Can We Save a Black Boy?

The only way to save a black boy is one child at a time. Today, it is Genarlow Wilson, The Jena Six, and Memory of Ron Pettiway.

Immediate Update:

Memory of Ron Pettiway

From: Cruse Pettaway said...
No Matter whats happens, My brother Ron I will Always Love U, I Miss the Days we spent together. I still remember the days you walk me back and forth to school. Even tho I know I couldn't see you at graduation, I know you were there. Before I go I wanted to say sorry for not making that song that night, not going bowling when u asked, and for leaving u there at Frozen Palace. But when we meet again I promise to make it up. Just know that I'll take everything u taught me and make it happen. But untill then I'm still waiting for you to walk through the front door.

shamaca Pettaway said...
OFFICERS ASSIA WARE AND MICHEAL BERNARD WILSON now have warrant application filed by my brother Roy Pettaway. We are not going to let the murder of my brother Ron die.

Our hearts go out to the Pettaway Family for The Loss of Ron. As reported by Francis L. Holland Blog:
http://francislholland.blogspot.com/2007/04/media-discusses-ron-and-roy-pettaway.html

Ron and Roy Pettaway, Shot from Behind by Fulton County, GA Police

Ron and Roy Pettway, Black men in Fulton County, GA, were partying in a bar when an argument broke out over an insult. Five minutes after the argument ended, the Fulton County Police arrived and ordered Ron Pettaway into the street. His brother Roy followed and saw police beating Ron, and he tried to help his brother. But, police shot Ron Pettaway in the back of the head, killng him, and they shot Roy in the back.

Both black men were unarmed, and both were shot in the back.

We need to ASK the Right People THE RIGHT QUESTIONS:

• Is there a current investigation of this shooting? If so, who is doing the investigating? Where is the Justice Department Civil Rights Division?

Here are the Telephone Numbers for Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Telephone Numbers for Fulton County Board of Commissioners.

Gloria, Secretary to (African-American) Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard (404) 330-6100, said the District Attorney Howard had "just got the case," and she was unable to readily provide a statement about the status of the investigation.

We must hold law enforcement officers accountable for the actions and culpable to excessive use of force and murder-in-the-name-of-the-law. We have enough proof to show that the State of Georgia has returned to the type of lawlessness and violence against minority like in the days of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Call: Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue: (404) 656-1776


All-White Jury in Jena, Louisiana Swiftly Convicts Black Teenager
(The Jena Six Trials)

JENA, Louisiana -- Tears streamed down Melissa Bell's face Monday as the judge ruled in favor of LaSalle Parish District Attorney J. Reed Walters' motion to continue her son's trial more than a month. (“Racial demons rear heads”, Chicago Tribune, May 18, 2007)

According to the story, the white students guilty of the rope incident were suspended for three days. Black parents, who felt that the nooses signified a greater danger and threat, protested the ruling. It should have been treated as a racially motivated hate crime, in light of these subsequent events and chain reactions:

First, a series of fights between black and white students erupted at the high school over the nooses. Then, in late November, unknown arsonists set fire to the central wing of the school, which still sits in ruins. Off campus, a white youth beat up a black student who showed up at an all-white party. A few days later, another young white man pulled a shotgun on three black students at a convenience store.

Finally, on Dec. 4, a group of black students at the high school allegedly jumped a white student on his way out of the gym, knocked him unconscious and kicked him after he hit the floor. The victim—allegedly targeted because he was a friend of the students who hung the nooses and had been taunting blacks—was not seriously injured and spent only a few hours in the hospital.

But the LaSalle Parish district attorney, Reed Walters, opted to charge six black students with attempted second-degree murder and other offenses, for which they could face a maximum of 100 years in prison if convicted. All six were expelled from school.


Louisiana teen guilty in school beating case
Witnesses provide conflicting testimony

By Howard Witt
Tribune senior correspondent
Published June 29, 2007

HOUSTON -- An all-white jury in the central Louisiana town of Jena swiftly convicted a black teenager Thursday for attacking a white student in an incident that capped months of racial unrest and attracted the scrutiny of civil rights leaders concerned about the application of justice in the town.

Jurors convicted Mychal Bell, 17, of aggravated second-degree battery and conspiracy charges despite conflicting testimony from witnesses about whether Bell was among a group of black students who allegedly jumped the victim as he emerged from the gymnasium at the local high school on Dec. 4, knocking him unconscious.

Bell, a former high school football star who has been jailed since the incident, faces the possibility of more than 20 years in prison when he is sentenced July 31…

The aggravated battery charge against Bell involved the use of a dangerous weapon. Although no evidence of a gun, knife or other weapon was introduced, Walters argued, and the jury agreed, that the tennis shoes Bell was wearing at the time of the attack qualified as a dangerous weapon…

Bell's court-appointed public defender, Blane Williams, had urged the teenager to accept a plea bargain on the eve of the trial, but Bell declined. Williams, who is black, did not challenge the composition of the jury pool, which included no African-Americans, and the defense rested without calling any witnesses. He also excluded the teenager's parents from the courtroom.

"Blane Williams did not want to go to trial, he was not prepared to go to trial and he was angry when he was forced to go to trial," said Alan Bean, director of Friends of Justice, a Texas-based civil rights group that has closely followed the Jena case. "So he just sort of plowed ahead and decided to go through the motions."


SAVE A BLACK BOY FROM THIS UNDESERVED FATE:
Sign the Petition

Petition to the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice

This is a petition to request that the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice review events surrounding the prosecution of six Black students in Jena, Louisiana, for evidence of racial discrimination. The six students are reportedly facing prosecution for second degree attempted murder — and possible prison sentences of up to 100 years — for allegedly participating in an unarmed school brawl that resulted in no serious injuries.

The brawl followed months of racial tension after hangman's nooses were reportedly hung from a tree at the students'; school.

The prosecution of these young men represents a gross miscarriage of justice, punishing Black students for opposing segregation of their schools while ignoring the threatening and provocative acts of those engaging in segregation.

From a Chicago Tribune article on the cases:

"There’s been obvious racial discrimination in this case," said Joe Cook, executive director of the Louisiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, who described Jena as a “racial powder keg” primed to ignite. "It appears the black students were singled out and targeted in this case for some unusually harsh treatment."

In view of these facts, we the undersigned respectfully request that the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice launch a full investigation into events in Jena, Louisiana, beginning with the noose incident of August 31, 2006, and culminating in the alleged fight of December 4, 2006 to determine whether the civil rights of Jena residents have been violated.

PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION HERE


THE CASE OF Genarlow Wilson

A Sin, Not a Crime
Friday, June 29, 2007

Once, he was the homecoming king at Douglas County High. Now he's Georgia inmate No. 1187055, convicted of aggravated child molestation.

When he was a senior in high school, he received oral sex from a 10th grader. He was 17. She was 15. Everyone, including the girl and the prosecution, agreed she initiated the act. But because of an archaic Georgia law, it was a misdemeanor for teenagers less than three years apart to have sexual intercourse, but a felony for the same kids to have oral sex.

He's 20 now. Just two years into a 10-year sentence without possibility of parole, he peers through the thick glass and bars, trying to catch a glimpse of freedom. Outside, guard towers and rolls of coiled barbed wire remind him of who he is…
[Who he was] Genarlow Wilson was a good student with a 3.2 G.P.A. and football scholarships across the country. Maybe that is why his story broke into ESPN NEWS.

June 13, 2007 Genarlow Wilson Update

On Wednesday, July 13, Monroe County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wilson ordered the release of Genarlow Wilson. Calling Genarlow’s eleven year sentence a “miscarriage of justice,” Judge Wilson declared: “If this court, or any court, cannot recognize the injustice of what has occurred here, then our court system has lost sight of the goal our judicial system has always strived to accomplish… Justice being served in a fair and equal manner.” Additionally, Generalow will not be placed on the Georgia sex offender registry.

Unfortunately, Genarlow’s struggle is not over. A few hours after Judge Wilson’s decision, Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker filed for an appeal, meaning that the Georgia Supreme Court will now determine Genarlow’s fate. We asked the District Attorney to agree to bond but he did not, so we have to wait until July 5th to try and get a bond from the Douglas County Superior Court.

[Excerpt]
Civil rights activists work to free Wilson
Prayer vigil planned July 5 at Douglas County Courthouse

By JEREMY REDMON
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 06/26/07

A group of African-American civil rights activists spoke out today in support of freeing Genarlow Wilson from prison on bond pending an appeal of the 10-year prison sentence he got for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.
The activists also announced plans for a prayer vigil on July 5 at the Douglas County Superior Court, where a bond hearing has been scheduled for Wilson
"Injustice to anyone is a threat to justice to everyone," the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a veteran civil rights activist and former Southern Christian Leadership Conference president, said at an afternoon news conference today.

"And we need to learn that. White people need to learn that. If they tolerate injustice for black folks, it is just a matter of time before injustice puts them on the calendar."

Lowery was joined by several other civil rights leaders and lawmakers, including Sens. Vincent Fort (D-Atlanta) and Emanuel Jones (D-Decatur) and Reps. Tyrone Brooks (D-Atlanta), Roberta Abdul-Salaam (D-Riverdale) and Rep. Al Williams (D-Midway), chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus.

What Can You Do?

1) Let District Attorney David McDade and other politicians of the state of Georgia know your outrage with the unjust incarceration of Genarlow Wilson. Sign our online petition demanding his freedom and that he not have to register as a sexual offender.

2) Donate to the Wilson Defense Fund. Monies collected will go to legal expenses and when released, an education fund for Genarlow Wilson.

3) Contact Attorney General Thurbert E. Baker
Phone: 404-656-3300
FAX: 404-657-8733
E-mail: agbaker@law.ga.gov

[ref. baby moses project]

Civil Rights Leaders Call Prayer Vigil for Genarlow Wilson

[Excerpts from "Civil rights activists work to free Wilson" by JEREMY REDMON, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

A group of African-American civil rights activists spoke out today in support of freeing Genarlow Wilson from prison on bond pending an appeal of the 10-year prison sentence he got for having oral sex with a 15-year-old girl when he was 17.

The activists also announced plans for a prayer vigil on July 5 at the Douglas County Superior Court, where a bond hearing has been scheduled for Wilson.

"Injustice to anyone is a threat to justice to everyone," the Rev. Joseph Lowery, a veteran civil rights activist and former Southern Christian Leadership Conference president, said at an afternoon news conference today... more>

Guinea Pig in a CIA Mind-Control Experiment – Part I

Today’s latest whiff of fresh air in government disclosure comes from the recent release of the CIA’s “Family Jewels” file. AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit.com gives a Hat Tip to Intelligentaindigena Novajoservo by angryindian for blogging the story about the recent disclosures published in the New York Times as a result of a quest made through the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).

[Excerpts of CNN Report: “CIA releases 'family jewels' on misconduct”]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The CIA released hundreds of pages of internal reports Tuesday detailing assassination plots against foreign leaders such as Cuba's Fidel Castro and the secret testing of mind-and-behavior altering drugs like LSD on unwitting U.S. citizens.

The documents also provide information on wiretapping of U.S. journalists, spying on civil rights and anti-Vietnam war protesters, opening mail between the United States and the Soviet Union and China, and break-ins at the homes of ex-CIA employees and others.

The report cites: They [files] first spilled into public view on December 22, 1974, with an article by Seymour Hersh in The New York Times on the CIA's spying against antiwar and other dissidents inside this country. The agency assembled files on some 10,000 people.

Another NY Times report, “Files on Illegal Spying Show C.I.A. Skeletons From Cold War”, states: “Known inside the agency as the “family jewels,” the 702 pages of documents released Tuesday catalog domestic wiretapping operations, failed assassination plots, mind-control experiments and spying on journalists from the early years of the C.I.A.”

Also, BBC published “CIA details Cold War skullduggery”.

Re-Telling the Story

By now, these revelations should be a well-established part of US history. But invariably, with each new generation, it is necessary to tell the story over again about how the CIA, FBI, and the US Bureau of Prisons used us politically conscious prisoners in secret mind-control experiments.

These recent public revelations follow some 30 years after the FBI disclosure of illegal government activities under J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO. The 1976 Church Committee (US Senate Select Committee to Study Government Operations with respect to Intelligence Activities) had already disclosed the CIA’s role in secret spying and espionage against Civil Rights activists, Black Panthers, and other so-called radicals. What has not been disclosed is the CIA’s involvement in mind-control experiments.

When Eddie Griffin wrote “Breaking Men’s Minds”, it was originally entitled Behavior
Control and Human Experimentation at the Federal Prison in Marion and much of the information supplied by these men:

The summer and fall of 1972 witnessed a series of mobilizations, political rebellions, and lawsuits by a multiracial group of prison activists at Marion Federal Penitentiary in Illinois. A cadre of third world activists — from the Black Liberation Army, the Republic of New Africa, and a Puerto Rican independentista fighter to Muslims, Chicanos, American Indians, and whites — came together that spring in Marion to challenge the very logic of incarceration as a form of permanent living death, wrote Alan Eladio Gómez in “Resisting Living Death at Marion Federal Penitentiary, 1972”.

As part of an organized struggle to defend their dignity and maintain the creative momentum for political organizing, and in response to these institutionalized techniques, the activists compiled research for a report on prison conditions submitted to the United Nations, organized a third world political cadre out of the Student Union, and linked up with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the People’s Law Office (PLO), and the local university law school in order to bring the struggle into the legal arena. Responding to the brutal beating of a Chicano inmate by a guard, they (re)organized as the Political Prisoners Liberation Front (PPLF) — and as a result were gassed and beaten, their legal materials confiscated, and their hygiene and exposure to chemical riot control techniques ignored for three days. Authorities isolated them in special units within the H and I Segregation, some in so-called steel boxcars. This form of isolation eventually became the Control Unit (CU), an extreme form of solitary confinement.

As inmates challenged the legal basis for long-term incarceration, new techniques of hands-on behavior modification responded to the need for increased control. Edgar Schein, an associate professor of psychology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, helped design the medical-models approach to behavior modification. Schein’s research focused on brainwashing in “totalitarian regimes,” primarily China.17 In 1953, Schein interviewed recently released U.S. POWs to understand better the Korean brainwashing experience. For Schein, brainwashing techniques used by North Korean and Chinese communists against U.S. soldiers in Korean POW camps offered a solution to the problems of control and rehabilitation within the U.S. federal prison system.

In April 1961, Schein presented a paper entitled “Man against Man: Brainwashing” to the staff and senior administrators of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons at a meeting of U.S. wardens and social scientists. Schein argued that “in order to provoke marked change of behavior and/or attitude, it is necessary to weaken, undermine or remove the supports to the old patterns of behavior and the old attitudes.” These techniques included isolation to break or weaken emotional ties, the segregation of leaders and the use of cooperative prisoners in their place, a prohibition of group activities not in line with the brainwashing objectives, spying on prisoners and reporting back private material, tricking men into writing statements then shown to other inmates, exploiting informers and opportunists, the disorganization of all group standards among prisoners, and seventeen other suggestions. The appropriation of techniques from communist-bloc prison camps at the height of anticommunism reveals the contradictions of behavior modification — the justification for cruel and inhumane punishment against a specific group of inmates to control them and supposedly make society safe.

Yet for Schein and his receptive audience the ends clearly justified the means. The chairman of the symposium, Bertram S. Brown of the National Institute of Mental Health, responded warmly to Schein’s presentation; he encouraged prison administrators to experiment with these new techniques on the black Muslim inmate populations on returning to their respective institutions: “What I am trying to say is that we are a group that can do a lot of experimenting and research . . . do things perhaps on your own — undertake a little experiment of what you can do with Muslims. There is a lot of research to do. Do it as individuals. Do it as groups and let us know the results.” Schein designed these programs with Martin Groder, the Marion psychiatrist who would later serve as the director of the Center for Correctional Research at Butner, North Carolina. As a result of Groder’s leadership, and in the wake of the 1962 meeting, Marion became an experiment conducted by the Center for the Study of Crime, Delinquency, and Corrections at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Prison Rebellion Years at Marion
Prison rebellions in the United States burned through the 1970s, particularly following the murder of Soledad Brother George Jackson in California’s San Quentin on August 7, 1971. Prison activists in Attica, Leavenworth, McNeil Island, and Terre Haute formed clandestine study groups and ethnic studies classes, organized direct actions like labor strikes, and utilized so-called strategies of fire — setting ablaze whatever was at hand to burn it down, something akin to practices in ghetto uprisings across the nation.

In response, as per prison policy, the authorities fired gas containers into the cellblock. The first casualty was independentista Andres Figueroa Codero, who immediately became ill and started hemorrhaging: “People were carrying him on their shoulders, we were banging on the walls, the more we banged, the more gas they shoot . . . and they take him out . . . . We were just fighting, from shutting down the factory and then resisting the lockdown, resisting the hole, we were just fighting for survival and we were resisting. It was an open rebellion. We were fighting back with whatever we had, which was nothing. ”Seven other inmates were hospitalized. Nine days after the strike, on April 8, 1972, authorities transferred sixty-four inmates out of Leavenworth. A few were left at the medical facility in Springfield, Illinois, while the majority was sent to Marion. On arrival there, all the transferred inmates were immediately taken to the hole. The Chicano, Puerto Rican, Native American, African American, and white activists coming from Leavenworth arrived at the same time as did people from McNeil Island. Writ writer Lanier “Red” Ramer and Mike Cassidy from McNeil Island joined African American soldiers like Charles Warren from Atlanta, Akinsiju Ola (also known as Ed Johnson) from New Orleans (the editor of Black Pride, the black prisoners’ newspaper), and Imari Obadele, the president of the Republik of New Africa, joined with Chicanos like Alberto Mares, raúlrsalinas, and Eddie Sanchez at Marion. Transferred to Marion for a set of specific political reasons, these activists came together for another set of specific reasons: they shared the common bond of having taken a stand against what they called “the empire” by resisting the jail machine in different prisons across the country. Prison administrators were worried about rebellions throughout the country. Before the Select Subcommittee on Crime in the U.S. House of Representatives, the warden George W. Pickett testified on December 1, 1971, that inmates housed in special units like Marion’s were “felons difficult to control and manage,” transferred from other prisons because of their aggressive behavior. According to the associate warden Charles E. Fenton, “We have a national constituency here. This place is unique in the history of penology.” Marion’s notoriety was already being discussed.

Search CIA Archives

I have searched the CIA website for connections to our struggle against mind-control experimentation, and so far I have found a book review of “Coercive Persuasion” by Edgar H. Schein.

After having vilified Dr. Schein in my 1977 writings, I have since come to appreciate his understanding of behavioral psychology.

A Day in the Life of a Bible Teacher

I have taken some time off on my blog site in order to fulfill the church’s request that I teach the teenage boys during this Vacation Bible School. It has been years since I taught teenagers. This would be an opportune time to look at the minds of our children.

Before anything else, I am a bible school teacher. In the teaching of this class, I am constrained to teach only the lessons in the text book. (“Can You Dig It?” Promise Publishing, Inc., copyright 1982).

I am constrained to use the New King James Version of the bible.

I am constrained to teach only as the Word teaches- nothing added to, nor taken away. But I will ask tough questions.

TODAY’S LESSON

LESSON III - The Greatness of a Humble Heart

Lesson Text: Luke 9:46-48 NKJV

9:46
Then a dispute arose among them as to which of them would be greatest.
9:47
And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a little child and set him by Him,
9:48
and said to them, "Whoever receives this little child in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me. For he who is least among you all will be great."

Memory Verse: Matthew 5:5

Blessed are the meek, For they shall inherit the earth.

Teacher Questions:

• Why is it so hard to be meek?
• What is our misconception of meekness?
• Why would Jesus disciples get into a dispute over which “would be the greatest”?
• What did Jesus, “perceiving their thoughts”, see in their hearts?
• What “greatness” did Jesus find in the child, such that he could say, “he who is least among you all will be great”? How is the child like “the least among you”? How do you feel, as a child in the Church?

Response to Criticism

Dear Brother Tatum,

Let me again say that I greatly admire and appreciate your work, especially in the Boycott of D. L. Hughley, whose stock in the international entertainment arena has suddenly plummeted- again, thanks to you and the other ministers and community leaders. The Boycott was a huge success to the extent that people were educated, informed, and enlightened.

I was moved to joined the boycott because you were provoked by an article that I had written about this pathetic comedic. This is the way I see it:

By now, Fort Worth should be over D. L. Hughley. For the record, the women on Rutgers basketball team had “straighten hair”, not “nappy hair”. And, ugly is in the eye of the beholder.

So D. L. Hughley calls it like he sees it. It is evident his view of the world is distorted with regards to what he said on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show about these young female scholars. These could not have been the “ugliest nappy-headed women” he had ever seen in his life unless he grew up in fairyland.

By right, he can say whatever he wishes to say, because he does have freedom of speech. If only he would look in the mirror, he would see that ugly nappy-headed person of which he speaks.

Review the Rutgers vs. Tennessee college basketball playoff tape. Honestly, which of the Rutgers women were “nappy-headed”? Now review the Imus tape. What did Imus say? Did he see any “nappy-headed whores” or was he just mimicking street talk? Now review Jay Leno’s interview of D. L. Hughley. What did Hughley say? What did he actually see in his mind’s eye? Surely these were beautiful young sisters. Instead of making a joke of Imus when the opportunity presented itself on Jay Leno, Hughley piled on like another rapist.

NO! The problem here is internal. D.L. Hughley is incapable of introspection.

In Channel 5’s interview with Hughley, he mentions “freedom of speech”. Whoever said that this was a “freedom of speech” issue? Psychology would probably look at a mentally distraught man making mockery of people based upon his own psychosis, as butts of his jokes. Making people laugh is his livelihood, but at whose expense?

We have children and youth who idealize Mr. Hughley. It is at their expense that these jokes most impact. They adopt his language and callous behavior, and share the same disrespect for their elders.

Now when someone’s exposes him in his psychopathology, then he hides behind his freedom of speech issue. Let’s be sure of this one thing: The world is not framed by psychosis, but by the truth.

PERSONAL COMMITTMENT

Let us be clear that the right to protest is First Amendment Free Speech. Mr. Hughley tries to offset one First Amendment right to free speech by another right to free speech. Therefore, one offsets the other, as in a “zero sum proposition”.

Bro. Tatum, the right to protest is legal and protected. We need not get permits anymore in Fort Worth to demonstrate. But you were wise in recommending to the team to work collaboratively with the Fort Worth Police Department. We paved the way with good relations with the FWPD and, indeed, some of them supported us in the heart.

You remember my tears over the phone with you, of how much I was moved by all the local, national, and international support. We had a winning strategy without the big numbers.

The right to protest may be legal and protected, but CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE is not. To be successful at this, a man must never cross the line of the law. I had to choose my words carefully, because WE ALL (THE TEAM) anticipated my being ejected from Bass Hall. This we discussed before I went in and came out at INTERMISSION and back in again. No one stopped me or told me that it was unwise. So, it was not individualism as you imply, but a sacrifice which you now wish to disavow. Were we not all of one accord?

But suppose I went back in and yelled “Fire”, that is not protected free speech. That’s a felony. I could not yell out “Fire” or even call him “a nappy-headed B***”, which I would have done back in my old Black Panther days. I had to limit my speech to “Boo”, lest I stoop as low as he.

The crowd was hostile toward me. I thought, for sure, someone would have the backbone to boo along with me. I was terribly disappointed of certain people I saw in the audience and recognized. I felt like a cowboy going into a saloon with a bible in my hand. A preacher doesn’t go into a beer joint and preach the gospel. The minds of alcohol drinkers are darkened and they cannot hear. And, neither would the people at Bass Performance Hall.

Eddie Griffin, to them, was nothing more than a mere inconvenience, to be tossed out of the saloon on my ear, onto the street, like a clown. If I said it once, I’ll say it again: I am a Clown4Christ, and a defender of women’s honor.

I never expected television cameras in my face or to be threatened with arrest and charged with criminal trespassing. Again, after reviewing the tape, I believe my sacrifice was an act of CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE, for which I gladly paid the cost.

Please note my recorded words: “I want my money back. I want a refund.” The media may have wanted to characterize me as some mad protester from off the streets that had trespassed upon the premise. But by asking for a refund, I demonstrated that I was a legitimate paying customer.


MY APOLOGYTO THE CITY

Psalms 127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain.

Why would you burn the house down because of a fly?

Stand-up comics series coming

The N.C. Blumenthal Performing Arts Center and the Comedy Zone have formed a partnership to bring a series of comedy acts to Charlotte, beginning with Sinbad June 30.

Other upcoming performances include storyteller James Gregory, Southern-themed comedian/songwriter Tim Wilson, television star D.L. Hughley and the top performers from NBC's " Last Comic Standing."
"This is a great fit for our two organizations," said Douglas Young, director of theatrical programming for the Blumenthal, located at North Tryon and Sixth Streets.

"The Comedy Zone has tremendous connections in the stand up world. Their participation in this new venture will help us bring some of the biggest talents on the comedy circuit to Charlotte ."
Said Brian Heffron, owner of the Comedy Zone, "We've got a great marriage and it will enable us to better spread the gospel of laughter in Charlotte ."

Here's the schedule:

D.L. Hughley, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7, Belk Theatre in the Blumenthal.
"Last Comic Standing," 8 p.m. Oct. 22, Belk Theatre in the Blumenthal.
For information: 704-372-1000; www.performingartsctr.org.

HAT TIP TO Thug-Life-Army’s Pearl Jr.

Black Woman's Movement: Update & Duties by Pearl Jr.

This past week has been one filled with many arrogant insults to Black women:

Angelina Jolie playing a Black woman in the movie, "A Mighty Heart" and no one in the major media is discussing this complete disregard that Black women can be extraordinary and motivated by love just like any other woman can. A black woman can't be the object of a White man's desire, but according to the media, only a White woman can be the object of all men's desires. RACIST!

The Obama Crush video is still being promoted nationwide. This young White woman is calling out the herd of White women to charge Barack-ster to get him to be with one of them. I guess the popular mindset is supposed to be that a Black woman just cannot be what a good, smart, talented, millionaire man wants; he's got to want a sexy White thing just like any other Black man with resources. The woman in the video is a paid actress that probably isn't even a real Obama supporter and didn't even sing the horrible song.

DL Hugely displaying the arrogance of ignorance for refusing to apologize to the Rutger's Basketball team for calling them the ugliest women he has ever seen while being a guest on Jay Leno's Tonight Show. Even after a group of ministers in Texas picketed his concert, he still boldly said he didn't care and stood by his comment, which insults all hardworking innocent Black women, meaning all Black women are a target to being hurt for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

A talk radio show jock on ESPN by the name of Colin Cowherd said that it was NOT acceptable for Tiger Woods to miss the birth of his baby, but Lebron James could miss the birth of his baby. He said due to Tiger's wife being a Swedish model (immigrant nanny), she had to be worth shutting down the entire golf tournament, but Lebron should miss his baby's birth for a myriad of reasons. I supposed the difference is Lebron's baby momma is Black?

WE MUST BOYCOTT ALL THESE ENTITIES, ESPECIALLY THE ANGELINA JOLIE MOVIE. I GUESS SHE THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A COMPLIMENT TO THE BLACK RACE FOR HER PLAY A BLACK WOMAN. I DON'T THINK BLACK PEOPLE TELL WHITE PEOPLE HOW MUCH THEIR THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS OF BLACK INFERIORITY REALLY OFFENDS US.

THE MOST IMPORTANT VOTE IS THE ONE WE MAKE WITH OUR DOLLARS AND AFTER THE LAST TWO PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS, I'M SURE THE VOTE WITH THE DOLLAR IS THE ONLY ONE THEY ALWAYS COUNT, NO MATTER IF THE PERSON GIVING THE DOLLARS IS WHITE, BLACK, BROWN, YELLOW OR POCKADOT.

WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

The MOST IMPROVED acknowledgement goes to Russell Simmons. Many of you may have seen my coverage of a Russell Simmons book party on my other website: www.TRUTalk.us and I confronted Russell about the extreme disrespect for Black women in too many rap crap records. He said that he'd make a recommendation to have the "B", "H", and "N" word taken off the radio airwaves. Well, after checking this week's most spun records and newly added songs on the radio, there was only one rap crap artist out of 71 and over 80 percent of them were BLACK. Hip Hip Hooray!! Thanks Russell Simmons and everyone who has turned off every radio station that plays racist filth. We are still monitoring for longevity sake. www.allaccess.com

Ladies, we don't give money to people that call us bitches and hos, and if they continue to feel the need to call us bitches, then we will just be bitches with our riches.

WE MUST WRITE LETTERS OF DISAPPROVAL TO "A MIGHT HEART" PRODUCTION COMPANY, Revolution Films in association with Paramount Vantage email@revolution-films.com 323 956-500-Paramount

Never ever give DL Hugely one penny of our hard earned dollars. Did he forget who fills the (vast majority) audience seats to see his stand up routine? I mean how ignorant and self-mutilating can one be. This is more shameful because he is married to a Black woman and has several children. www.Whataboutourdaughters.com

Write to Colin Cowherd of ESPN radio and tell him that every child has the same importance of having their father present at their birth. Just because she is a Swedish White woman doesn't make the father's presence more important or less important when a child comes into this world. theherd@espnradio.com

As far as the Obama video, write comments to Fox News (myword@foxnews.com) and ask them to stop being disrespectful to Michelle Obama by parading a White actress/seductress to provoke Black women not to vote for him and upset White men. This tactic of showing powerful Black men being chased after by White women has proven effective, just like in the "call me" commercial that destroyed Harold Ford's chances of being elected Senator from Tennessee. The only difference is Harold deserved it, and Mr. Obama does NOT. Do not watch this video on youtube, so it gets more plays, just write to Obama's Campaign and tell him that you think this video was made to destroy his chances of being President of the USA. www.myspace.com/barackobama

LASTLY, KNOW THAT BLACK WOMEN ARE 20 MILLION STRONG AND WE SIMPLY AIN'T TAKING THE DISRESPECT ANYMORE. WE DON'T HAVE TO BECAUSE WE ARE HUGE COMSUMERS AND IF WE TIGHTEN UP OUR POCKETBOOKS, THAT MEANS SEVERE DECLINES FOR THEIR REVENUES.

POWER BACK TO THE PEOPLE!

KNOW THAT TOGETHER WE WILL CHANGE THE WORLD!

PASS THIS ALL OVER THE INTERNET BY TELLING A FRIEND AND TELL THEM TO JOIN THE BLACK WOMAN'S MOVEMENT AT:

www.BlackWomenNeedLoveToo.com

THE MORE MEMBERS,

THE MORE EFFECTIVE,

THE FASTER THE CHANGE,

THE QUICKER THE RESULT!

Don't forget to call Oprah Winfrey and ask her to put more Black couples in her O Magazine. 1 866 OPRAHXM

And several of you wrote to me about my promotion of a Black Chamber of Commerce Luncheon featuring Cuba Gooding. Well guys, it was Cuba Gooding, Sr. (the father) and he gave a magnificent Juneteenth speech and he bragged about how wonderful Black women are, especially the Black mother of his children. He is a fantastic singer and a member of the Main Ingredients. His goals include the upward mobility of the Black race. I wished I had recorded it, but he told me, there will be plenty of times because he is taking his mission to enlighten our youth on tour.

Sincerely,

Pearl Jr.
Activist/Author

Fort Worth Weekly & Responses

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Boos at the Bass

It’s time to stop the hip-hop degradations.

By EDDIE GRIFFIN

Dear Mayor Mike Moncrief and City of Fort Worth:

I want to apologize if our protest at Bass Performance Hall last Saturday night caused some embarrassment for Fort Worth. But it was a collision waiting to happen, and one that in good conscience I could not avoid — a collision between social activism and the public’s right to seek pleasure and entertainment. Indeed, I realize that boycotting D. L. Hughley, whose recent appearance on The Tonight Show provoked a national outcry, may have displeased many, including my own children.
But I could not stand by when the Bass Hall folks booked one of the comedians who, along with rap artists and radio personalities, have decided it is OK to verbally abuse black women. It was particularly unfortunate that Hughley was booked to appear in the middle of our Juneteenth celebration, and also on a weekend when 500 to 600 Church of Christ youths and their parents were in town for a Texas State Youth gathering, for which I served as a chaperone. (Not to mention 1,200 to 1,400 people attending an Alcoholics Anonymous convention.)

Please note that I have never challenged nor encouraged others to challenge Hughley’s right or anyone else’s right to freedom of speech. But I, along with the protesting pastors, also have a free-speech right to challenge bad language and bad behavior. We have the right, as men, to defend our women from insults like those aired by Hughley.

We were called “clowns” by Mr. Hughley and loudly booed and jeered by his supporters for our protest. We divided the community and drew far too much adverse television coverage surrounding this matter. Afterward, Mr. Hughley sounded somewhat contrite, but at the time of the protest we could see no option but a direct confrontation against the local entertainment establishment.

Sometimes religious leaders must rise up and defy public opinion. Vulgarity, nudity, and expressions of violence have become too common, all in the name of free speech. We have small children calling their mothers, teachers, and female classmates “bitches and whores.” If regular readers think it’s funny for me to make this criticism in the pages of a newspaper that regularly runs tawdry pictures of women in ads, realize also that the Weekly’s pages are open to someone protesting those same kinds of depictions.

In my mind, it starts with people like Hughley and hip-hop rap artists. Therefore, it must end with them. They should never be allowed to spew their foul-mouth language through the airways. And even if their insults are aired, they should never be allowed to set our society’s standard of behavior. The elders and religious leaders of Fort Worth decided to draw this line in the sand.

I made my fight against Mr. Hughley personally. For the price of a ticket, as far as I am concerned, I purchased the right to exercise my freedom of speech and boo him off the stage. I had made a vow to keep silent inside Bass Hall until Mr. Hughley crossed the line in using one of the derogatory terms we have condemned, but it did not take him long to reach that point. And so I booed him and continued to boo him until he asked if I was finished. As I did so, I was accosted by one of his adoring young fans of the hip-hop generation. Had the police not intervened to escort me out, I think I might have been mobbed. I thank the Fort Worth Police Department for coming to my aid and for defending other protesters while we exercised our freedom of speech. And I call upon the conscience of our citizens to support us.

However, I realize now that I was out of place in Bass Hall. This was not my crowd of people. These were drinkers and revelers who openly defy my religion and the values I cherish, people ready to get naked and crawl upon the stage. It was enough to make me vomit. But to each his own; I only regret that we have reached a new low in our society.

I was charged with criminal trespassing, and I realize I was out of bounds. But the officers told me that I am forever barred from attending another Bass Hall performance, and that seems unfair, since I am one of the original donors to the fund-raising effort for that edifice. Rest assured, however, that so long as there are folks like D.L. Hughley coming to Fort Worth to publicly demean blacks, demean women, and drag our society in the dirt, there’s a chance I might be at Bass Hall — even if it’s only outside — to tell them what I think.

LETTERS

Eddie,
Apology accepted.

In my opinion --- Bass Hall was built to be a cultural and entertainment center. We can all appreciate the Bass family for their contributions to the city of Fort Worth. However, as I said to one of my Christian sisters, Bass Hall was not built for the Christian community, it was built to enhance the city of Fort Worth and bottom line to make money. We all know there is a difference between what thus says the Lord and what thus says the world. The standards are not the same.

I have not been to Bass Hall and don't fight people who go. I would say the best way to boycott any event is to screen the action/performance before you go and don't buy the ticket. Money talks. Nothing wrong in getting the word out (informing others) concerning intimidating, degrading and immoral performances. I don't really think D.L. Hugley believes all that he says. His purpose is to make money and get laughs (show business). If he does believe all, he is a disgrace to God and man.

Think on these rambling thoughts.

Pauline

***

Eddie -

I have a lot of respect for the work you do, but regarding D.L. Hughley I disagree with your stance and approach. Mr. Hughley is a comedian and has a right to make fun of subjects or individuals. You have the right to disagree with him. From the information you sent me, he made a joke about their hair being "nappy." My point of view is that there are more important issues to tackle...but again, thats my opinion.

Here's another point of view. Whereas you, and some others, disagreed with Mr. Hughley, there were others who wanted to see him and paid good money to do so. Your booing interfered with their enjoyment, which is why you were ejected. I consider you to be a gentleman, Eddie. As one, consider the rights of others.

See you soon!

Sandy

***

Eddie:

It would have been nice if you had spoken to the TEAM before you issued your apology.

The TEAM was shock to read your comments and it appeared as if you spoke for all of us.

The TEAM held the press conference TOGETHER, we marched TOGETHER but you spoke on your own. Where is the love and respect for the TEAM?

We do not have to explain anything to the Mayor or Bass Hall officials. They are the problem. Don't get it twisted!

They brought this crazy man to Fort Worth for money knowing that he was "Socially Unacceptable."

You have the right to do what you want, so please respect our right to do what we think is best for our community. You have the power of the pen. WE have the power of the Pulpit.

You move without consulting the TEAM, now many of us question why you felt the need to step out without us. You bought shame to us all. The TEAM should be the one to decided WHATS NEXT, not one man. Where I come from you would have been kicked off the TEAM.

Something else would have happened if we were at the Glass Key.

You decided to purchase the ticket.You decided to BOO, and no one on the TEAM questioned your motives.We knew they were pure.

The bigger issue is why no one is saying anything about DL Hughley calling the leading presidential candidate for the Democratic party a "BITCH?" Is is FEAR?

That is the bigger story. Why Bass Hall and the City of Fort Worth brought this a man here who has no respect for women, not even a former first Lady and junior Senator From New York.? Bass Hall should do the apologizing, not the TEAM!

They tried to charge you with a felony when all you did was disrupt the show. Disorderly conduct at best.

This happens all the time to our kids. Minor offense, larger charges.

This is just an example of "The Fort Worth Way."

The Director of Communications was dirty for going out to the KXAS News van and inviting them in to film your removal just to make the news, again, 'The Fort Worth Way."

We are tired of it and we will not sit back and allow them to dishonor our community again and again.

No more keeping our dirty laundry a secret. As Dr. Cole said on Oprah, "It is time to put it on the line and have an honest conversation about the double standards (Jim Crow) here in Fort Worth.

Images in the Mirror

Leadership Training Program

Information Session

When: June 25th at 6 p.m.
Where: Howard Johnson Business Building
3863 South Freeway Suite 110
Fort Worth, TX 76110

Media Contact:
Next Level Enterprize
Andre L. Johnson
(817)657-6519
andrejohnson@nextlevelenterprize.com

For Immediate Release:

Fort Worth, Texas—June 25- Information Session will highlighting features of The “Images in the Mirror” leadership training program, which is a 8 week curriculum designed to educate, motivate and prepare young males, ages 12-19, for success. The course is scheduled to begin July 9th at Community College Campus in Fort Worth. The Information Session will be held at the Howard Johnson Business Building in Fort Worth.

In a bold and strategic effort to reverse the detrimental plight of many inner-city youth, particular the males, Dr. Elizabeth Branch, author and educator and Andre L. Johnson, motivational speaker and co-author, partnered to create an empowerment program and curriculum that would not only be meant to change the negative paths of at-risk young men, but also break the cycles of social issues that could plague future generations by building young leaders today.


“In order to change your behavior, you must first change your mind.”
---Andre L. Johnson, Director of Operations “Images in The Mirror”

For more information call (817)922-5423 or (817)657-6519
Parents and Leadership Training Students welcome
Seating is limited
Scholarships available
www.mitm-faithweb.com

Keyword: Baby Moses Project

NBC Nightly News: Please Notice

Brian Williams -- NBC News
Title: Anchor; Managing Editor
Department: NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams
E-mail: brian.williams@nbc.com
Phone: (212) 664-4691
Fax: (212) 664-6044
Address: 30 Rockefeller Plz, New York, NY 10112

Dear Mr. Brian Williams, NBC Nightly News:

Since the evening news will be broadcasting from Fort Worth, Texas on tonight, Thursday, June 21, 2007, here is a recent local story that broke into UPI and all the local media.

The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, crown jewel of Fort Worth, hosted black comedian D.L. Hughley, star of The Hughleys, on June 16, 2007, for a Juneteenth celebration. But Bass Hall was lambasted by protest and the Hughley performance wound up with less than a half-full house on a Saturday night.

What was at issue?
Why was this black-on-black protest the Number One local news story with all four local networks, including local NBC affiliate Channel 5, over the past weekend? Why has it become a hot topic issue in the black blog community?

NBC or http://www.nbc5i.com/news/13516728/detail.html

ABC or http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=152036

CBS or http://cbs11tv.com/local/local_story_165205832.html

Fox 4 News or
http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail?contentId=3506833&version=3&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL (UPI)
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2007/06/15/hughley_faces_possible_texas_boycott/1319/

Fort Worth Star-Telegram story “Comedian’s show may be boycotted” (June 15, 2007) by Andrew Chavez
http://www.star-telegram.com/metro_news/story/137989.html

Fort Worth Star-Telegram story “Comedian gets material from controversy” (June 17, 2007) by Malcolm Mayhew
http://www.star-telegram.com/388/story/139973.html

Reference: Eddie Griffin (BASG) at http://eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com/search?q=hughley

The Legacy of JUNETEENTH: Part 1

Compiled By Eddie Griffin

Who can tell you better about Juneteenth than a down home black Texan like me? You see, most folks got it mixed up about Juneteenth.

What is Juneteenth? Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that all slaves were now free. Note that this was two and a half years after President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation - which had become official January 1, 1863.

The Emancipation Proclamation had little impact on the Texans due to the minimal number of Union troops to enforce the new Executive order. However, with the surrender of General Lee in April of 1865, and the arrival of General Granger's regiment, the forces were finally strong enough to influence and overcome the resistance.

Source: http://www.elecvillage.com/juneteen.html

The Legacy of JUNETEENTH: Part 2

WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

Since Texas was the last slave state to fall, the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln, freeing all the slaves living in the Confederate states, went into effect on January 1, 1863, but did not reach Texas until June 19, 1865, two and a half years later.

Orders were issued on December 3, 1864 authorizing the formation of the Twenty-Fifth United States Army Corps. The Corps was the first and only Army Corps in the history of the country made up almost entirely of black infantry regiments, 30 U.S. Colored Infantry Regiments. In addition, 2 U. S. Colored Cavalry Regiments and a Battery of U. S. Colored Light Artillery were assigned to the Corps.

On April 9, 1865, three U. S. Colored Infantry Regiments from the Twenty-Fifth United States Army Corps (29th, 31st, and 116th) were positioned along the advance line of 17 Union regiments that moved from the west towards Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia to prevent the Confederate forces from escaping westward. Three other U. S. Colored Infantry Regiments (8th, 41st, and 45th) also assigned to the Corps were positioned in the rear.

It was here that General Robert E. Lee surrendered. Thirty-six Blacks with the Confederates, mostly slaves were paroled at Appomattox on April 9, 1865.

December 31, 1862: WATCH NIGHT

But what happened on the night of December 31, 1862 was as important in history as the Emancipation Proclamation itself, which Lincoln had signed in September. The day freedom would come to slaves in the slave states would be January 1, 1863.
All night, that New Year's Eve in 1862, Negroes all over gathered in church houses to Watch And Pray. Until this day, the all-night New Year's Eve worship service in black churches across the country is known as Watch Night.

The Legacy of JUNETEENTH: Part 3

January 1, 1863: EMANCIPATION DAY
On January 1, 1863, Magruder's forces won the Battle of Galveston, recapturing the city and port for the Confederacy. The First Confederate Congress published its official thanks:

...The bold, intrepid, and gallant conduct of Maj. Gen. J. Bankhead Magruder, Col. Thomas Green, Maj. Leon Smith, and other officers, and of the Texan Rangers and soldiers engaged in the attack on, and victory achieved over, the land and naval forces of the enemy at Galveston, on the 1st of January, 1863, eminently entitle them to the thanks of Congress and the country. ... This brilliant achievement, resulting, under the providence of God, in the capture of the war steamer Harriet Lane and the defeat and ignominious flight of the hostile fleet from the harbor, the recapture of the city and the raising of the blockade of the port of Galveston, signally evinces that superior force may be overcome by skillful conception and daring courage.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_B._Magruder

Upstaging D. L. Hughley

It’s hard doing standup comedy, especially when there’s a boo-bird hidden in the audience like a Trojan horse. D. L. Hughley had to expect it coming on Saturday night in Fort Worth, Texas at his Bass Hall performance.

“D. L. Hughley. No double standard,” chanted the crowd outside the Hall, led by a group of religious leaders. The crowd noise echoed through the chamber and down the hall and up the stairs, all the way up to the cheap seat section where I was perched- one man with one ticket and a bible.

We were blessed. The North Texas storm blew in with pelting rain and a lighting show overnight, but the incessant downpour subsided by evening, and we had a clear night for the protest. It was a good sign. After the protest was over the rain would return.

While local television cameras were panning the crowd of picket sign holders who distributed flyers to all passersby, Bass Hall staff was buzzing on the inside. I could see that they were on high alert. Something was amidst, with all the recent newspaper and television coverage. On the other hand, some people did not know why Hughley was being boycotted. The demonstration gave protesters a chance to explain how the black comedian had insulted the Rutgers basketball women in the same manner as radio shock jock Imus, and how firing Imus and allowing Hughley to pass constituted a double standard in treatment.

Many Bass patrons turned aside at the door. But others brushed past the protesters and found a smug seat inside. I watched them as they entered, decked out like a bunch of petty bourgeois affluent snobs, diverting their eyes away from my attention. They were ashamed to look at me and admit to themselves that they had crossed a sacred picket line. To them, it was all about having fun, pure entertainment for entertainment sake. Over 80% of the people coming through the doors were African-Americans. And even at that, the house was less than half-full.

ACT I

8:10 p.m. The show was late starting. So, I inquired about the lateness of the start but soon realized that the Bass Hall people were trying to see if the number were going to swell. It didn’t.

We had achieved our first objective. This was not going to be a profitable event for the Hall. The financial loss alone would make Mr. Hughley less attractive for a return visit to Fort Worth and even harder for him to be booked elsewhere.

A no-name comedian Malik S. came out like shock troop fodder to test the water for the headline Hughley act. Immediately, he cut into the protest outside, characterizing one elder as so old “he didn’t know what he was protesting”. And then this: “And, I hear that some of them are right here in the audience.”

If the comics were paranoid, then I was all the more uneasy. I have only done three protests in my lifetime: One in 1965 to remove the Confederate flag from the campus of the Arlington State College; the second was a hunger strike in 1976 to protest the bicentennial celebration and demand the release of all US political prisoners. For this Juneteenth protest against D. L. Hughley, I would have to lay my pen aside and come out of retirement.

Malik S. asked the spy in the audience, “Please remember my name. I can use some controversy. I need my career to get a boast.”

He claimed that he had learned the game from Hughley, who taught him everything he knew about the business. “And, we’re all about money,” Malik shouted. The crowd responded: “Yea”. This emboldened the comic to declare, “We worship money.” But from there, he waffled back and forth on his religious beliefs and ideas only to conclude, by his own satisfaction, that he is already “saved up” but “not ready to die”.

Funny- even I could have laughed.

INTERMISSION

“D. L. Hughley, no double standard,” the chants echoed through the hall doors every time someone stepped out for air. Malik S. had taken an hour off the clock, but the protesters were still there, marching with signs and chanting: “No Double Standard.”

Bass Hall staff came around the balcony section and informed all patrons, “Mr. Hughley has invited you all down to the prime seating area downstairs.” It sounded as if Hughley had done us a favor and a disfavor to those who bought a higher priced ticket- but not so. The Hall was closing the balcony section because of lagging attendance. As a result, we were forced to relocate, like it or not, and I was the last to leave the balcony.

Pastor Tatum, one of the local ministers leading the demonstration outside, informed me outside that former Dallas Cowboy turned preacher Deion Sanders had ducked in and was somewhere stashed in the audience. He had been recognized by the other pastors and confronted. Whenever he would emerge, the protesters would not let him escape the television cameras. They were going to put him on the spot for attending this X-rated event.

ACT II

Hughley was still not ready to face the audience, so he sent out Malik S. once again to warm up the crowd. The no-name comic had run the gambit of the foul lexicon, from the A-word to the B-word to the D-word (with herpes) to the F-word and the P-word, and every vulgar expression in English language and, even a confession of his own pedophilic fantasies.

I held my tongue. After all, what good would it do to boo a no-name comedian off stage and being thrown out of the Bass Hall, when Hughley was the target? But I remembered the words of the young lady who warned me earlier that we, Christians, are not troublemakers. But if Hughley said anything wrong out of his mouth, I had her blessing to boo him away.

“Put your hands together for one of the Kings of Comedy, D. L. Hughley,” Malik shouted, as he introduced the besieged comic. Applauds of the audience went up and some gave him a standing ovation. Fans, like flies, that had long awaited the big stink, there he was on stage, in the flesh. But something was wrong. Not everybody was standing. No everybody was cheering and clapping. The people around me looked upon me as if the stink was on me. And, the young man in the adjacent seat gave me a weary eye. Tension was brewing.

As expected, Hughley started his routine by lashing out at the protesters outside. “People can’t say anything, anymore,” he complained. “People can protest whatever they want to. But the way I see it, freedom of speech is a zero sum proposition. Either you believe in it or you don’t.”

I restrained myself from booing. But the minute he characterized Hillary Clinton as a “bitch”, I let loose: “BOO!”

At first, not everybody heard me. But the young man next to me said, “You’re not going to do that all night in my ear, are you? I paid my money.”

I replied, “So did I.”

“Well, you’re not going to be doing that all night in my ear- straight up,” he threatened, as if the phrase “straight up” added seriousness to his threat. How could he be a threat to me, I thought? With earrings in his ear, expensive jewelry, and fine rags, he was a little too cute and too soft to be a real manly threat.

“What are you going to do?” I asked. “Hit me?”

I considered changing seats, but time was running out and Hughley was preparing to go into full stride. It was now or never.

I jumped to my feet. “Boo” to the top of the domed roof. “Boo” again, I cry, even louder than before. Then for on brief moment, the comedy routine stopped, and a police officer had me by the arm. My stack of flyers went sailing across the room.

Someone else grabbed my arm and I let out another loud “Boo”. All the way to the exit door, I booed.

Faintly, in the background, I could hear Hughley ask, “Are you finished yet?”

I turned to go back and shouted, “No!”

When the exit door opened camera lights blinded me. With an officer at my arm and television cameras in front of me, it looked as though I had played myself into a media trap. The footage might portray me as one of the outside protesters who might have broken into Bass Hall to create a scene.

I retrieved my ticket stub and demand, “I want a refund. I want my money back.”

ACT III

Once outside the building, the officer told me that I was being charged with criminal trespassing. Pastor Tatum and the other ministers gathered around and challenged the officer. Tatum then took to the phone. “I’m calling your supervisor,” he told the officer.

Tatum was serious. He had made contact with the PD sergeant over the downtown district earlier. We both had informed the police department of the protest and the possibility of problems long beforehand.

No, they said, Eddie Griffin was not being arrested. They were only going to give me a citation for criminal trespassing. Again, the ministers expressed outrage, and within minutes the police sergeant arrived with flashing lights. At last, they reduced the charge to a warning citation. With it, I would be forever barred from Bass Performance Hall.

“What about my refund?” I asked the officers and Bass officials. That would be a matter for civil court, they said. Under no circumstances was I allowed to return into the building. However, I could continue my protest outside.

“Boo Bass Hall. Boo Bass Hall,” I shouted, until others took up the new chant. “Boo Bass Hall.”

The police squad cars drew an even larger downtown crowd of spectators. Traffic was gridlocked. People gathered around the sidewalk outside the Hall. Television camera lights went back on. This was live 10 o’clock news. Deion Sanders was flushed out into the camera spotlight and grilled about his attendance to the boycotted event.

FINAL ACT

As the Hughley protest story went on the blogs, I remember something in Malik’s routine where he mentioned blogs and emails generating protests. At least, they recognized the power of the Afro-blogsphere, which he dismissed as nothing. And besides that, Hughley had even referred to the local religious leaders as “clowns”. Now that the protest was over, it was time to weigh the damage.

The Hughley show was a loser- a financial loss to Bass Hall and an embarrassment to all, including myself. The Fort Worth Police Department had been put on unnecessary high alert. Our Saturday night Juneteenth celebration throughout the city was marred, and the black community was split in the debate.

But there comes a time when opinions do not matter. A child may have their own opinion about parental discipline and chastisement. And our youth may believe that they can use derogatory language and profane slurs in the name of Freedom of Speech. But without elders and religious leaders, our young people would just as well orgy in the streets. They may have their opinions. But they do not have the last say.

Hughley Rags Religious Leaders

Since black religious leaders in Fort Worth called for a boycott of comedian D. L. Hughley’s scheduled Saturday night performance at Bass Hall, there has been a flurry of verbal fisticuffs across the media- on local television, across the radio airways, and through the newspapers and posted on blog sites worldwide.

The latest response from Hughley:

"I believe that freedom of speech is a zero-sum proposition. Too many times I have watched clowns like these pretend to speak for the masses. I can only speak for me," Hughley said in a statement released to the media. "Isn't there a child you can help teach to read, a war to help stop, an unjustly accused man you can help out of jail? I will not apologize for telling a joke about the world as I see it."
Background of the controversy:

The controversy began when, in the aftermath of the Imus disparaging remarks about the women of Rutgers basketball team, African-American comedian D. L. Hughley did a takeoff of Imus on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show. “These were some of the ugliest nappy headed women I have ever seen in my life”, said Hughley before Leno hurriedly closed out the show amid the crowd crowing disapproval of the entertainer’s remarks.

Now Hughley’s Bass Hall performance in Fort Worth on June 16 is being upstaged by the boycott.

Eddie Griffin responds:

Mr. Hughley mistakenly presupposes that this is a tit-for-tat debate, “a zero-sum proposition”. Seeing that “nothing added, nothing gained and nothing from nothing leaves nothing” the comedian misdirects framing the issue.

Like a true charlatan, Hughley would have us split hairs over Freedom of Speech, knowing the Supreme Court has allowed vulgarity, nudity, and depictions of graphic violence to be protected under the First Amendment. But the Freedom of Speech argument is a myth. What the entertainer fails to realize is that such freedom comes with a social price. A person may say what they wish. But what is the consequence of a person going to work and telling their boss how they truly feel about the job? The bottom line is Freedom of Speech can sometimes land a person in the unemployment line with Imus- which is where Mr. Hughley needs to be also.

Notice also the suggestion that we (“clowns”) should have something better to do with our time than boycott his performance- such as teach a child to read, stop the war, free the unjustly accused, but no suggestion for providing a positive role model for our African-American young men. The fact of the matter is Mr. Hughley is part of the problem, and an obvious product of “poor parenting”.

Somewhere, in his life, his parents should have taught him how to respect other people, especially women. Yet he follows an endless stream of bad boys, railing against anyone they wish, in the most vile and repugnant way. His foul language has become so commonplace that many people believe that it is accepted in the African-American community. Young black boys, following in his footsteps, assail their teachers with demeaning slurs, as if the only women in the world are “bitches and whores”. They know no better because they see no better, not coming from a would-be successful entertainers like Hughley.

We can teach an old dog new tricks, but first Mr. Hughley must face up to his egregious misbehaving and vile speech. But, according to the interview above, he will “not apologize for telling a joke about the world as I see it.”

It is indeed so sad that he sees the world this way. If out of the mouth comes the issues of the heart and beauty is only in the eye of the beholder, Hughley sees the Rutgers basketball women as “ugly” because that ugliness emanates from within DL himself.

Our job of helping young African-American hip-hop youth see the beauty and hope in life is thoroughly undermined each time a Hughley or a Snoop Doog takes the stage. We have to go back, apologize for them because they are incapable of empathizing and apologizing for themselves. We have to untie all the crazy mixed-up notions and distorted values in their minds, in order to set them on a straight path.

Society demands it of us- as parents and grandparents and mentors and surrogate fathers. Why do we fail so often? The very society that encourages us to reform the ways and thinking of African-American youth is the very society that defends their vile behavior by taking away our right to discipline, by defending their inappropriate language as “freedom of speech”.

In a recent Star-Telegram poll (“Comedian’s show may be boycotted”, June 15, 2007), 36% of the people responded that they “could care less about these people or what they say” (referring to the black ministers). So, we fight, with one hand tied behind our back. Money and fame gains the upper hand on reforming bad behavior. But the next time, a black boy acts up in class, vandalizes the neighborhood, walk around in public with his pants sagging below his butt, cursing a teacher out, or handcuffed on his way to prison, this very same society will cry to us, “Do something”.

Maybe boycotting D. L. Hughley is the actual last straw of hope of turning hip-hop culture around. And, maybe next time, we’ll kick up our heels in front of the television set and respond, as maybe we should: “It ain’t my problem, anymore.”

Eddie Griffin Joins Ministers Boycott of Comedian

A Public Statement

Thursday, June 14, 2007

I am moved and touched by all the emotions surrounding the controversy of D. L. Hughley, an African-American comedian who has struck a nerve in black communities around the world.

We were alerted a few weeks ago about the offensive behavior and slander of this entertainer, which reached above and beyond all other offenses. This is why, I have chosen to take a personal stand, in joining with Pastor Tatum and the Ministers for Education of Tarrant County, to publicly condemn this infamous celebrity for his disgraceful remarks.

I am compelled, by conscious, to defend the defenseless and the innocent- especially our youth. Being among the first in line to defend the honor and virtue of our African-American women on the Rutgers University baskball team against the verbal assault by radio shock jock Imus, I have found these young ladies had done no wrong in trying to achieve the crowning glory of a national basketball championship. Almost at the height of their thrilling achievement, they were downcasted by a callous and senseless sexist remark. In my eyes, they were innocent as girls, undeserving of these insults, though no one seemed to care or pay attention to the fact that they also received hate-mail and death threats by Imus defenders.

After these well publicized events, Mr. Hughley seized upon the opportunity to add injury to insult by going on Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, where he again assailed these poor girls by declaring them to be “some of the nappy-headed(est) and ugliest whores that he had ever seen” in his life.

God forbid that the innocent should be offended and disgraced like this.

About the author:
Eddie Griffin has been recognized as an Adult Friend and child right’s advocate by the World’s Children’s Prize for the Right of the Child, based in Mariefred, Sweden, now representing 11 million children worldwide. Also, he is a Sunday school teacher with a 23-year bible study and teaching career in the Church of Christ.

In service to the Fort Worth community, Griffin serves as a member of Congressman Michael C. Burgess Economic Summit advisory on the Workforce of the Future. He serves on the Subcommittee for Ex-Offender Reentry organized by Tarrant County Commission Roy Brooks.

Eddie Griffin is also an advisor to State Representatives like Marc Veasey and Jerry Madden on children rights legislation, and advises select members of the US Congress, including Kay Granger and Michael C. Burgess.

DECLARATION
“In all of my affairs,” says the former Black Panther, “I have advocated the change of our youth culture,” noting how young African-American youth are destroying themselves by selecting the wrong role models to emulate, wrong social values, poor life choices, and immoral lifestyles."

Eddie Griffin says: “People like Mr. Hughley are part of the problem." In this instant, it appears that Hughley's style of humor is malicious and irreverent in intent.

A Hughley fan and old school days in California cried when she learned of his public condemnation. “This is just who he is,” she sadly pleaded. Here was a young lady herself, a semi-hip-hop mother of another generation, with teenagers. “Where do we draw the line?” she repeated question. “Where do we draw the line?”

Thinking aloud, Griffin laments the painful dilemma: Lord, help us. I know that condemning D. L. Hughley will open up the floodgates… Not that I am not insensitive to our children’s mode of entertainment. Help me, because I know that I’m going to hear it from my own children and grandchildren. Some of them want D. L. Hughley and all the nasty talking that comes with him.”

It was recently reported that Mr. Hughley “taped a new special for HBO, entitled Unapologetic. Can you imagine- Unappologetic? It goes almost without saying, coming from a Sunday school teacher, “To be unremorseful for sin is blasphemous.”

It was also reported that Mr. Hughley “will be a reality-show host on BET’s new series, S.O.B. (Socially Offensive Behavior). "Obviously, the SOB is intentional and purposely divisive and abrasive,” says Griffin. “A reality-show of socially offensive behavior like Jerry Springer- Isn’t this exactly what America has been trying to get away from?”

“Nasty” is an understatement of the word for what comes out of the mouth of D.L. Hughley. Out of the mouth come the issues of the heart

I am not entertained, nor amused, by so-called black humor, nor turned on by any degrading, insulting, and irreverent form of entertainment. Point blank, with that said: The Line, as far as I’m concerned, is drawn in the sand here in Fort Worth, Texas, because this is our house. We determine what is quality and class. Mr. Hughley’s kind of trashy humor might work for L. A., but not here- not in our house.

“The greatest of Mr. Hughley’s sins,” according to Griffin, “is his irreverent mockery of Jesus in his comedy acts.” Indeed, in it online Bass Hall marquee, promotional clips show the black comedian ghettoizing the name of Jesus for the sake of humor.

To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Mr. Hughley is not being judged by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character, according to Griffin. That Bass Hall would bring Hughley to Fort Worth against the better wishes and respect for a proud African-American community- that the Star-Telegram newspaper would sponsor such an event in lieu of and disregard for our community values. For all intents and purposes, they may as well celebrate Juneteenth on their own terms and conditions, not as an African-American holiday, if they shape all the policies, programs, and entertainment for African-Americans. It would be no more than an alter egotistical mimic of a black holiday.

“We cannot fix the world,” says Eddie Griffin, “without at least first trying to fix our own house. This is why I have taken my hand and drawn the line in the sand with other ministers- here and now- to turn back the tide of lewd, sleazy, and abhorrent behavior and speech.” The campaign for decency begins at home.

Signed:
Eddie Griffin (BASG), author of “Breaking Men’s Minds”
Member of the international AfroSpear and Editor-at-Large, Literafeelya Magazine Online (coming to magazine racks nationwide in July 2007)
Adult Friend, World’s Children’s Prize for the Right of the Child

HOW YOU CAN HELP

Write or email:

Bass Performance Hall
Paul S. Beard, Managing Director
4th and Calhoun Streets
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
pbeard@basshall.com

NOTE: Insist that patrons be given a refund for this sordid and disgraceful promotion

Letter to the Editor
Star-Telegram
letters@star-telegram.com

Bob Ray Sanders
VP/Associate Editor
bobray@star-telegram.com

NOTE: As a sponsor of Bass Hall, the Star-Telegram should make a public disclaimer or editorial in disassociation with the D. L. Hughley promotion.

Related D. L. Hughley’s planned BET series S.O.B. (Socially Offensive Behavior):

BET is owned by Viacom

Debra Lee, Chairman and CEO of BET

Write or call:

Viacom
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
(212) 258-6000

MTV Networks
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
(212) 258-8000

BET
One BET Plaza
1235 'W' Street, NE
Washington DC 20018
(202) 608-2000

D. L. Hughley recently taped a special for HBO entitled Unapologetic. At the very least, he should be made to apologize for heaping further insult upon the young women of Rutgers basketball team. Just as Imus was forced to make amends through a public apology, Hughley should be required to do the same.

HIP TIP to Shawn Williams

For Update Report on SHAQUANDA COTTON

[Excerpt by Eddie Griffin]

Dallas South Blog: How is ShaQuanda doing after all that she has gone through over the last few months?

Brenda Cherry: ShaQuanda has been doing OK considering all she went through and is going through right now. People keep spreading rumors about her and the Paris News keeps publishing nasty articles about her and her mother. The District Attorney Gary Young and Allan Hubbard placed untrue things about her on the Lamar County DA website and Hubbard's own personal site. Young removed his so-so-called facts after it was proven he lied but the last time I checked, Hubbard still has his opinions about her on his site at www.allanhubbard.com.

There was a rumor that she beat up her mother and broke her arms and there was a rumor that she is back in jail and beat up two police officers. ShaQuanda is blamed for the bad publicity in Paris, Texas. However, I hope this will make her stronger rather than destroy her.

PRELUDE TO SHAQUANDA COTTON

Brenda Cherry: During ShaQuanda’s trial, the main focus was on her mother filing complaints. The first civil rights complaint that we filed was regarding our observation that black students were punished at a higher rate than white students at PISD. The Board of Education did an investigation and in fact found that in subjective areas such as “disruptive” and “disrespectful”, black students were punished at eight times the rate of “white and other” students. However, they said that didn’t prove racism.

We filed a complaint when white students, including the son of the now president of the school board was passing around a racist joke, “How are black people like apples…answer: they both look good hanging from a tree”, and yet got no punishment when it almost started a riot but black kids were punished for displaying anger(verbal).

We filed a complaint when a white teacher told a student he was “too black” for her to be able to see him. We filed a complaint when an 11 year-old boy was thrown down on the playground and kicked in the groin and ribs by the principal. We filed a complaint because students were punished by the principal at the PISD Alternative school if they chose not to say the Pledge of Allegiance. The principal said it was un-American to not want to say it. That goes against the students Constitutional rights.

We complained when certain students at the alternative school, some as young as eight, were not provided bus rides home and were forced to walk no matter how far away they lived if parents had no transportation and after one child was ran over trying to cross the street and on another occasion, a child was found lying unconscious. We filed a complaint when two teachers were found to have called black children stupid and lazy. We filed a complaint regarding the fact that the black students in OSC (on campus suspension) were not provided their schoolwork or homework.

Those given ten days at a time were missing 10 days of schoolwork. We believe that to be one of the reasons why according to Texas Education Report for PISD, in critical areas such as mathmatics only 28% of black students are prepared for college upon graduation as compared to 71% of white students. I will continue to complain until the issue is properly addressed. Freedom or death until my last breath.

Eddie Griffin Commentary: Notice the pattern of complaints about the school. This is typical of what we are finding throughout Texas with the Zero Tolerance policy.

Francis L. Holland Blog: Judge Overturns 10 Year Sentence of Black Atlanta Teen for Oral Sex

Francis L. Holland Blog: Judge Overturns 10 Year Sentence of Black Atlanta Teen for Oral Sex

Bass Hall to Host “Coon”, D.L. Hughley

To our utter embarrassment and shame

The Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Performance Hall, dubbed the “crown jewel” of Fort Worth, will host comedian D.L. Hughley, star of The Hughleys, on June 16, 2007. In keeping with its tradition, Bass Hall features an African-American entertainment program for the annual Juneteenth Celebration. But this year, the promoters picked a loser.

D.L. Hughley is not well liked in the African-American community, especially after his appearance on the Jay Leno Tonight Show, where he willfully repeated the Imus insult against the Rutgers Women Basketball team. When Hughley blurted out that these were some “nappy headed” women, he caught Leno by surprise. And, the audience booed him instead of rewarding him with laughter. But following in the footsteps of another comic flop, Michael Richards of the “Seinfeld” fame, who unwittingly unleashed a tirade of racial epithets upon two African-American hecklers at the Laugh Factory, Hughley rudely hushed the Leno audience and went on to declare that these were the “ugliest ‘hos” he had ever seen in his life.

How could Bass Hall promoters have missed this national flap stirred up by Hughley? If Bass Hall promoters had known, would they have cancelled his Fort Worth appearance? Would sponsors like the Star-Telegram and American Airlines condone this type of un-funny sexist slur against African-American women? Or, are they looking for some sacrilegious humor on the edge like Hughley’s blasphemous ghetto rendition of Jesus, which is advertised on the Bass Hall website?

Most African-American blogs have branded Hughley a modern day “Coon”, in the tradition of vaudeville blackface comedian of the late 1800s and early 1900s who sold out the image of Negroes to support the white public negative stereotypical images. They portrayed black people as shiftless, lazy, drunkards, and illiterate. They were the highest paid entertainers of their day.



For thirty pieces of silver, blackface entertainers created negative images that African-Americans have been trying to shed for generations. Now the comedian D.L. Hughley is coming to my home town, as if to add a blessing to our Emancipation Day (Juneteenth). Like vaudeville acts before it, this is one comedian that needs to be shown the outskirts of our city limit with a one-way ticket out on a rail.

Gang Bangers Making Amends

[Excerpted Eddie Griffin]

It was an odd sight: Members of the Bloods street gang in the park, clapping at Shaheed's speech, drinking sodas and eating hot links while children bounced in an inflatable house and ate ice cream.

A few older gang members who organized the event called it an apology to the neighborhood they terrorized.

[more...]

Nothing is Unfair

My students and understudies are forbidden from using the phrase: “This is unfair.” Wherever did they arrive at this expectation that something is supposed to be “fair”? What is "supposed to be"… "supposed to be", they lament, as if their supposition is a right… what if it’s not?

I ask them what do they mean by “fair”. And all they can relate is an expectation to “equal treatment”.

That, my dear students, is an unrealistic expectation… you’ve been reading too many fairy tales and living in Disneyland.

As a teacher, I make no pretenses of being fair. For me, I don’t have to worry about being made to feel guilty when some student accuses me of being unfair or having favorites. However, some teachers become defensive and try to rationalize their “unequal” treatment among students. But do not expect fairness from me, I tell them. This is not one hoop I’m going to jump through, simply because some student has this fairy tale notion.

What should be is not always so. What ought to be, may not ever happen. And, yes, I do have my favorite students. Anybody who follows my instructions, that’s my favorite student. Somehow, I must get this idealized notion out of the head of my students, especially African-American kids.

There are no two equal things in nature. Expectations of equal treatment are based upon a myth they teach children in the "other" school system. Under Old School teaching in the segregated system, we were taught that the odds were always stacked against us. We had to be over-qualified in order just to qualify. More was expected of us. We had to climb the highest mountain to realize the impossible dream. With this realization, there are no free passports through my class. In fact, a student cannot even cross the threshhold of my classroom with a phatom expectation. This is tuff turf.

One a typical day, I may start with something like this: Today is Teacher’s Day. Guess what tomorrow is? You got it. Tomorrow is Teacher’s Day also. There is no such thing as Student’s Day in my class. The objective of Teacher’s Day is to make the teacher happy. And, guess what? That is nearly impossible to do unless you are Top Gun stuff.

How many times have I heard, “Mr. Griffin, you are so unfair?” So what? If you are looking for fairness, go to the next classroom where some silly teacher will stroke your ego for mediocrity. Do not come to my classroom thinking that you are in Disney World.

My own children had to learn this lesson in my house. They would come home complaining about how “unfair” some teacher was at school. To rudely remove the rose colored glasses, I teach them that things in our society must be unfair, by necessity, because my children have an "unfair advantage". And that advantage is this: Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world.

A Black Boy Accused

In “A Case of Crime: Who against Whom?” Eddie Griffin wrote about an 18-year old black boy arrested for shoplifting. Here was a good kid, family members say, never been in trouble with the law, a recent high school graduate who had been accepted to TCU University. He was an assistant store manager, entrusted with large sums of money. So, why would he steal a pair of shorts with $500 in his pocket? The grandmother mentioned in the story (a great-great aunt who had raised both mother and son), charged the department store security guard with racial profiling.

Readers of the story responded with concern and outrage from around the country. One local reader recalled how she had been followed around a department store. She also felt that she was being watched because she was African-American- likewise, my own 82-year mother.

Plez, of plezWorld, provided this formula for African-Americans who find themselves accused:

Rule #1 for Black People when being questioned by the police: SAY NOTHING!
Rule #2 for Black People when asked by the police to sign a confession: SIGN NOTHING!

But the most elaborate and eloquent of all was the response from Exodus Mentality who writes: If you really want to help Black boys it's not enough to teach them not to commit crimes. Committing a crime is not necessary for a Black man to get in trouble with the law. We need to have classes with young Black boys and teenagers to instruct them on how to handle their inevitable contact with the gestapo police forces that occupy our communities. We have got to teach them not to hold court in the street, because their lives are too precious to waste as street martyrs. (I have often been an advocate of teaching black kids self-defensive living)

Then there came the surprise response from Sergeant Mark Thorne of the Fort Worth Police Department urging me to call him in “reference” to this article. He added, “Would love to help on this”. It was signed with his “blessings”. More importantly, he left a hyperlink to The Clergy and Police Alliance Program, a coalition of pastors who work in partnership with the police department to serve the citizens of Fort Worth.

Somewhere in our phone conversation, we found ourselves on the same page, trying to save a black boy in trouble. This was not my first time working with FWPD trying to help our children. In the past, they have gone into jail cells to locate some of “my kids”. And, on many occasions, they have provided vital information that enabled me to help their parents with regards to charges, bond, etc. Therefore, the intervention of Sgt. Thorne should not have come as a surprise.

The entire Fort Worth Police Department evolves around the philosophy of it chief, Ralph Mendoza- a man I have come to greatly admire and respect for his integrity and caring for our community. Despite my being an ex-Black Panther bank robber, he has never failed me when it comes to our mutual concern for the community and our kids. Strange as it seems, over the years, cop and robber have shed many tears over each other’s loss.

For three straight days of phone tag and off-and-on conversations with family and Sgt. Thorne, I reached one certain conclusion: The Fort Worth PD did its job, according to the books, in a professional manner, and went the extra mile to see that the accused young man was not wronged by the department. With the Chief, every officer must go by the books, because he is very intolerant of officers crossing the line or abusing the power of their badge. And, it is out of this respect for him and his leadership that I give attentive ear to his officers.

Sgt. Thorne had a different story to tell about the shoplifting incident and an education for me about how the FWPD operate on these kinds of cases. They do not always accept the complaint of a shop owner, because they, too, have been duped by fallacious accusations. They ascertain that there is “probably cause” before they lock anyone up. Thus, in the instance of the young black man above, there was enough probable cause for the arrest, besides the signed confession.

So now, I am faced with two stories- the boy and his family, and the store owner and its security guard. The store is prepared to prosecute to the full extent of the law, unless a compromise is worked out somewhere. The family continually buys the boy’s side of the story, that he was wrongly apprehended and coerced into a confession. If the loggerhead persists, the entire matter will be settled in court.

In the meantime, Sgt. Thorne, a religious man, prayed for the youth, that he overcome this incident and, if he’s guilty, to put this mistake behind him and move ahead with his life, go on to college. After all, the sergeant says, “Everybody makes mistakes.” He also prayed for me and my advocacy to save these children at-risk.

On this case, I stretched my hope that the kid was innocent, when, in fact, I will not truly know until it is finally adjudicated. But I will not wait until then to exonerate the men in blue. As I explained to Sgt. Thorne, it is my job to “trouble the waters” and ask the right questions. Whatever the answer is, I can live with. But always, it brings me back to Square One: The Plight of the Black Boy and How to Save Him in this “Land of Egypt”- hence, the Baby Moses Project.