Imperial Avenue by Ruth Staniford « Sisters Voice

Imperial Avenue by Ruth Staniford « Sisters Voice: "Imperial Avenue by Ruth Staniford2010
04.29 IMPERIAL AVENUE
Ruth Standiford
Peace In The Hood
For more than three years, Black women were disappearing in Cleveland, particularly in the Imperial Avenue area and no one seemed to notice or care. For more than three years, a foul smell filled the neighborhood air and neighbors complained and complained. Nothing was done. The sausage company on the corner of Imperial and East 123 was blamed. For more than three years, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s office came out to the pretty house on Imperial Avenue , next to the sausage plant (that was blamed for the foul smell) and checked on the Tier 3 registered sex offender who had served 15 years in prison for a violent rape who lived there, as required by law. The officers did not see or, strangely enough, smell anything unusual.
In the cases of some of the missing women, police reports were made and made and made. In some cases families were told there was nothing the police could do. Members of Survivors and Victims of Tragedy, Peace in the Hood, Black on Black Crime, Inc., V.O.I.C.E.S and other grass roots organizations passed out flyers and attended vigils and worked with other collaborating partners such as some of the churches. Families began to talk of a serial killer on the loose. Everyone dismissed that idea as silly. Michelle Mason disappeared after telling her family she was meeting with a guy from Imperial Avenue, who had served 13 years in prison for stalking someone."

Read more by clicking the link above. May the Imperial victims rest in peace.

Rape on the Reservation

Rape on the Reservation // Current

According to national statistics, one in three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes. Vanguard correspondent Mariana Van Zeller travels to Rosebud reservation in South Dakota to investigate the alarmingly high incidence of rape and sexual assaults.

She learns that rape and violence against women have become frighteningly commonplace and recently escalated to the brutal murder of a high school student named Marquita, whose naked, battered body was discovered in an abandoned house on the reservation. Candid interviews with her family members, classmates and police reveal many of the disturbing social attitudes and behaviors that lead up to her death.

On the reservation, victims of rape are often blamed and even intimidated from pressing charges by members of the community, including their own families. Mariana meets Donna, a rape victim who, fearing for her life, flees her home on the reservation. Through their stories as well as emotionally charged scenes with both Indian rape survivors and past sex offenders, "Rape on the Reservation" exposes a culture of impunity as well as raises questions about what can be done to stem the epidemic of rape on America's Indian reservations.

The Flotilla Raid Was Not “Bungled.” The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.

Tel Aviv-Israel Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his senior ministers have attempted to blame army commanders for “the bungled raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla,” according to the UK’s Daily Telegraph. The AP reported that “Israel’s bloody, bungled takeover of a Gaza-bound Turkish aid vessel is complicating US-led Mideast peace efforts.” And according to Reuters, “Israeli military admits errors in bungled boarding.”

But was the raid really bungled? Did the Israeli military command and Netanyahu government have no clear strategy going in? Or was the violence they meted out against the flotilla activists deliberate and methodically planned?

Statements by senior Israeli military commanders made in the Hebrew media days before the massacre revealed that the raid was planned over a week in advance by the Israeli military and was personally approved by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defense Ehud Barak. The elite Israeli commando unit known as Unit 13 was tasked with carrying out the mission and its role was known by the Israeli public well before the raid took place. Details of the plan show that the use of deadly force was authorized and calculated. The massacre of activists should not have been unexpected.

Gulf oil disaster propels tribes into crisis | Mother Earth Journal

HOUMA, La. – The worst oil leak in U.S. history has grown to 19 million gallons since BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded April 20.

And the oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico is wreaking havoc with tribal lives in Louisiana.

“The smell of the oil is really bad, people describe it as smelling like you were in an engine room,” Brenda Dardar Robichaux, Principal Chief of the United Houma Nation said May 26 of the potentially toxic vapors.

The Environmental Protection Agency can’t send a representative to their tribal community for five days. “They told us to keep the children inside. In essence our children are in house arrest, their health is at risk.”

EPA air monitoring of the coastline through May 23 found normal ozone and particulate air quality levels but observed odor-causing pollutants associated with petroleum products at low levels, prompting the agency to warn, “Some of these chemicals may cause short-lived effects like headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea. People may be able to smell some of these chemicals at levels well below those that would cause short-term health problems.”

John John: witnessing Zionist Genocide from Occupied Canada

Canadian detained on Gaza aid flotilla says he was beaten - thestar.com

VANCOUVER - The night before a violent confrontation between Israeli soldiers and activists headed for the blockaded Gaza Strip was a tense and sleepless one, says a Canadian activist who was on board.

Rifat Audeh, one of three Canadians detained during the raid off the Gaza coast, told The Canadian Press that they'd heard reports Israeli forces might try and “attack” the convoy. Nine people died in the confrontation.

The 37-year-old resident of St. Catharines, Ont., said he was near the cabin of the Mavi Marmara early Monday morning when he heard the first shots ring out.

“They started shooting at the ship itself for no reason whatsoever,” he said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Amman, Jordan, where he arrived after being released by Israeli authorities. “We're a humanitarian ship, we were unarmed, we're all civilians, we had no weapons onboard.”

Peter Mansbridge chums with Netanyahu on the National | rabble.ca

he two men sat across from each other in identical black suits -- very Brooks Brothers, very corporate machismo. Their feet firmly apart, they leaned forward on their chairs with purpose, as if they were discussing sales figures at an AGM.

The two shared similarly thinning hairlines and a certain pudgy middle-aged smugness. They occasionally smiled and guffawed good naturedly, called each other by their first names and one mentioned that "we go back a long way, don't we?" One almost expected them to reminisce about a long lost golf tournament.

But these chummy cohorts were in fact Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Peter Mansbridge, the long time host of CBC's television's flagship nightly news program The National. One was supposed to be interviewing the other, but it played more like an advertorial for the Likud party.

The timing couldn't have been better. As Netanyahu did his best to present himself -- and his country -- as reasonable, civilized and even 'peace-loving' ('Let's meet in a "peace tent",' he said smilingly, of a proposed face-to-face meeting with Abbas, reaching for a kind of earnest boy scout demeanour) and the beleaguered Palestinians as troublesome terrorists or mere Iranian pawns, terrible images of Israeli commandos boarding a Gaza-bound aid convoy and killing some of its apparently unarmed occupants (amongst the group were two Canadians), flashed on television screens worldwide.

`Diff'rent Strokes' star Gary Coleman dies - omg! news on Yahoo!

`Diff'rent Strokes' star Gary Coleman dies - omg! news on Yahoo!: "PROVO, Utah - Gary Coleman, the adorable, pint-sized child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom 'Diff'rent Strokes' who spent the rest of his life struggling on Hollywood's D-list, died Friday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42."

Rest in peace, Mr. Gary Coleman!

Aiyana Jones Funeral Brings Hundreds To Mourn Loss of Little Girl

Aiyana Jones Funeral Brings Hundreds To Mourn Loss of Little Girl  By Boyce Watkins.

Aiyana Jones is laid to rest today but questions need to be answered.  Why was Miss Jones targeted for police brutality?  Is the Detroit PD is letting the officer getting away with murder?  I hope not, but given the record of police brutality toward people of color, I doubt it.

DEBRADICKERSON.COM: Debra Doesn't Live Here Anymore

DEBRADICKERSON.COM: Debra Doesn't Live Here Anymore: "Somehow, I've decided that the building is white with mauve trim. Both decidedly past their prime and not scheduled for a touch up anytime soon. Because of its address deep in the heart of ghetto Albany's commercial zone, I've also decided that there's an African hair braiding salon to one side. A Korean nail shop on the other. Safe bet. Both are ubiquitous in the hood. Along with beauty supply shops, bodegas and pizza by the slice. All shabby, all catering to blacks but few owned by us."

What does Malcolm X have to do with Canada?

What does Malcolm X have to do with Canada? - Research & Rescue

The third Sunday in May is Malcolm X Day. In the 1960s, Malcolm X was one of the most candid and admired leaders of the black nationalist movement, whose philosophy was racial separation and self-determination that rejected Martin Luther King Jr.’s nonviolent, integrationist approach to civil rights. Malcolm X was sharply critical of civil rights leaders who advocated black integration into white society as a substitute for building strong black institutions and defending themselves against racist violence. He was an internationally known political leader, whose philosophy can be summed up in his own words: “It is not integration that Negros in America want, it is human dignity.”

Malcolm X Day is celebrated in most major American cities, but what does it have to do with Canada? What impact, if any, did the philosophies of Malcolm X have on black Canadian consciousness and politics?

To answer this question, we must first understand not only the original militant philosophy expounded by Malcolm X and its influence in Canada at the time, but also the ongoing impact of Malcolm X’s transformative philosophy, which moved beyond civil rights to human rights developed shortly after his resignation from the Nation of Islam and just prior to his assassination at the Audubon Ballroom in New York on Feb. 21, 1965. That year, just before his death, he founded the Organization of Afro-American Unity as a non-religious medium to draw attention to the common cause of human dignity and human rights for all people of African descent in the world. On only one occasion did he visit Canada, where he did an interview with the CBC and visited the home of the well-known Canadian author Austin Clarke. However, his influence on black Canadians was significant.

Candle Light Visual for Aiyana Jones #1

FOXNews.com - Video May Show Police Raid That Led to 7-Year-Old's Death

FOXNews.com - Video May Show Police Raid That Led to 7-Year-Old's Death

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To Rain of Havock: Update on the Ayiana Case

To Rain of Havock: Update on the Ayiana Case: "Police who carried out a raid on a family home that left a 7-year-old girl dead over the weekend were accompanied by a camera crew for a reality television show, and an attorney says video of the siege contradicts the police account of what happened."


Thank you, Raina,

Detroit police have done a dirty deed by covering their own members in the shooting of the innocent girl. I hope the officers involved are fired and in jail and that Ayianna's family sue the department. It's a disgrace to the family and the community they swore to protect. Even 7-year old children of color aren't exempt from police brutality. May Ayianna rests in peace.

Arizona: For Whites Only?

Arizona: For Whites Only? | The Atlanta Post

by R. L’Heureux Lewis

Recently, I penned a piece discussing the need for Black folks to join in with the fight against Arizona’s racist immigration bill SB 1070. My goal was to challenge Black folks, to think beyond the immediate immigration bill to the larger injustices that are taking root in Arizona. In the past few weeks, Arizona has continued to make their intentions clear. Whether you agree with SB 1070 or not, the state of Arizona has begun a march towards making the state free, open and inhabitable to Whites and closed to people of color, particularly Latinos.

Arizona is now pushing a package of policies that serve to malign, discriminate against, and reduce the freedoms of non-Whites, citizens and non-citizens alike. The signing of SB 1070 into law has increased the legal discretion and support for thinly veiled racial profiling. This week, the governor signed into law a bill that eliminated Ethnic Studies at the primary and secondary grade levels. Arizona’s Department of Education has been lobbying for the removal of teachers with strong accents or whose grammatical structure is found to be unacceptable. It would be naïve to suggest that these policies are simply about the safety, quality, and fairness as they’ve been pitched; instead they represent a concerted attempt to cleanse Arizona of ethnic influence.

Lena Horne on Rosie O'Donnell 1997