

“DPE has filed an internal union grievance which will be heard at the Executive Board on February 3, and at the general membership meeting on February 10, if it hasn’t been resolved,” noted Schon. “DFT members are circulating a petition calling for a new runoff election, since the ballots are now tainted,” Schon observed.

DPS Czar Robert Bobb and DFT Pres. Keith Johnson during last DFT contract negotiations; Johnson has done nothing to oppose massive school closings, lay-offs, privatization of DPS

Steve Conn is leading the AFT in organizing teachers’ opposition to AFT President Randi Weingarten’s policy of collaboration with Arne Duncan, US Secretary of Education. In the first organized opposition to the national AFT leadership since 1974, Conn and other AFT members from around the country ran on the Defend Public Education/Save Our Students/Equal Opportunity Now/By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) slate for national office in July 2010.

 “Arne Duncan has declared Detroit ‘ground zero’ for his policies of degrading and privatizing public education,” stated Conn, a longtime supporter of BAMN, the Coalition to Defend Public Education, Integration and Immigrant Rights and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary, a youth-led civil rights group that has played a key role in fighting to defend public education.

Pres. Barack Obama and Arne Duncan in Grand Rapids, Michigan; both are charter school supporters

“Detroit teachers, students, parents and community members have fought hard against program cuts, public school closings, any increase in charter schools, and the hyper-segregation and inferior education Duncan’s plans promote,” Conn said. “We defeated a mayoral takeover in Detroit, and we will make our fight to defend public education in Detroit the model for the nation,” Conn concluded.

Contact Steve Conn at 313-645-9340

Watch video of swearing-in of Keith Johnson at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6Z6mqjVO1o .

VOD editor: The title posted with the video, “Steve Conn shoves AFT President Dave Hecker”  appears inaccurate, since no such action is seen. In fact, two women DFT members (white and Black) are seen confronting Hecker and taking the mike from him.  There is evidence of mass disagreement from a large number of DFT members at the meeting, who are standing and chanting, “New Vote.”

This video was posted on comments for the Daily Censored article, with the following remarks:

Concerned1000 says: January 24, 2011 at 6:28 pm  Conn is psychotic as can be seen in this video.

Brad Benson says: January 25, 2011 at 3:21 am To Concerned, It was hard to tell from the video exactly which one is Mr. Conn. Nor did it appear to me that anyone in the video is “psychotic”. If the above article regarding irregularities in the election is correct, then Mr. Conn and the other people have every reason to interrupt a swearing in ceremony in which a minority is attempting to usurp the rights and the will of a majority.

As an outsider, living in Florida, I have no other interest in this matter, except that I am interested in the various issues surrounding the failure of our education system. If Mr. Conn is making a stand against privatization, charter schools and the reisegregation of our schools based upon the crackpot ideas of pundits, film makers and corporate “benefactors”, then he is standing for all of our children.

No legitimate teachers’ union should be supporting the Arne Duncan’s and Chris Christie’s in this world.

Serving 37-90 years since age 14 for four drug-related murders, despite confession by another man, police testimony that he is innocent

By Diane Bukowski

DETROIT – Davontae Sanford is now 18. He has spent the last four years of his short life in  adult prisons, convicted of murdering four people on Runyon Street on Detroit’s east side on Sept. 15, 2007, when he was 14. He is 5’6,’’ slightly-built, blind in one eye, and “developmentally disabled.”

Vincent Smothers

Shortly after Davontae was sentenced to 37 to 90 years in prison in 2008, Vincent Smothers, now 28, of Shelby Township, confessed to the Detroit police on videotape that he and a different man committed the murders as part of a series of drug-related hits.  Highly placed members of the police department have testified they believe Davontae is innocent, including a former chief of homicide who says Davontae was with him at the time of the murders.

“Davontae’s a warm, loving person who the kids always said was my favorite,” said his mother Taminko Sanford. “He was born on Thanksgiving Day, and I always felt he was my gift from God.”

Davontae is her first son, the second oldest of five children, and she along with his stepfather and siblings have waged a relentless campaign since his arrest to free him, garnering broad-ranging support.

Davontae at 14

“Davontae was about to start the ninth grade at Osborn High School the day after his arrest,” Ms. Sanford said. “He loves rap and computers. He is so close to his brother and his three sisters. His brother has all Davontae’s letters from prison pasted up all over his bedroom walls, and his little sister has all his childhood photos on hers.”

Davontae has 1249 Facebook supporters from all over the world, including the United Kingdom and Sweden.  He has support from media personalities like Bill Proctor of Detroit’s Channel 7, who runs his own Innocence Project. His case has received extensive and generally sympathetic coverage from the Associated Press and Detroit’s daily media.

The Rest of Their Lives (sentencing children to life without parole in the U.S.) Human Rights Watch

Elish Delaporter of the UK is following his case on her MySpace website, part of her campaign against this country’s exclusive practice of sentencing juveniles to life in prison without parole. That policy is expressly condemned by the UN Commission on the Rights of the Child.

But in a seemingly never-ending series of evidentiary hearings since July, 2009, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy is vigorously fighting Davontae’s motion for a new trial, citing what his defense attorney Kim McGinnis calls a “classic false confession.”

During the most recent hearing Jan. 14, in front of Davontae’s trial judge Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Brian Sullivan, Assistant Prosecutor Joseph Puleo once again ignored another of McGinnis’ requests that the prosecution grant “use” immunity to Smothers. That would allow him to testify in court about his role in the murders without fear of having the prosecution use his testimony to charge him in the cases.

Wayne Co. Prosecutor Kym Worthy

Puleo said he is worried about Smothers’ constitutional rights, because he could face life without parole if he admits to the killings.

Smothers is already serving 50-100 years in maximum security on nine counts of second-degree murder and three counts of assault with intent to commit murder, along with various felony charges, stemming from other cases in which he testified he was a hit man for a drug ring.

McGinnis called the plea deal for such a number of hit killings “virtually unheard of,” and Proctor called it “the deal of the century” in news coverage of the sentencing on July 23 of this year.

Judge Craig Strong at Smothers sentencing

Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Craig Strong, who sentenced Smothers, even pleaded with him, “You cannot bring back those who were killed but you can correct wrongs for those who were wrongfully convicted of killing people that you killed.”

Proctor reported that Strong “seemed highly concerned about a pre-sentence report that indicated Smothers had confessed to murders that were not a part of the plea deal. It spelled out in part how Smothers had confessed to the murder of four people on Runyon Street on Detroit’s east side and how 16-year-old Davontae Sanford was in prison for those killings.”

The Associated Press quoted Smothers’ attorney at the time, Gabi Silver, saying, “The police have his statements. It’s not him who doesn’t want to correct things.”

A You Tube videotape of portions of the sentencing, along with others related to the Smothers cases, can be viewed at http://wn.com/%22vincent_smothers%22.

Smothers is now contending that his confessions in the cases for which he was convicted were coerced, and has appealed. Among his contentions is that the police threatened to charge his wife if he did not confess. He is represented by Attorney Mitchell Foster, also of the State Appellate Defenders’ Office.

The prosecutor’s office does not appear so concerned about Davontae’s constitutional rights.

Davontae in court at age 17

McGinnis said that during the child’s questioning by police, neither his mother nor an attorney was present. Davontae signed and initialed a typewritten document drawn up by a detective, despite being blind in one eye, and according to McGinnis, reading at a third-grade level. There is no videotaped record of the confession except one in which the detective reads the confession back to him.

“It was a classic false confession,” McGinnis said. “Davontae saw the police lights after the killings were discovered around the corner from his house, and walked up to the police to find out what was going on. They told him, ‘You know what’s going on,’ and took him downtown. Twenty hours later, he signed a confession which contained only the details that the police already knew at the time.”

Robinson house on Runyon Street where killings occurred

The victims in the killing were “Michael Robinson, 33; D’Angelo McNoriell and Brian Dixon, who were in their early 20s, and Nicole Chapman, 25. Valerie Glover, 30, was critically wounded but survived the attack. A 7-year-old boy was found unharmed.” according to published reports. In his confession Davontae claimed he committed the killings with a different weapon, an M-14, than the ones used in the killings, an AK 47 and a .45 caliber pistol, according to McGinnis. 

“Those are the weapons that Vincent Smothers uses, and the whole crime is his exact MO,” McGinnis said in published remarks.

Ballistics evidence, delayed due to the shutdown of the Detroit police crime lab two years ago, is still to be introduced in upcoming evidentiary hearings.

Three accomplices are also identified in Davontae’s confession, but they were never charged, leaving a question as to how one child could kill four people in an alleged drug house.

“Smothers gave a confession that was very detailed and clear and implicated another man, Edward Davis,” McGinnis said. “The things he says he did are what the police say Davontae did. The woman in the back room who survived said the killer talked to her in a soft voice that was sounded 30-35 years old, but later changed her testimony to say it was an adolescent voice. In his confession, Smothers admitted to going back to speak to her.”

She added, “The prosecutor has spent a lot of energy trying to tie Smothers to Davontae, but has never been able produce any such evidence. It is absurd to think that professional contract killers were going to allow a 14-year-old boy to tag along with them.”

Detroit’s retired chief of homicide, Commander William Rice, who spent 25 years on the force, was dating Davontae’s great-aunt Cheryl Sanford at the time of the Runyon Street killings. Rice testified Oct. 28, 2009 that he was with Davontae at her house at the time of the murders, from 8 p.m. to 11:45 p.m., and that he left to take another man home to Mt. Clemens and then take Davontae home.

How much training does a cell tower forensics expert need?

But during the November hearing, Assistant Appeals Prosecutor Patrick Muscat challenged Rice’s testimony.

A Detroit police investigator, Arthur Wimmer, testified. He said he is assigned to the Violent Crimes Task Force composed of the DPD, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the MDOC, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, and other agencies at all levels.

Wimmer said he had 120 hours (three weeks) of specialized training in cell tower forensics conducted by the FBI and private corporations, and was allowed to testify as an expert witness.  Michigan currently has no licensing process for such experts.

Wimmer claimed Rice’s cell phone records showed he was in Mt. Clemens, a city about 30 miles east of Detroit, at 11:18 p.m. the night of the murders.

McGinnis challenged cell tower testimony as sometimes inaccurate. She said later that the testimony may have shown that Rice was off base in his exact estimates of time, but did not discount Davontae’s presence with his family for most of the time prior to the killings.

“He would not have had time to prepare, or to hook up with Smothers and get to the site to commit the murders,” McGinnis said.

Thumb Correctional Facility houses many younger prisoners, is Security Level 2

A Department of Corrections official also testified about alleged “gang” materials and graffiti found in a search of Davontae’s cell in the Thumb Correctional Facility. The official claimed scars on Davontae’s arms were remnants of gang tattoos.

“Anything that happened after the night of the murders is not relevant,” McGinnis objected. But Judge Sullivan allowed the testimony to go on record.

“The tattoos were about the movie ‘Bloodline’,” Ms. Sanford said. “Both Davontae and his brother had them. They just stand for their connection to each other, nothing else. They were separated from each other for part of their lives.”

In addition to Rice, Detroit Police Department investigators Gerald Williams and Ira Todd, who helped take Smothers’ confession, have testified that Smothers admitted to the Runyon Street killings and stated that Davontae was not involved. Todd, who was also a member of the Violent Crimes Task Force, has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Detroit’s former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick

His lawsuit, filed by attorney Michael Stefani, says, “During the continuing investigation, it was determined that Smothers was a killer for hire for a notorious Detroit drug gang that regularly contracted for the murders of members of rival drug gangs as well as dissident members of their own organizations.”

In the lawsuit, Todd claims he was removed from the Task force, demoted and otherwise mistreated because his investigation into the Smothers’ killings led him to Smothers’ alleged accomplice, Ernest Davis, and to Davis’ cousin James Davis of Kentucky. Todd said James Davis claimed to have a “business relationship” with Kilpatrick, and that when he reported that, his investigation was shut down and he was transferred.

Neither AP’s Muscat nor Puleo would comment outside of court on the case.

Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller, who is chief communications officer for Worthy’s office, said, “Because the case remains in progress we will not comment on issues directly related to it outside of court.  It was appropriate for the APA handling the case to also not comment outside of court. The case is in open court and our assistant prosecutor is responding in court.””

Just prior to Smothers’ sentencing, the jail was locked down after guards discovered that he had been able to obtain a cell phone while locked up.

Rose Cobb

Taminko Sanford says she believes that may indicate he had connections with law enforcement officials. One of the people Smothers confessed to killing was Rose Cobb, wife of Detroit police sergeant David Cobb. Smothers said Cobb hired her to kill his wife outside a CVS pharmacy on E. Jefferson near their home, as she waited in the car while her husband was in the store.

Although the police department arrested Cobb, Worthy never charged him in the murder. Cobb was later found hanging from a tree, an apparent suicide.

Miller did not respond to a question regarding whether Smothers may have been a hit man for corrupt police officers.

During the hearing Nov. 23, Davontae appeared polite and happy to see his mother and other family members, but there was an air of quiet desperation about him.

Sanford said Jan. 12 that she was very worried about Davontae because she had not heard from him for two weeks.  He was recently transferred from Michigan’s Thumb Correctional Facility, which houses a large number of younger prisoners, to the Michigan Reformatory at Ionia, with Level Four prisoners over the age of 17. In Michigan’s prisons, Level Five is the maximum security grade.

Michigan Reformatory at Ionia houses males 17 and older, Levels II and IV

“Davontae used to call me every day, sometimes more than once a day,” Sanford said. “I’ve been praying to God to let me hear from him so that I know he is OK.  It’s a new atmosphere for him and I’m so worried because I’m afraid that he is losing hope. He can get very depressed.”

Davontae’s next court hearing is tentatively set for January 28, 2010 at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit.

Davontae’s Facebook Page is Free Davontae Sanford at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=108713425818908.