Rwanda: Genocide Justice System Prompts Row With Amnesty (Page 1 of 1)

allAfrica.com: Rwanda: Genocide Justice System Prompts Row With Amnesty (Page 1 of 1): "Rwanda has dismissed as unfounded a claim by Amnesty International that its justice system was unsuitable for trying genocide suspects currently detained abroad."

FBI Knew of O.J. Simpson Plan in Advance

Latest News | Top Stories | News Articles: "LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal agents learned three weeks in advance that O.J. Simpson and a memorabilia dealer planned an operation to retrieve personal items Simpson said were stolen from him, according to FBI reports obtained Friday by The Associated Press. Dealer Thomas Riccio told FBI agents Aug. 21 that Simpson wanted to televise the operation as he confronted a collector who was peddling thousands of pieces of Simpson's memorabilia. But Riccio was not clear how the operation would unfold, and there was no mention in the report of guns that were allegedly drawn as Simpson and five other men stormed a Las Vegas hotel room. Riccio was advised to contact a lawyer before taking any action and was told that alerting the FBI would not absolve him of any potential crime, agent Linda Kline wrote of the meeting, which occurred in Los Angeles. 'I went along with O.J.'s plan,' Riccio told the AP on Friday. 'It was a self-organized sting operation. Except for the final result, with him bringing people who had guns. I knew nothing about that.'"

Erace Racism Carnival Essays at Kill Bigotry!

Here are several essays being featured at Kill Bigotry! website. My essay is one of those featured on the website. Please visit:

Kill Bigotry! Erase Racism Carnival

Amsterdam News - National March for West Virginia Torture Victim Nov. 3

Amsterdam News - Article - national news: "(NNPA) - Promising “busloads” of supporters and demonstrators from across the nation to protest the absence of hate crime charges in the alleged month-long rape and torture of a young Black woman, attorney Malik Shabazz of the Washington D.C.-based Black Lawyers for Justice says a national march and rally is planned for Charleston, W. Va. for Saturday, Nov 3."

Al Sharpton, African-American brokers receive racist e-mails

Al Sharpton, African-American brokers receive racist e-mails: "Someone posing as a manager for Merrill Lynch & Co. has been sending racist e-mails to the Rev. Al Sharpton and several African-American brokers at the global investment house, it was charged Wednesday. Merrill Lynch filed a trademark infringement suit in Manhattan Federal Court to stop the phantom e-mailer from sending out missives that invoke the N-word and phrases such as 'Nappy Headed Hoes.' Merrill Lynch names a defendant known only as 'John Doe.' The company said it suspects he lives in the Midwest."

FBI used mafia capo to find bodies of Ku Klux Klan victims | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

FBI used mafia capo to find bodies of Ku Klux Klan victims | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited: "The FBI recruited a mafia enforcer to help solve the slaying of three civil rights workers by the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi in the 1960s, according to evidence provided in Brooklyn state court by a mobster's moll. In the 1988 film Mississippi Burning that recreated the events, the case was broken when the FBI brought in a black agent to put the frighteners on a Ku Klux Klan member. But Linda Schiro told the court it was her boyfriend, Gregory Scarpa, who had kidnapped a klansman, put a gun in his mouth and forced him to reveal the spot where the three had been buried. The FBI until that point had been engaged in a fruitless search for the civil rights workers, facing silence from the klansmen and the white community in general."

WV Torture Victim at Final Call

The following is from Ann's Website. Thanks, Ann for everything you do in keeping this case on my mind. Here's the article:


Final Call Exclusive: One-on-One Interview with West Virginia Race Torture Victim Megan WilliamsBy FinalCall.com NewsOriginally Published Oct. 9, 2007

Updated Oct 14, 2007, 10:37 am

The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan sent a delegation consisting of Attorney Abdul Arif Muhammad, editor-in-chief of The Final Call newspaper, Student in the Ministry Abdul Khadir Muhammad of Washington, D.C. and Final Call Contributing Writer Ashahed M. Muhammad to Charleston, West Virginia to determine the facts of the case, and also to minister unto the family of the young woman who was the victim of this heinous and barbaric attack.
Megan Williams (second from right) with her mother Carmen Williams (l); Ashahed Muhammad (r); Abdul Arif Muhammad (l rear).
‘They didn’t feed me, didn’t give me no water, they said when they came back they were going to finish me off.’ —Megan Williams
What follows is an exclusive interview with Megan Williams and her adopted mother, Carmen Williams, conducted on Thursday, October 4, 2007, at their home. For the first time here you will see, in Megan Williams’ own words, the description of this repugnantly vicious assault.
The Final Call (FC): We know this was a difficult experience for you, but in order for the public to know the full truth of what happened, you have agreed to tell us in this interview. We want you to go as slow as you need and if you have any questions, or feel uncomfortable, just let us know. Tell us the story. Tell us what happened.
Megan Williams (MW): When I first went up there, a girl I knew named Christa, she took me up there, she said we were going to a party.
FC: When Christa took you there (the trailer home in Big Creek in Logan County) what did she do?
MW: She said she had to make a run and she would be right back. She didn’t come back.
FC: Do you believe Christa was involved in arranging this?
MW: (Nodding.)
Carmen Williams (CW): Yes, it was a setup, she left her there. When Megan was in the hospital, Christa called and I answered the phone. Christa was asking, ‘how is my friend?’ I told her that she wasn’t a friend of Megan’s because she left her. Christa then hung up the phone. We have not seen or heard from Christa since that time.
The police investigators say they are trying to locate her for an interview, but have not been able to find her.
FC: There were some news reports that you had a relationship with one of the defendants, Bobby Brewster. Is this accurate?
MW: We were just friends. It was nothing like that.
FC: No dating relationship between you and defendant Bobby Brewster?
MW: No. They kicked me in the head with steel toed boots, they hit me in the head with several objects, I remember seeing a knife, and they tried to cut my foot off. They told me that is what they did to Kunta Kinte when they cut his foot off so he couldn’t run and that is what they were going to do to me.
FC: When exactly was this?
MW: It was like in August. When she (Christa) dropped me off up there, that’s when they started beating on me, and calling me names. When they were hitting me and stabbing me, they called me n----r, they said ‘this is what we do to n----rs up here’ and they said they were going to kill me.
They didn’t feed me, didn’t give me no water, they said when they came back they were going to finish me off. They made me eat rat poop, dog poop and human feces. I had to do it to stay alive. They were taking my head and drowning me in a toilet, taking it back out and putting it back in (starting to cry). They were stabbing me in the leg, and I was screaming for my mom, and they would cover my mouth up.
They made me pick green beans out of the garden, they made these switches into a braid and they were whipping me as I was picking the greens. They made me pick weeds out of the garden and they were calling me n----r and said they were going to take me out to a creek and cut my throat and throw me in a river. All I was saying is I wanted to get back to my mom, and they were like, ‘you ain’t ever going to see your mom ever, ever again, never.’ I wanted to get back home so bad.
FC: When they were forcing you to go out into an open field was this a secluded area where no one could see you?
MW: Nobody seen me, nobody knew where I was at; it was a wooded area.
FC: At any time did you try to scream for somebody to help you ?
MW: Yep, they kept kicking me and stuff and saying that if I screamed again they were going to cut me and all kinds of stuff.
FC: Describe what was going through your mind when you first realized that Christa might not be coming back?
MW: I was scared and frightened.
FC: Megan, you went with an associate to this place for a party, did you know where she was taking you?
MW: No.
FC: When you got there, did you know where you were, did you know the house?
MW: No.
FC: After you got to the “party,” how long was it before you realized that Christa was not coming back?
MW: A couple of days. She said ‘I’m going down to my friends house and I’ll be right back’ two days went by and she never came back up, I got worried and then they said she wasn’t going to come back and get me, and that no n----rs were allowed up there, and they were going to kill me.
FC: What kind of party did you see?
MW: They were just up there doing drugs, it was not a party.
FC: What kind of drugs?
MW: They were making Meth. (Methamphetamines)
FC: Anything else besides Meth?
MW: Crack.
FC: They were actually doing these drugs, were they trying to make you do drugs?
MW: No. I wouldn’t.
FC: Did you start praying to God for help?
MW: Yes, I was asking Him to get me out of this. The only thing I was thinking about was my mom.
FC: Did you ever try fighting back?
MW: I did. I fought back when they would cut me, and they had me taped up with duct tape around my neck, my hands and feet, and when they left to get drugs and stuff, they said they were going to finish me off; they were going to take me down to a river, cut my throat and throw me in it, and I would never get to see my family ever again.
FC: There were several people involved. Who was the most vicious?
MW: All of them passed the knife around when they were stabbing me, all I remember is that when they were stabbing me, I passed out, and I guess that’s when they quit because I passed out, because I lost so much blood. I had noticed the stab wounds and they were this big and my meat was hanging out (shows the location on her left thigh). All I can remember was the knife, and I wake up every night now. That’s the only thing I see when I close my eyes is that knife.
FC: Ms. Williams (Megan’s mother), you told me since this happened, she has nightmares?
CW: I sleep with her actually, because if she doesn’t feel me near her, she’ll wake up and scream out in the middle of the night hollering ‘Mom! Mom!’
FC: At the point you realized after one or two days that you didn’t hear from your daughter—is it customary for her to be absent for long periods of time without checking in?
CW: Yes, she’s 20 years old, so she goes when she wants to and comes back when she wants to. At the time, she didn’t live with me. She would call me every now and then, but at the time, she was not living with me.
FC: How did you find out that something had happened to Megan?
CW: Logan Hospital called me and they asked me if I had a daughter named Megan Williams, and I said yes. Then they proceeded to tell me what happened to her, and they asked me how soon we could get up there.
FC: Megan, while you were being held there, can you tell us more about what happened?
MW: Yes. Bobby kicked me in my stomach a few times, kicked me in my back and my face and all I remember is that they hit me with several objects, a cedar stick, a fly swatter handle, a belt, a shoe, and you know the gloves with the lead in them, they were smacking me in the face with those. Both my eyes were black and every night, they made me sleep outside.
FC: While they were doing all of these drugs, what were you doing?
MW: I just wanted to get away. I asked one of them if they could let me go, they said no because ‘ain’t no n----rs allowed up here,’ and they were going to kill me. One day, I was asleep in the room, one of them came in and was kicking me and said ‘hey n----r, we got a noose out there for you, want to come look at it? We’re going to hang you, come on.’ I got really scared. I just wanted to get out of there. I was fighting for my life.
FC: You said that they cut your hair?
MW: As they would cut it, they were literally pulling my hair out, and pulling it out in patches. They were all sitting on the porch drinking beer, and they had that knife out. Bobby made me lick his mom’s bottom at knife point, and then he made me suck her toes. They were laughing and calling me names. One of them held me at gun point with a 9 mm.
FC: Now where did they have you sleeping?
MW: In the shed. They told me there were no n----rs allowed in the trailer.
FC: What male members of the group raped you?
MW: Danny (Combs) and Bobby (Brewster).
FC: Do you know who made the anonymous tip to the police?
MW: Yep, it was a boy named Eddie that was up there. He lived a couple of houses down. He was walking and saw my hands out the window and went for help.
CW: He said he heard her holler for help, he ran back down the street and called police. I spoke to him on the phone and he said ‘ma’am, I’m the one that made the call.’
FC: Since this ordeal have you been harassed or received any threats?
CW: No. We haven’t been staying here. We just came home about a week ago.
FC: Have you received any support from the Religious Community?
CW: Yes, my pastor Bishop James Carter has been to every pretrial hearing that they have had, and he is going there today; and Allen Hill and Emanuel Heyliger.
FC: How are you feeling now Megan?
MW: I feel a lot better.
FC: If there was one thing you could get across to people who hear about this case, what would it be?
MW: There are dangerous people in the world and everybody needs to keep an eye on their kids so that their kids will be safe.
FC: What do you hope happens to the people who did this to you?
MW: I think they need to be put away and never get out again. They should never again see daylight.
CW: I just hope they get what they deserve. I hope they get life. I don’t wish nobody dead, because that’s not my belief, but they should be in prison for the rest of their lives.

YouTube Video: A Black Woman's Smile

Check it out!

Latest News On The WV Torture Victim

Hat tip from Ann. Thank you for keeping the awareness of Miss Williams plight alive. While people and the media have forgotten her, few brave souls such as Rachel Sullivan, Keona Wright, What About Our Daughters, Ann, etc., are keeping her in mind.

Also, there's a fund set up for Meghan Williams at:

http://sundaygazettemail.com/section/News/2007100126

Let's keep her in mind and in our prayers.

A Family's Worst Nightmare 2

If your son or daughter or sibling was murdered or disappeared without a trace, this would be your family's worst nightmare. --- Because several people asked me to I.D. some of the missing or murdered ones on the "A Family's Worst Nightmare" video, I have attempted to do so in this video.. Also, I changed the background music, using a very appropriate song "Don't You Forget About Me" as well as "Wildflower" and "Goodbye Colonel". -- These precious souls should ALWAYS be remembered. ---- KWH

Olamide Adeyooye Remembered

Adeyooye Olamide
1984-2005

Thanks to Rachel's Tavern for keeping her memory alive. Here's my contribution in her memory. Please visit my Olamide Adeyooye's memorial page:

http://www.geocities.com/nun6_99/Olamide.html

Ann also gave a shout-out to her memory on her website. Click here.

May she rests in peace.

Katelyn Kampf Unhappy With Parents' Plea

Katelyn Kampf and her son D'Andre Kampf

Kidnapped Daughter Unhappy With Parents' Plea Deal

PORTLAND, Maine -- A North Yarmouth couple that made national headlines last year when their pregnant daughter claimed they kidnapped her and tried to force her to have an abortion will enter into a plea agreement this week. Now the daughter, Katelyn Kampf, said she is upset by the development and is speaking publicly about her ordeal for the first time.
With her new son, D’Andre, Kampf spoke with News 8’s Michelle Frey.
"I did end up making a run for it,” she said. “At one point, I ran out of the house. My father chased me down our driveway and tackled me, and I had grass stains all over, and I was screaming for help."

Kampf, 20, said her parents, Nick and Lola Kampf, kidnapped her after they learned she was six months pregnant. She said they tied her hands and feet, put her in the back of their car and started driving to New York, where they planned to force her to abort her baby.
According to Katelyn Kampf, "At one point, she (Nola Kampf) said something about making me have the baby and then killing it, and she would do whatever necessary to make sure the baby never came into the world."
Driving through New Hampshire, Katelyn Kampf feigned needing a bathroom break and made her getaway.

Her parents were arrested and arraigned on several charges, including felony kidnapping and misdemeanor assault and terrorizing.

Katelyn Kampf said they’re getting off easy.

"I feel pretty unsatisfied with the way my parents’ case is being handled," she told News 8 of the plea agreement that is expected to be entered into later this week.
In the deal, the Kampfs will plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of assault and disorderly conduct, while the felony kidnapping charge will be dropped.

In a telephone conversation with News 8, Cumberland County District Attorney Stephanie Anderson said Katelyn Kampf was “intimately involved” in the plea deal and saw everything in the paperwork and that if she’s upset by it, the DA’s office was not aware.
Anderson said, “I have not heard from Katelyn. I guess she’d rather just complain about it.”
Katelyn Kampf explained, "I was really upset, and I just told her, ‘If that's all they're going to get out of it, I don't care. Do whatever you want with it.’"

She said she simply gave up on the justice system and now considers their punishment to be never seeing her -- or their grandson -- again.
When asked if there was any possibility of reconciliation, Katelyn Kampf answered, "I don't think I could ever face them again. Just knowing -- I mean some of the things they said just replay in my mind all the time. My mom spit in my face -- twice. She told me she wished she'd never had me, that I was the biggest mistake of her life."

Previous Articles:

Kampfs Surrender To Maine Authorities

Sheriff: Race Issue In Alleged Kidnapping

Here's another article:

One step at a time
By Ben Bragdon Assistant Editor


WATERBORO (Oct 18): She seems cautiously hopeful as she sits at the kitchen table, her young son in her lap, surrounded by friends.

As Katelyn Kampf wonders about her future, she talks in hours and days. The years and decades seem too far off, an alternate universe where her problems are behind her, her boyfriend at her side, her child safe, her parents’ legal issues and everything leading up to them a distant memory. As she wonders about the time in front of her, and the events of the last year, something grabs her voice. “It’s so overwhelming,” said Kampf, eight month old D’Andre bouncing in her arms. “Losing my parents. Losing my boyfriend. Being a single mother. All at the same time.”

Kampf's parents, Nicholas and Nola Kampf, pleaded guilty Friday in Cumberland County Superior Court to misdemeanor charges of assault and disorderly conduct after Katelyn, now 20 years old, told police her parents tied her up and took her to New Hampshire last year with the intent of forcing her to have an abortion. Her parents have admitted to tying Katelyn’s hands following a fight and driving her to New Hampshire with the hope of convincing her to have an abortion. They knew that could not force Katelyn, then 19, to have an abortion, the parents said.
A "sweet deal?"

Katelyn Kampf, now staying with friends in Waterboro, spoke publicly for the first time last week, out of frustration, she said, on the light sentence handed to her parents. The judge's decision stipulated only counseling and did not include jail time. She felt the deal was made because the incident was seen as more of a family squabble than a crime. “If they were not my parents, I don’t think they would hear of a deal this sweet,” she said.

Kampf is upset at the plea, upset that her parents were let off so easily, and upset with the district attorney, who, Katelyn said, did not involve her in the plea bargain. But she is also trudging forward day-to-day and trying to raise her son. She is also trying to reunite D'Andre with his father, Reme Johnson, who is in federal custody awaiting deportation to his native South Africa.

Kampf said she was not personally involved in the plea bargain discussions and was told by District Attorney Stephanie Anderson that the more serious charge of kidnapping could not be proven in court. “She treated me like a child,” Kampf said of Anderson. Anderson, who has said that Kampf was kept abreast of the plea deal and that Kampf told Anderson she did not want to go to trial, did not return calls for comment.

Kampf also said her parents wanted her to have an abortion because the father, Johnson, is black. Lawyers for the Kampfs said the parents’ dislike for Johnson had nothing to do with his race but rather their own concerns over his ability to raise a child and his criminal record.

Last week, Kampf contacted Portland lawyer Seth Berner, who agreed to represent her for free. On the basis of his talks with Kampf, Berner called the incident between Kampf and her parents a “particularly horrendous hate crime” motivated by racial hatred. Berner said he never questioned the veracity of Kampf’s claims. “She struck me as very articulate and believable, and as the victim,” he said.

Longing for support

At the sentencing, Superior Court Justice William Brodrick reportedly referred to a “bizarre” family relationship as a reason for a plea deal involving no jail time. Said Berner, “I am completely baffled. It is like saying incest is a bizarre family circumstance. This was a crime, not a bizarre family circumstance.” He said the incident should be considered under federal hate crimes statute.

The plea deal stipulates that the Kampfs undergo counseling, both by themselves and with Katelyn. Before Friday’s sentencing, Katelyn Kampf said she wants nothing to do with her parents. “I can’t imagine having any type of relationship with them after what they’ve done,” she said. “I feel like they really took themselves away from me. They just spit in my face. I just can’t get past it.”

Even after all this, Kampf said, she still has times when she wishes she had the support and love of her parents, especially as she tries to raise her son. “I’m still young and they are still my parents, so there are still moments...” she said, her voice trailing off. Kampf said she is not sure how she will feel about the relationship in the future, but “I wouldn’t trust them with my son.”

Her parents have expressed hope that their relationship can be salvaged. "We have all made some bad choices in the past and we will have to live with them, but we must believe with our hearts and soul that time will heal the wounds they have caused," Nola Kampf said in a statement following the sentencing.

Focusing on her family

A lot of Katelyn Kampf's attention is now focused on helping Johnson, who is in federal custody in Connecticut. He has received a 20-year ban from the United States following a short jail stay for possession of stolen property, Kampf said, and will most likely be sent back to his native South Africa in the near future. She has only talked to him on the phone a few times because of the expense, and he has only seen D’Andre once, at a court date.


Friends have contacted the offices of Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe regarding the deportation, but have not heard back. Kampf said Johnson has little connection to South Africa, which he left with the rest of his family when he was 6 years old. “Pretty much his whole life is over here,” she said. If he does get deported, she said, he may try to move to Canada to be closer to her and D’Andre. “The chances of me getting to South Africa are slim,” Kampf said.

The separation is made more difficult by all the problems with her parents, and every time she looks at her son. “He looks just like his father,” she said. Johnson recently wrote her a letter and included a portrait he drew of his son. The last time they talked, she said, “he was really sad, but hopeful at the same time. If we can get through this, we can make it through anything.”

Already there are bigots/misogynists who call Katelyn Kampf hateful names. Especially those at the hate website, American Renaissance. These people called her "stupid", "race traitor", etc. They call her son a hate name that I won't say on this site. The baby's father was called "a criminal". These people have no sympathy whatsoever.