Thursday, May 01, 2008
Shannon Duhon is missing
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/missingblackwomen.html
State of Minnesota's Girls of Color Report
This following article is from Kare11.com concerning Minnesota's girls/women of Color:
Report card on girls in Minnesota finds large ethnic gaps
View John Croman's Report
Women's Foundation of Minnesota home page
Girls in Minnesota on the whole perform above the national average in many key indicators of future success, but girls of color in the North star state are faring worse than their counterparts across the nation.That's a key finding released Monday by the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, in it's "Status of Girls in Minnesota" report."Families being able to meet their children's basic economic needs has a big impact on how children fare both in their adolescents and also in adulthood," said Erika Williams, who directed the study for the Women's Policy Research institute."Poverty rates for girls and boys of color are dramatically higher than those of white girls and boys in the state," Williams explained, "As they move into adulthood women remain in poverty while that gap narrows for men."A staggering 43 percent of all African American girls in Minnesota are in households where the income is below the federal poverty line, which is the government's yardstick for determining eligibility for many assistance programs."In Minnesota female-headed families and those from underrepresented ethnic and racial groups, in particular, are at higher risk of living below the poverty line."On the bright side, Minnesota's girls overall are doing better the their peers around the nation. "Our research shows that Minnesota girls are full of promise and potential," said Lee Roper-Baker, who heads the Women's Foundation of Minnesota, "They work hard at home, in school and in their communities, they earn good grades, and they hold high aspirations for their futures.""By and large, girls in our state take responsibility for their bodies, and avoid many risky behaviors," Roper-Baker said, "At the same time there are many roadblocks to girls' success."She said racism, sexism and poverty all play roles in creating that gap. The foundation wants lawmakers to consider the opportunities they have to make a difference in the lives of young women."This research tells a story of two Minnesota's," Erica Williams told reporters at the Capitol, "One in which girls are largely doing pretty well, are working pretty hard, have low poverty rates overall."Her report suggest that Minnesota's high performing children may be hiding the jarring discrepancies that exist between white girls and girls of other races and ethnicities."Another in which girls of color have drastically higher poverty rates, and actually are more likely to be poor than girls of color in the nation as a whole."Girls of color are also far more likely to become teen mothers than their white counterparts in Minnesota, according to the study, and more likely to report sexual abuse outside and inside their home.It's a problem, the study suggests, that is both a cause and a symptom of living in poverty."Teen pregnancy among girls of color both limits their opportunities for education and economic stability, and results itself from limited opportunity," Representative Neva Walker of Minneapolis remarked.Representative Walker, who said she became a mother as a teenager herself, says the average parent struggles enough with raising kids."But just imagine how, if you would've had that child at 13 or 15 or 17, if you would be having that child without community support, without family support, without having the educational needs or financial opportunities to take care of your child."The group hopes the research will be put to use in the debate at the Capitol and in communities as they struggle with budget cuts, some for programs that help single mothers heading households."When girls don't a future for themselves outside of motherhood it puts them at risk," Walker said, "When girls don't have access to contraception or sex education because of lack of means or health care, it puts them at risk."For Walker it was an emotionally charged day at the Capitol. She's retiring from the legislature after this session, and was planning to make one last run at getting a comprehensive sex education bill passed in the House."Prevention is the key," Walker offered, "We have to do better for our girls. We have to make sure our girls are starting off on the same level plane as our boys going into adulthood." Sandra Vargas, who heads the Minneapolis Foundation, argued that spending priorities at the Capitol end up costing the state and its taxpayers more in the long run."Instead of putting investment up where it prevents and does early intervention," Vargas told reporters, "As a state we'd rather wait until a family and these young girls get pregnant and hit the criminal justice system, or some other kind of system, where it will cost taxpayers millions of dollars."As a long time administrator in Hennepin County she's seen how society as a whole is forced to deal with the lifelong costs of not helping children when they need it the most."We do not have the political will to do prevention and we do not have the political will to do early intervention," Vargas said, "Some how we have found we've got the political will to build more prisons."Suzanne Koepplinger, the director of the Minnesota Indian Women's Research Center, said girls of color are more often forced to deal with issues others can avoid."Many of our girls are facing challenges beyond their years including threats to their basic safety and security," Koepplinger told reporters, "The high percentage of American Indian, African American and Hispanic girls reporting sexual abuse is startling, and quite frankly, it's unacceptable."Self-esteem trends are also disturbing, given research that shows that girls self-esteem actually erodes over time while boys opinions of themselves improve with age. That's a trend that cuts across all racial and ethnic groups, according to the report.The Women's Foundation is launching what it calls the Road to Equality Tour to 15 communities in Minnesota, to gather more information and seek practical solutions.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Church Holds Vigil Ahead of Sean Bell Verdict
Three New York City police officers will learn their fate Friday in a case over the shooting of an unarmed black man outside a nightclub on the morning of his wedding. The city is bracing for protests if the officers are acquitted. (April 25)
Sean Bell MURDERED: WHAT NEXT AMERICA???
never stops...unarmed man, shot dead one day before his wedding.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Sean Bell's Fiancee Criticized Verdict
The justice system "let me down," Nicole Paultre-Bell said Saturday, a day after a not-guilty verdict for three New York City police officers charged in the killing of her fiance, Sean Bell.
"April 25, 2008, they killed Sean all over again," Paultre-Bell told about 250 supporters at the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network headquarters in Harlem, her first public comments since the verdict. She shared the stage with Bell's parents and Joseph Guzman, who was with Bell, 23, at the time of the shooting in November 2006. Paultre-Bell thanked those at the rally for their support. "It's still not over," she said. "Every march, every rally, I'm going to be right up front." Also Saturday, Reps. Gregory W. Meeks and Charles B. Rangel as well as other elected officials called for a federal civil rights review of the case. State Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Cooperman in Queens on Friday acquitted Dets. Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora of manslaughter charges and Det. Marc Cooper of reckless endangerment. The three officers fired a total of 50 bullets.Cooperman said prosecution witnesses, including Bell's friends, contradicted one another so much that their testimony "had the effect of eviscerating" their credibility. The officers testified that they thought there was a gun in Bell's car before he was shot early Nov. 25, 2006, outside a Queens strip club -- just hours before he was to marry. No weapon was found. The shock of Friday's verdict hadn't subsided by Saturday morning. Bell's father, William Bell, asked the crowd at the rally, "Is this 1955 Alabama? Somebody has to answer that for me." Valerie Bell, Sean's mother, told the crowd that she didn't go through labor pains when her son was born because she had a C-section. But on Friday, she said, "that's when the pain started, and it was in my heart." Sharpton continued to rail against Cooperman's verdict, calling the ruling the worst attack on crime victims he'd ever heard of. He announced he would meet Tuesday with leaders of Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union to plan massive civil disobedience and that he would amplify calls for a Department of Justice review. Church, community and union leaders will meet to "plan the day that we who are calling for justice will close this city down," Sharpton said. People in the crowd cheered and chanted, "Shut it down!" The Bell case has been likened to the 1999 police shooting in the Bronx of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant who was reaching for his cellphone when officers, mistaking it for a gun, fired 41 bullets. A judge acquitted the four officers, prompting widespread and violent protests in the city.
Related Article:
City Reacts to Verdict in the Sean Bell's Case
Friday, April 25, 2008
North Pole could be ice free in 2008 - earth - 25 April 2008 - New Scientist Environment
Three Officers Acquitted in Mr. Bell's Death
Here's more on the travesty
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NYPD officers cleared in killing; rights leaders want probe
By TOM HAYS
NEW YORK - Civil rights leaders demanded a federal investigation and vowed to march through the streets in protest after three police officers were cleared of all charges Friday in the killing of an unarmed man cut down in a hail of 50 bullets on his wedding day.
The verdict by Justice Arthur Cooperman elicited gasps as well as tears of joy and sorrow. Detective Michael Oliver, who fired 31 of the shots, wept at the defense table, while the mother of victim Sean Bell cried in the packed courtroom. Shouts of "Murderers! Murderers!" and "KKK!" rang out on the courthouse steps.
Bell, a 23-year-old black man, was killed outside a seedy strip club in Queens in 2006 as he was leaving his bachelor party with two friends. The officers — undercover detectives who were investigating reports of prostitution at the club — said they thought one of the men had a gun.
The slaying heightened tensions in the city and stoked long-standing allegations of racism and excessive use of force on the part of New York City's police, even though two of the officers charged are black.
In announcing his verdict in the non-jury trial, the judge said that the inconsistent testimony, courtroom demeanor and rap sheets of the prosecution witnesses — mainly Bell's friends — "had the effect of eviscerating" their credibility.
"At times, the testimony just didn't make sense," the judge said.
Police had assigned extra officers to the courthouse and had helicopters in the air to help deal with any unrest. But within an hour, the angry, weeping crowd of about 200 people outside the courthouse had scattered, and despite a few scuffles, no arrests were made.
Oliver and Gescard Isnora were acquitted of charges that included manslaughter, assault and reckless endangerment. The third officer, Marc Cooper, faced lesser charges.
The verdict does not entirely resolve issues surrounding the case.
After the verdict, the U.S. attorney's office said it will look into the case and "take appropriate action if the evidence indicates a prosecutable violation of federal criminal civil rights statutes."
In addition, relatives of the victims have sued the city, and those cases could either go to trial or be settled out of court with the potential for multimillion-dollar payouts.
Also, the officers, who had been on paid leave, still face possible departmental charges that could result in their firing. While the judge found that the officers' behavior was not criminal, he added, "Questions of carelessness and incompetence must be left to other forums."
The officers appeared somber later at a news conference. Each called the verdict fair. One apologized.
"I'd like to say sorry to the Bell family for the tragedy," Cooper said.
The Rev. Al Sharpton, who represents Bell's family, demanded a federal investigation.
"This verdict is one round down, but the fight is far from over," the civil rights leader said on his radio show. He said he is organizing "economic withdrawal" and "civil disobedience" that could involve going to jail and marching on Wall Street, at the judge's house and at police headquarters.
"We are going to close the city down in a nonviolent, effective way," Sharpton said. "We're going to hit the pocketbooks. We're going to let you know that we are not going to be in any way diverted from exercising our civil rights."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: "We don't expect any violence, nor is there any place for it."
The officers had complained that pretrial publicity had unfairly painted them as cold-blooded killers. They opted to have the judge instead of a jury decide the case, a strategy that appeared to pay off.
District Attorney Richard Brown said that despite losing the case, prosecutors had "revealed significant deficiencies" in police tactics that need "prompt and serious attention."
The case brought back painful memories of other New York police shootings, such as the 1999 killing of Amadou Diallo, an African immigrant who was gunned down in a barrage of 41 bullets by police officers who mistook his wallet for a gun. The acquittal of the officers in that case led to days of protests, with hundreds arrested.
"An ugly pattern is emerging in New York," the Rev. Jesse Jackson said in Chicago after Friday's verdict. "This was a massacre. This was not a shootout. And the U.S. attorney general must give America the assurance that we all have equal protection under the law,"
The nearly two-month trial was marked by deeply divergent accounts of the night.
The defense painted the victims as drunken thugs who the officers believed were armed and dangerous. Prosecutors sought to convince the judge that the victims had been minding their own business, and that the officers were inept, trigger-happy cowboys.
Bell's companions — Trent Benefield and Joseph Guzman — were both wounded; Guzman still has four bullets lodged in his body. Both testified. Guzman, a burly ex-convict, grew combative during cross-examination, and said of Isnora: "This dude is shooting like he's crazy, like he's out of his mind."
None of the officers took the stand. Instead, the judge heard transcripts of the officers telling a grand jury that they believed they had good reason to use deadly force.
The officers said that as the club closed around 4 a.m., they heard Guzman say, "Yo, go get my gun" — something Bell's friends denied.
Isnora claimed that after he warned the men to halt, Bell pulled away in his car, bumped him and rammed an unmarked police van that converged on the scene. The detective also said Guzman made a sudden move as if he were reaching for a gun.
Benefield and Guzman testified that there were no orders from the police.
With tires screeching, glass breaking and bullets flying, the officers said they believed they were the ones under fire. Oliver responded by emptying his semiautomatic pistol, reloading, and emptying it again. Isnora fired 11 rounds, and Cooper four. Two other officers who fired weren't charged.
When the smoke had cleared, there was no weapon inside Bell's blood-splattered car.
Rush Limbaugh Sings: "I'm Dreaming Of Riots In Denver" - Media on The Huffington Post
Limbaugh's comments on his syndicated show Wednesday prompted Mayor John Hickenlooper to say: 'Anyone who would call for riots in an American city has clearly lost their bearings.'"
3 Detectives Acquitted in Bell Shooting - New York Times
Justice Cooperman delivered the verdict in State Supreme Court at 9 a.m. Describing the evidence, he said it was reasonable for the detectives to fear that someone in the crowd that night carried a gun. He added that many of the prosecution’s witnesses, including Mr. Bell’s friends and the two wounded victims, were simply not believable. “At times, the testimony of those witnesses just didn’t make sense,” the judge said."
NYPD Memo on shooting black people
NYPD Internal Memo
MEMO
From NYPD Police Commissioner Raymond W Kelly
Title: Shooting blacks and getting away with it.
Now shooting blacks, oops I mean African Americans is not only fun but part of your duties as a member of the NYPD.That being said there are a few rules that must be followed:
* Keep number of shots under 50. NY judges and juries seem to think that's the cutoff for shooting one man so do yourself a favor and don't try shooting someone 51 times. That might raise a few eyebrows.
* Make sure you kill the innocent victim. That makes it much easier to get off since it's your word against his. No one misses a dead nigger, except maybe his nigger family.
* Don't worry about showing your badge or identifying yourself. I mean if you let them know you are a cop they might follow your instructions and then who would you get to shoot?
* Immediately find out if the victim has a criminal past. If he does it does not matter if he was saving babies from a burning building when you shot him white juries and judges will always give you the benefit of the doubt.
* Last but not least keep your damned mouth shut and use the allotted time given you before you have to explain what happened. This time is used for your PBA lawyers to tell you what happened and how you will tell the investigators your story. DO AS TOLD.
* If you follow these rules you may loose your job but you wont go to jail. After you get fired you can join the New York Fire Department. The best part about that is that there are no blacks there.That's it girls and boys.
Now go shoot us a nigger. Thank you.
Aquitted detective apologizes to Sean Bell family
http://www.letstalkhonestly.com/blacknewsblackviews.html
CIARA JOBES - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
If there was ever a child who should be an icon for Stop Child Abuse, then Ciara should be it. Watch her tragic story, and then go hug your loved ones. I had ony 4 photos of Ciara to work with, but I think you will get the message. The background music is "Strange Way" by Firefall. Her tragedy should never be repeated, - KWH