FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco Responds to “Day of Blogging for Justice”
Office of the Governor
Attn: Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco
P.O. Box 94004
Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9004
RE: Pardon Mychal Bell & Free the Jena 6
Monday, July 30, 2007
Dear Governor Kathleen Blanco:
Please stop the prosecution of the Jena 6. Drop all charges and pardon Mychal Bell.
This is a classic case of racial injustice much like the Scottsboro boys. Do realize that these are children, high school students, who were caught up in a race tense situation. The Jena High School administration is the blame for allowing a white prank to go unpunished. The Jena police have acted as protectorates of white wrongdoers. The Jena district attorney’s office leveled some of the heaviest criminal offenses against six young black boys. Reading the sequence of events, you cannot help but realize that the “alleged” crimes were nothing more than a schoolyard fight, common to most high schools. But every high school does not take racial sides when administering punishment, as in the case of Jena, Louisiana.
The reputation of this great state is at stake.
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin (BASG)
[Posted by Mary Mitchell on August 30, 2007 11:47 AM]
Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's statement re Jena 6
From Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco's press office:
“I have received hundreds of calls, letters and emails from citizens concerned about the situation involving the case of the high school students in Jena, La. As Governor, as a citizen of the State of Louisiana, and as a mother, without rushing to judgment, I condemn racism in any form, and I fully expect that those involved in this case, including all parties, will act with fairness and in complete good faith.
“I must clear up a widespread misunderstanding of my authority in this case. Our State Constitution provides for three Branches of State Government - Legislative, Executive, and Judicial - and the Constitution prohibits anyone in one branch from exercising the powers of anyone in another branch. This issue is currently a matter in the Judicial System, and should those involved in this case suffer any defects, it is their right to address them in that system through the appeals court.
“Again, the oversight regarding how this case was handled, from arrest to prosecution, lies within the Justice System. Therefore, I have consulted Attorney General Charles Foti and Donald Washington, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Louisiana, regarding these events in Jena. As a result, General Foti has been and is in consultation with U.S. Attorney Washington and other members of the Justice System. Regardless of the outcome of this case, the Jena community has much healing ahead of it, and I urge all those citizens to come together for the common good of their community and their state. Our children deserve nothing less.”
[Posted by: Yolanda, August 30, 2007 02:57 PM]
It's ashame that we go through the things we do as African Americans. It's a shame the Jena 6 had to experience the torture they experienced. Where are our leaders? Yea. That letter sounds very nice. It's professional and for sure its POLITICALLY correct, but how can Gov. Blanco say that she expects ". . .that those involved in this case, including all parties, will act with fairness and in complete good faith."… If we leave Mychel Bell and the other young men's fate strictly in the hands of Blanco and Walters, we may as well do nothing. We need to write the congressman who represent that parish or ward in Jena, we need to petition the US Dept. of Justice and hell - tell Bush about it. Maybe if Condi whispers in his ear, he'll make a call to one of his good ole boys down in LA and they'll "act" like they care and do something like investigate the OBVIOUS miscarriage of Justice.
Eddie Griffin responds:
The Governor says:
Regardless of the outcome of this case, the Jena community has much healing ahead of it, and I urge all those citizens to come together for the common good of their community and their state. Our children deserve nothing less.
For the Common Good
The community of Jena can come together, as the Governor suggests. This is hindsight leadership that led to the Hurricane Katrina hysteria. Isn’t this the Queen of New Orleans who had a nervous breakdown and issued the order to “shoot to kill” all looters and scavengers during those hectic days. And, now she “urge” Jena to come together, but she does not lead in order to pull them together, as a community.
Much of this nonsense can cease with good leadership, a quality I hope the State of Louisiana will find in their next governor.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Governor Perry Grants Last-Minute Reprieve to Kenneth Foster
It still hasn't sunk in... that Kenneth Foster will live. In a last ditch appeal from supporters around to world to save Foster's life, along with recommendations from the Texas Pardons and Parole Board, Governor Rick Perry stayed the execution, which was scheduled for this evening, and commuted Foster's sentence to life... Read more
"After carefully considering the facts of this case, along with the recommendation from the Board of Pardons and Paroles, I believe the right and just decision is to commute Foster's sentence from the death penalty to life imprisonment," Perry said in a statement.
"I am concerned about Texas law that allowed capital murder defendants to be tried simultaneously and it is an issue I think the legislature should examine."
PRESS RELEASE: “Day of Blogging for Justice”, Thursday, August 30th
Pardons & Parole Vote to Spare Kenneth Foster, Jr., but Texas Governor still Undecided
8/30/2007 12:05:03 PM
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended Thursday that Gov. Rick Perry spare condemned prisoner Kenneth Foster from execution and commute his sentence to life... The vote from the seven-member board was 6-1.
(Read “Parole board votes to spare condemned killer”, Statesman, August 30, 2007)
The final decision is now in the hands of the Governor. As of this writing, the phone to the Governor’s office was ringing off the hook... some pro... some con.
Please add your voice to save Kenneth Foster, who is schedule to be executed TODAY.
PLEASE CALL NOW: Governor Rick Perry at 512-463-2000
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommended Thursday that Gov. Rick Perry spare condemned prisoner Kenneth Foster from execution and commute his sentence to life... The vote from the seven-member board was 6-1.
(Read “Parole board votes to spare condemned killer”, Statesman, August 30, 2007)
The final decision is now in the hands of the Governor. As of this writing, the phone to the Governor’s office was ringing off the hook... some pro... some con.
Please add your voice to save Kenneth Foster, who is schedule to be executed TODAY.
PLEASE CALL NOW: Governor Rick Perry at 512-463-2000
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Carter and Tutu Plead for the Life of Kenneth Foster, Jr.
Right: Kenneth Foster with his daughter, Nydesha Foster
As of this writing (8/29/2007 2:55 PM), the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is still deliberating the fate of Kenneth Foster, Jr.
According to Keith Hampton, Foster’s lawyer, “We need four board members to be in favor of clemency in order for them to make the recommendation to the Governor. Then it is at the Governor's discretion whether to commute his sentence.”
My telephone interview with Keith Hampton was cut short when a call came in from Kenneth Foster, Sr., father of the condemned young man.
As a human rights advocate and a man of faith, I ask for your 11th Hour prayer for the life of Kenneth Foster, Jr., a young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people.
Lord, have mercy on his soul and the soul of this nation.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
SAVE KENNETH FOSTER CAMPAIGN
Adam Axel (732) 796-5230
Dana Cloud (512) 731-1025
Keith Hampton (Foster’s lawyer) (512)-762-6170
Jimmy Carter and Desmond Tutu Announce Support For Kenneth Foster
August 27, 2007
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu Signs Amicus Brief
Supporting Kenneth Foster’s Supreme Court Petition;
President Jimmy Carter Asks Governor Perry to Spare Foster’s Life
Yesterday a Brief of Amicus Curiae on behalf of the Archbishop Desmond Tutu was filed at the U.S. Supreme Court in support of a Petition of Certiorari filed by Kenneth Foster’s criminal attorney Keith Hampton.
The Supreme Court is now poised to decide on Hampton’s cert petition for Foster on Wednesday, August 29. Hampton has basically asked the Court to intervene and fix the irreversible mistakes the lower courts have made in this case. Hampton’s petition argues that the Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) wrongly decided that Kenneth is death eligible when it dismissed the writ petition Hampton filed in the CCA at court on August 7 and asks the Supreme Court to invoke its own original jurisdiction and exercise its supervisory powers over the lower courts.
“The Archbishop’s support sends a very clear and strong signal to the Court and it’s incredible that someone with such international regard and moral authority has come forward for Kenneth,” Hampton commented. “I’m very encouraged.”
President Jimmy Carter also came out yesterday in support of Foster. He wrote a letter to Texas Governor Rick Perry asking Perry to spare Foster’s life.
Foster’s legal team and supporters hope that the support of such credible world leaders will influence the Governor and help win the four votes needed on the Board of Pardons and Paroles and the majority of the Supreme Court in Foster’s favor.
The Save Kenneth Foster Campaign, along with Foster’s legal team and thousands of people around the world, has petitioned the Governor and Board of Pardons and Paroles for clemency. The case has received considerable local, regional, and national media attention and public support for Foster has been pronounced.
Kenneth has been on Texas’ death row since 1997 for the shooting death of Michael LaHood, Jr. Foster did not shoot the gun that ended LaHood’s life, but was driving the car carrying the actual triggerman, Mauriceo Brown.
Foster was convicted and sentenced to death under the Law of Parties, which allows the state to seek convictions for those present at the scene of a crime as if they had committed it. Since Foster’s original trial, the other men in the car that night have testified that Foster had no idea LaHood would be shot.
If no relief is forthcoming from the state or the Court, Foster faces execution on August 30.
Former Bexar County District Attorney Letter in Support of Kenneth Foster
Source: "Adam Axel"
Subject: Sam Millsap Letter in Support of Kenneth Foster
August 27, 2007
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
P. O. Box 13401
Austin, Texas 78711-3401
RE: Kenneth Foster
To the Honorable Members of the Board:
I am writing to urge you to recommend clemency in the Kenneth Foster case. I am no wild-eyed, pointy-headed liberal. I am the former elected Bexar County District Attorney (1983-1987); I am responsible for the prosecution of more than a few death penalty cases all of which produced convictions and executions.
Because you have been buried with letters from throughout the world, I will not rehash the facts and legal problems with the case in this letter; they are obvious. There is nothing I can say about the legal issues or evidence that you have not already heard ad nauseam.
Fortunately, I was no longer the Bexar County District Attorney when this horrible crime was committed. Had I been, there is every likelihood that I would have decided to seek the death penalty against Foster because I could have done so--and that would have been a mistake. With the benefit of 20 additional years of life experience, I now believe that no useful purpose is served and it is morally wrong to execute a person based on nothing more than the law of parties.
Is there no limit to our lust in this state for retribution? How many people must we execute for this crime before justice is served? Having already executed the shooter, what benefit results from the execution of someone who was simply nearby and had no idea that a murder would be committed? As the civilized world watches in amazement that a single American state has executed 400 people in the last 25 years, what does it say about us? if we're willing to execute someone who was in the car when this horrible crime was committed? Surely, there is a limit to what we are capable of in this state.
There are tough cases and there are easy cases. This is an easy case. If we can't say no to execution in a case like the Kenneth Foster case, there is no practical limit to our thirst for vengeance. I urge you to recommend that the Governor grant clemency in this case.
Sincerely yours,
Sam D. Millsap, Jr.
Monday, August 27, 2007
Fathers Roll Out in Numbers - Final Report
Field Report: By Eddie Griffin
Monday, August 27, 2007
The report from Paschal High School:
It looked more like Family Day Back to School, as parents rolled out in numbers, to take their little darlings back to school. Leading the way were the fathers.
The highly publicized Fathers March was first announced at a news conference reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (“Group campaigns to get fathers involved”, 08/25/07).
The Millions Fathers March was organized statewide as a Back-to-School Rally by UMOJA, a mentoring group allied throughout the school systems. To rally community to support the initiative, UMOJA issued a challenge to fathers in particular, to accompany their child back to school on Opening Day.
"We went around the whole city of Fort Worth passing out fliers," said UMOJA President Johnny Muhammad.
The event has been reported over the airways and across church pulpits. So far, the field reports show good turn-outs, especially among local African-American men.
PLEASE SHARE YOU DAY ONE OF SCHOOL EXPERIENCE WITH US.
Contact Eddie Griffin at evansavenue76104@yahoo.com.
UPDATED REPORT
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
We are thankful to UMOJA for issuing the challenge to fathers to accompany their children back to school on the first day. We are thankful to the hundreds of fathers and mothers who responded. The reports of the first day of school were very encouraging.
[Read “Parents tag along for first day” by Diane Smith, Star-Telegram]
Besides the fathers and mothers that we can always depend on to support their children’s education, there were “new” crop of fathers coming to school this year with their children. Here is a spot check of what we found.
Many of the fathers who participated in the Back-to-School March were alerted by radio about the campaign, heard about it in church, or read about it in the newspapers. Fathers estranged from their spouses responded. Absentee dads, live-in boyfriends, stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles, other male relatives and role model and surrogates and mentors- however imperfect the relationship, all stepped up to the plate. Many actually took time off from work.
At last, most everyone did their part in making the first day of school in Tarrant County a wonderful day. More surprising, however, was the response from parents to become more involved with their children’s education through the PTA and PTO.
Future Concerns
Somewhere, however, in the throng of back-to-schoolers, were children with no one to accompany them. I wonder how they might have felt and what possibly could their parents and guardians be feeling.
These are the cases to watch for signs of alienation.
Monday, August 27, 2007
The report from Paschal High School:
It looked more like Family Day Back to School, as parents rolled out in numbers, to take their little darlings back to school. Leading the way were the fathers.
The highly publicized Fathers March was first announced at a news conference reported in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram (“Group campaigns to get fathers involved”, 08/25/07).
The Millions Fathers March was organized statewide as a Back-to-School Rally by UMOJA, a mentoring group allied throughout the school systems. To rally community to support the initiative, UMOJA issued a challenge to fathers in particular, to accompany their child back to school on Opening Day.
"We went around the whole city of Fort Worth passing out fliers," said UMOJA President Johnny Muhammad.
The event has been reported over the airways and across church pulpits. So far, the field reports show good turn-outs, especially among local African-American men.
PLEASE SHARE YOU DAY ONE OF SCHOOL EXPERIENCE WITH US.
Contact Eddie Griffin at evansavenue76104@yahoo.com.
UPDATED REPORT
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
We are thankful to UMOJA for issuing the challenge to fathers to accompany their children back to school on the first day. We are thankful to the hundreds of fathers and mothers who responded. The reports of the first day of school were very encouraging.
[Read “Parents tag along for first day” by Diane Smith, Star-Telegram]
Besides the fathers and mothers that we can always depend on to support their children’s education, there were “new” crop of fathers coming to school this year with their children. Here is a spot check of what we found.
Many of the fathers who participated in the Back-to-School March were alerted by radio about the campaign, heard about it in church, or read about it in the newspapers. Fathers estranged from their spouses responded. Absentee dads, live-in boyfriends, stepfathers, grandfathers, uncles, other male relatives and role model and surrogates and mentors- however imperfect the relationship, all stepped up to the plate. Many actually took time off from work.
At last, most everyone did their part in making the first day of school in Tarrant County a wonderful day. More surprising, however, was the response from parents to become more involved with their children’s education through the PTA and PTO.
Future Concerns
Somewhere, however, in the throng of back-to-schoolers, were children with no one to accompany them. I wonder how they might have felt and what possibly could their parents and guardians be feeling.
These are the cases to watch for signs of alienation.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Eddie Griffin Supports MILLION FATHERS MARCH
Plez asked:
"Why should the public school system care about the plight of education of Black children when the Black community doesn't care?"
Eddie Griffin saz:
Do you assume, as fact, that the Black community doesn't care? Here is a test for all brothers who think of themselves as men: Answer the Challenge below or be a punk.
MILLION FATHERS MARCH
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT: From Eddie Griffin (BASG)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
I wish to express my support to UMOJA and the Million Man Movement for calling upon fathers of school children to become more visible in their role as leaders, in leading our children back to school on Opening Day.(In Texas , that day would be Monday, August 27th).
Founded in 1994, UMOJA (which means “Unity” in Swahili) was formed by a group of black men for the purpose of providing leadership, mentoring, and serve as role models for young black boys. The organization has grown in number and diversity.
UMOJA is now calling for men everywhere to come forth, show visible support for our children, by accompanying them to school on the first day.
Realizing the start of the school year is an anxious time for both student and parent. Is it safe? Is it peaceful? Can my children learn in this environment? Will my child be bullied? What about the gang bangers, the haters, and the saggers?
Fathers need to see with their own eyes the school environment they are putting their children into. Maybe the presence of men accompanying their children to their first class will have a leveling effect on the teaching environment. Not only does it open the door for a return visit to the school, when needed. But it offers school children a chance to see Real Men, true role models and real heroes.
Eddie Griffin has been a friend with UMOJA since first being introduced to it by the late Johnny Wimbrey, one of the most profound civic leaders in the City of Fort Worth , a peace-maker by nature. As a witness to the work of UMOJA, I have watched them do effective work with black boys in the school system and out in the streets. We are allies in the fight,
THEREFORE, I join with them to issue a National Call to Order to all men, fathers, and male mentors, to step forward as true soldiers to physically escort our children to school and insure that at least the first day of school will be a wonderful experience.
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin
"Why should the public school system care about the plight of education of Black children when the Black community doesn't care?"
Eddie Griffin saz:
Do you assume, as fact, that the Black community doesn't care? Here is a test for all brothers who think of themselves as men: Answer the Challenge below or be a punk.
MILLION FATHERS MARCH
STATEMENT OF SUPPORT: From Eddie Griffin (BASG)
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
I wish to express my support to UMOJA and the Million Man Movement for calling upon fathers of school children to become more visible in their role as leaders, in leading our children back to school on Opening Day.(In Texas , that day would be Monday, August 27th).
Founded in 1994, UMOJA (which means “Unity” in Swahili) was formed by a group of black men for the purpose of providing leadership, mentoring, and serve as role models for young black boys. The organization has grown in number and diversity.
UMOJA is now calling for men everywhere to come forth, show visible support for our children, by accompanying them to school on the first day.
Realizing the start of the school year is an anxious time for both student and parent. Is it safe? Is it peaceful? Can my children learn in this environment? Will my child be bullied? What about the gang bangers, the haters, and the saggers?
Fathers need to see with their own eyes the school environment they are putting their children into. Maybe the presence of men accompanying their children to their first class will have a leveling effect on the teaching environment. Not only does it open the door for a return visit to the school, when needed. But it offers school children a chance to see Real Men, true role models and real heroes.
Eddie Griffin has been a friend with UMOJA since first being introduced to it by the late Johnny Wimbrey, one of the most profound civic leaders in the City of Fort Worth , a peace-maker by nature. As a witness to the work of UMOJA, I have watched them do effective work with black boys in the school system and out in the streets. We are allies in the fight,
THEREFORE, I join with them to issue a National Call to Order to all men, fathers, and male mentors, to step forward as true soldiers to physically escort our children to school and insure that at least the first day of school will be a wonderful experience.
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Hat Tip to Lilana Segura
An International Call to Alert!
SAVE KENNETH FOSTER!
By Liliana Segura
Kenneth Foster’s time is running out. After ten years on death row, the state of Texas is gearing up to kill him on August 30 for a murder he didn’t commit. Foster was convicted for the 1996 murder of Michael LaHood Jr., who was shot following a string of robberies, by a man named Mauriceo Brown. Brown admitted to the shooting and was executed by lethal injection last year. Now Foster faces the same fate. So, if Brown was the shooter, what did the 19-year-old Foster do to get a death sentence? He sat in his car, 80 feet away, unaware that a murder was taking place......
Read the entire article, originally printed in The Brooklyn Rail:
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Sign the petition Pressure Texas Governor Rick Perry urging him to stay Kenneth's execution and send a message to his office:
Governor Rick Perry
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Telephone: 512-463-2000
Fax: (512) 463-1849
E-mail: www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
Support the struggle in Texas:
Donations can be made out as follows "To Save Kenneth Foster, Account number 831766.1" and sent to: Velocity Credit Union. P.O. Box 1089 Austin, TX 78767
Write to Kenneth:
Kenneth Foster Jr.#999232, Polunsky Unit, 3872 FM 350, South Livingston, TX 77351
For more information on Kenneth's case and the efforts to save him, visit Kenneth's website.
Articles written about his case have also appeared in The New York Times, Counterpunch, and the Austin Chronicle. For audio, listen to Free Speech Radio's report with clips from Kenneth and his father.
SAVE KENNETH FOSTER!
By Liliana Segura
Kenneth Foster’s time is running out. After ten years on death row, the state of Texas is gearing up to kill him on August 30 for a murder he didn’t commit. Foster was convicted for the 1996 murder of Michael LaHood Jr., who was shot following a string of robberies, by a man named Mauriceo Brown. Brown admitted to the shooting and was executed by lethal injection last year. Now Foster faces the same fate. So, if Brown was the shooter, what did the 19-year-old Foster do to get a death sentence? He sat in his car, 80 feet away, unaware that a murder was taking place......
Read the entire article, originally printed in The Brooklyn Rail:
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Sign the petition Pressure Texas Governor Rick Perry urging him to stay Kenneth's execution and send a message to his office:
Governor Rick Perry
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Telephone: 512-463-2000
Fax: (512) 463-1849
E-mail: www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
Support the struggle in Texas:
Donations can be made out as follows "To Save Kenneth Foster, Account number 831766.1" and sent to: Velocity Credit Union. P.O. Box 1089 Austin, TX 78767
Write to Kenneth:
Kenneth Foster Jr.#999232, Polunsky Unit, 3872 FM 350, South Livingston, TX 77351
For more information on Kenneth's case and the efforts to save him, visit Kenneth's website.
Articles written about his case have also appeared in The New York Times, Counterpunch, and the Austin Chronicle. For audio, listen to Free Speech Radio's report with clips from Kenneth and his father.
Friday, August 17, 2007
Call for a Reprieve from Death
Kenneth Eugene Foster, Jr. will be put to death by lethal injection on August 30, 2007 unless Texas Governor Rick Perry grants him a reprieve.
Why should the Governor grant him clemency?
The Death Penalty was reinstated in Texas for the purpose of executing those persons who willfully take a life during the commission of another crime, or unless the assailant takes the life of an officer of the law. Kenneth Foster is guilty of neither.
Why he was ever indicted for capital murder, under the Texas Law of Parties charge, is astounding? Why the court even accepted the prosecution of the case is baffling. How a dozen jurors could issue a death decree upon a young 19-year old black man is heart-wrenching? Did they understand that he harmed no one, but that he was an unwitting passenger at the commission of the horrendous crime? Or, does it really make any difference?
Sometimes it makes black people feel like hiding their children in a bomb shelter. This is not right. This is not evenhanded justice.
Trying to pull a young black man from the clutches of death is like trying to redeem a soul from the devil.
The Fight for a Life
On August 15, supporters for Kenneth Foster delivered a stack of petitions to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. A director of the board of pardons and parole said she expects the board to rule on the case on or around August 28, only two days before Foster scheduled execution.
In the meantime, a march aimed at stopping the execution is schedule for Tuesday, August 21, starting at 5pm. The supporter will convene in front of the Capitol at 11th St. and Congress Ave.
For more information, visit http://savekenneth.blogspot.com or call 512.584.1578.
Why should the Governor grant him clemency?
The Death Penalty was reinstated in Texas for the purpose of executing those persons who willfully take a life during the commission of another crime, or unless the assailant takes the life of an officer of the law. Kenneth Foster is guilty of neither.
Why he was ever indicted for capital murder, under the Texas Law of Parties charge, is astounding? Why the court even accepted the prosecution of the case is baffling. How a dozen jurors could issue a death decree upon a young 19-year old black man is heart-wrenching? Did they understand that he harmed no one, but that he was an unwitting passenger at the commission of the horrendous crime? Or, does it really make any difference?
Sometimes it makes black people feel like hiding their children in a bomb shelter. This is not right. This is not evenhanded justice.
Trying to pull a young black man from the clutches of death is like trying to redeem a soul from the devil.
The Fight for a Life
On August 15, supporters for Kenneth Foster delivered a stack of petitions to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. A director of the board of pardons and parole said she expects the board to rule on the case on or around August 28, only two days before Foster scheduled execution.
In the meantime, a march aimed at stopping the execution is schedule for Tuesday, August 21, starting at 5pm. The supporter will convene in front of the Capitol at 11th St. and Congress Ave.
For more information, visit http://savekenneth.blogspot.com or call 512.584.1578.
Thursday, August 16, 2007
A Neuro-Linguistic Defense of Francis Holland
An appeal to the emotions with words
Francis L. Holland is probably one of my most faithful understudies. Most other students are superficial readers, reading only what they want to read and enjoying only what is comfortable with reading.
What we know of each other, we know only by word-communication via cyberspace. And, it amazes me yet how written words provoke internalized reactions, how that Words hurt, how that Words evoke emotions. Words create images and phantoms in our minds and, to those images and phantoms, we vest our feelings and egos. Damn!
Obviously, Francis Holland has probably been reading my dissertation on Neuro-Linguistics, the art of using semantics to provoke the nervous system. If nothing else, Francis has been effective in his communications. His words spark fires and stirs controversy. He impacts people by the thousands. To what end, I know not. But he is effective.
From “Imus Virus Spreads to Limbaugh” (May 4, 2007):
I mentioned to my UT-Arlington students that I once studied Neuro- Linguistics, essentially to teach one concept: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”.
The reason for teaching this lesson was because I learned, while living in prison, men will try to provoke you with “words”. It is the art of using words to affect the nervous (neurological) system, otherwise we call it our “insides”. Words can hurt.
Lesson Learned:
Never get into a Word-fight or Debate, if you cannot afford to get your feeling hurt at the core level. [No debates with Eddie Griffin, Please].
Another Lesson on Neuro-Linguistics:
Excerpt from “The Ominous N-Word”
[Editor Note: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that radio host Don Imus ' comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team were "disgusting" and she was pleased he was fired… Asked how she handled racist, sexist comments directed her way, Rice laughed and replied: "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. And I really don't care because, you know, I'm a mature woman."]
Who controls whom? Why would I be offended by any word in the English language? A Word is only a word. We grew up being called niggers to our face by whites. I don’t know if white people ever completely grew out of the language usage. We thought that some racist would become more cultured or that they would just all died off. Nevertheless, in any case, our parent built us a psychological fence against it.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. We sang it more in Texas than “We Shall Overcome”.
Many years later, while in prison, I studied a course called Neuro-Linguistics, taught by Dr. Danny Sengel, a fellow inmate. He taught that we are conditioned by words. The logic behind a man’s thinking is encoded in words, even if the thought is not expressly stated. You can read a man’s thoughts by his words or the lack thereof. This is why silence is so golden. You must guess what I’m thinking.
Post-Commentary
If Semantics are necessary in a fight against an enemy, it is not necessary to use Aristelian logics. That western thinking is based on a Greek system of logics (which is Greek to me) not everyone’s thinking, reasoning, and learning follows the same logical lines. In fact, most people’s thinking is “illogical”, even by their own standards and mode of logics.
It is fair in war to give the enemy a “headache” with words. It’s called Psychological Warfare. But Francis does not use parapsychology, so why are so many intelligent people “twisted”? No one has to hold their hand to the flame, if he or she cannot stand to get burned.
Freedom of Speech means also the Freedom of Listen. But then, who listens to Eddie Griffin, anyway?
Francis L. Holland is probably one of my most faithful understudies. Most other students are superficial readers, reading only what they want to read and enjoying only what is comfortable with reading.
What we know of each other, we know only by word-communication via cyberspace. And, it amazes me yet how written words provoke internalized reactions, how that Words hurt, how that Words evoke emotions. Words create images and phantoms in our minds and, to those images and phantoms, we vest our feelings and egos. Damn!
Obviously, Francis Holland has probably been reading my dissertation on Neuro-Linguistics, the art of using semantics to provoke the nervous system. If nothing else, Francis has been effective in his communications. His words spark fires and stirs controversy. He impacts people by the thousands. To what end, I know not. But he is effective.
From “Imus Virus Spreads to Limbaugh” (May 4, 2007):
I mentioned to my UT-Arlington students that I once studied Neuro- Linguistics, essentially to teach one concept: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”.
The reason for teaching this lesson was because I learned, while living in prison, men will try to provoke you with “words”. It is the art of using words to affect the nervous (neurological) system, otherwise we call it our “insides”. Words can hurt.
Lesson Learned:
Never get into a Word-fight or Debate, if you cannot afford to get your feeling hurt at the core level. [No debates with Eddie Griffin, Please].
Another Lesson on Neuro-Linguistics:
Excerpt from “The Ominous N-Word”
[Editor Note: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that radio host Don Imus ' comments about the Rutgers University women's basketball team were "disgusting" and she was pleased he was fired… Asked how she handled racist, sexist comments directed her way, Rice laughed and replied: "I'm a big girl. I can take care of myself. And I really don't care because, you know, I'm a mature woman."]
Who controls whom? Why would I be offended by any word in the English language? A Word is only a word. We grew up being called niggers to our face by whites. I don’t know if white people ever completely grew out of the language usage. We thought that some racist would become more cultured or that they would just all died off. Nevertheless, in any case, our parent built us a psychological fence against it.
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. We sang it more in Texas than “We Shall Overcome”.
Many years later, while in prison, I studied a course called Neuro-Linguistics, taught by Dr. Danny Sengel, a fellow inmate. He taught that we are conditioned by words. The logic behind a man’s thinking is encoded in words, even if the thought is not expressly stated. You can read a man’s thoughts by his words or the lack thereof. This is why silence is so golden. You must guess what I’m thinking.
Post-Commentary
If Semantics are necessary in a fight against an enemy, it is not necessary to use Aristelian logics. That western thinking is based on a Greek system of logics (which is Greek to me) not everyone’s thinking, reasoning, and learning follows the same logical lines. In fact, most people’s thinking is “illogical”, even by their own standards and mode of logics.
It is fair in war to give the enemy a “headache” with words. It’s called Psychological Warfare. But Francis does not use parapsychology, so why are so many intelligent people “twisted”? No one has to hold their hand to the flame, if he or she cannot stand to get burned.
Freedom of Speech means also the Freedom of Listen. But then, who listens to Eddie Griffin, anyway?
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
PETITION FOR REPRIEVE OF EXECUTION
The Case of KENNETH EUGENE FOSTER, JR.
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard
Austin, Texas 78757
Telephone: (512) 406-5852
Fax (512) 467-0945
Attn.: Rissie L. Owens, Jose Aliseda, Jr., Charles Aycock, Conrith Davis, Jackie DeNoyelles, Linda Garcia, Juanita M. Gonzalez
August 14, 2007
Dear Board Members:
We implore you to use your better sense of judgment and compassion and grant clemency to Kenneth Foster, Jr. before the scheduled execution of August 30, 2007. Despite his conviction by the courts and death sentence by a jury, Foster does not deserve to die.
A young 19-year old man becomes an unwitting accomplice of a horrible crime, not by direct participation, but by causal association with the wrong people, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. Should he be put to death for the crime of another?
Federal District Judge Royal Furgeson who overturned Foster's death sentence in 2005 recognized, “There was no evidence before Foster's sentencing jury which would have supported a finding that Foster either actually killed LaHood or that Foster intended to kill LaHood or another person.”
On June 29, 1972, in the case of Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that every state death penalty law in the U.S. was unconstitutional because the death penalty was being unfairly and arbitrarily assigned. When Texas rewrote its death penalty statute, the penalty was reserved for the most egregious cases of murder, and only then in commission with another crime.
But this has not halted state district attorneys from pushing the envelope. In the case of Foster, the prosecution pushed the limit of sensibility and social consciousness by stretching the “law of parties”. Any indirect party without foreknowledge of a crime can be held as culpable as the perpetrator by mere association. If this was the intent of the law, it would be grossly unfair and contrary to the Furman decision.
We bring this case to your attention for an urgent reprieve and a recall to our collective sensibility. It is just not right for one man to die for the crime of another.
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin, human rights advocate, reprieved by Furman (1972)
Cc:
Governor Rick Perry
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Telephone: 512-463-2000
Fax: (512) 463-1849
E-mail: www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
UPDATE:
If you are moved by the case of Kenneth Foster and can get to Austin, we encourage all justice-minded people to come to a rally in support of Kenneth. Tuesday, August 21, starting at 5pm, we will meet in front of the Capitol at 11th St. and Congress Ave., then march to the Governor's mansion to make our voices heard: Stop the Execution of Kenneth Foster!
For more information, visit http://savekenneth.blogspot.com or call 512.584.1578.
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Executive Clemency Section
8610 Shoal Creek Boulevard
Austin, Texas 78757
Telephone: (512) 406-5852
Fax (512) 467-0945
Attn.: Rissie L. Owens, Jose Aliseda, Jr., Charles Aycock, Conrith Davis, Jackie DeNoyelles, Linda Garcia, Juanita M. Gonzalez
August 14, 2007
Dear Board Members:
We implore you to use your better sense of judgment and compassion and grant clemency to Kenneth Foster, Jr. before the scheduled execution of August 30, 2007. Despite his conviction by the courts and death sentence by a jury, Foster does not deserve to die.
A young 19-year old man becomes an unwitting accomplice of a horrible crime, not by direct participation, but by causal association with the wrong people, at the wrong time, in the wrong place. Should he be put to death for the crime of another?
Federal District Judge Royal Furgeson who overturned Foster's death sentence in 2005 recognized, “There was no evidence before Foster's sentencing jury which would have supported a finding that Foster either actually killed LaHood or that Foster intended to kill LaHood or another person.”
On June 29, 1972, in the case of Furman v. Georgia, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that every state death penalty law in the U.S. was unconstitutional because the death penalty was being unfairly and arbitrarily assigned. When Texas rewrote its death penalty statute, the penalty was reserved for the most egregious cases of murder, and only then in commission with another crime.
But this has not halted state district attorneys from pushing the envelope. In the case of Foster, the prosecution pushed the limit of sensibility and social consciousness by stretching the “law of parties”. Any indirect party without foreknowledge of a crime can be held as culpable as the perpetrator by mere association. If this was the intent of the law, it would be grossly unfair and contrary to the Furman decision.
We bring this case to your attention for an urgent reprieve and a recall to our collective sensibility. It is just not right for one man to die for the crime of another.
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin, human rights advocate, reprieved by Furman (1972)
Cc:
Governor Rick Perry
State Capitol
P.O. Box 12428
Austin, TX 78711-2428
Telephone: 512-463-2000
Fax: (512) 463-1849
E-mail: www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
UPDATE:
If you are moved by the case of Kenneth Foster and can get to Austin, we encourage all justice-minded people to come to a rally in support of Kenneth. Tuesday, August 21, starting at 5pm, we will meet in front of the Capitol at 11th St. and Congress Ave., then march to the Governor's mansion to make our voices heard: Stop the Execution of Kenneth Foster!
For more information, visit http://savekenneth.blogspot.com or call 512.584.1578.
Friday, August 10, 2007
My Vote for President
Let's look forward in time and then look back.
In looking forward, into the future, there is no crystal ball certainty of anything. Our forward planning is designed around contingencies and “What If” scenarios.
What if John Edwards wins? What is the contingency plan and how would we rate that contingency in terms of probabilities, and how much time and resources are require to make or defeat such candidacy? And, what if a Republican wins back the Whitehouse, I ask again: What are the contingencies?
All former students of BP Marxism would understand dialectical analysis. This is a scientific approach, and not always accurate. But it is a methodology, nonetheless, that causes us to factor in other elements- the “hidden factors”.
Sometimes when a fact become so self-evident, we will still deny its existence and factor it out as a fact of life. We delude ourselves, which later leads to serious miscalculations.
We specialize in searching out miscalculations by self-delusion that leads to strategic and tactical errors. For example: A million cartoon characters do not equal one child of God. [Don’t even go there.]
I am amazed at how people can sound so much like a duck: Quack! Quack! Am I hearing voices? Good Lord, am I going crazy- people sounding like ducks?
My eye is on the Whitehouse. That is my last line of defense. I care about who might be the next President of the United States. Once, I didn’t care, and I didn’t even care to vote. Most black people could less about voting. Fact of life, let’s face it. And, white voters are nearly as apathetic.
These are two factors excluded by self-denial. In the meantime, I keep my eye on the prize of the Whitehouse. The next man or woman that goes into that office will have endured the fire and be proven true as a national leader.
So, don’t try to twist my arm one way or the other for Candidate X or Candidate Y. I must study all the factors and assess where the balance of power lie. Every contest is a tug-of-war for voters. This time I want the right to be a voter, not a party member. Maybe one day my vote will be the swing vote, the difference maker, that elects a president.
In looking forward, into the future, there is no crystal ball certainty of anything. Our forward planning is designed around contingencies and “What If” scenarios.
What if John Edwards wins? What is the contingency plan and how would we rate that contingency in terms of probabilities, and how much time and resources are require to make or defeat such candidacy? And, what if a Republican wins back the Whitehouse, I ask again: What are the contingencies?
All former students of BP Marxism would understand dialectical analysis. This is a scientific approach, and not always accurate. But it is a methodology, nonetheless, that causes us to factor in other elements- the “hidden factors”.
Sometimes when a fact become so self-evident, we will still deny its existence and factor it out as a fact of life. We delude ourselves, which later leads to serious miscalculations.
We specialize in searching out miscalculations by self-delusion that leads to strategic and tactical errors. For example: A million cartoon characters do not equal one child of God. [Don’t even go there.]
I am amazed at how people can sound so much like a duck: Quack! Quack! Am I hearing voices? Good Lord, am I going crazy- people sounding like ducks?
My eye is on the Whitehouse. That is my last line of defense. I care about who might be the next President of the United States. Once, I didn’t care, and I didn’t even care to vote. Most black people could less about voting. Fact of life, let’s face it. And, white voters are nearly as apathetic.
These are two factors excluded by self-denial. In the meantime, I keep my eye on the prize of the Whitehouse. The next man or woman that goes into that office will have endured the fire and be proven true as a national leader.
So, don’t try to twist my arm one way or the other for Candidate X or Candidate Y. I must study all the factors and assess where the balance of power lie. Every contest is a tug-of-war for voters. This time I want the right to be a voter, not a party member. Maybe one day my vote will be the swing vote, the difference maker, that elects a president.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Drop-Out Prevention & Crime Suppression
Strategies from Solitary Confinement
As a crime prevention specialist, I recognize patterns in juvenile behavior that leads from school to prison. Most specialists have never looked through the eyes of criminal rationality to understand what would motivate a young person to commit a crime, and why would some go to the extreme in criminal behavior?
My job in prison was to break juvenile and youthful offenders, as they came through the door. If, in prison, you steal from your neighbor, as you did on the streets, there are serious consequences. It was my job to tell you that when you entered into our prison space, our community. Lesson Number One: Thou shall not steal.
I was just a messenger of peace, probably the last friendly face you see alive if you don’t act right. I have the power to feed you to the lions. I have the power to give thumps up to a gladiator who deserves to live. Lifers do not play around. These are the survivors from 10, 20, and 30 years of hand-to-hand combat. They break bricks for kicks.
Only a penitentiary soldier can tell you how to go from being a “snotty nose punk” to being a buck private low man on the totem pole, accepted into the ranks of gladiators and warriors. Only a high ranking penitentiary soldier gets a chance to speak on both sides of the fence. We lived with our prison guard captors in a negotiated state of peace. It was a dirty fight on both sides, prisoners versus guards and vice versa. But, in the end, we all preferred to live out our lives and do our jobs in peace. Violence and loss of life is not worth it.
We know how the criminal mind works.
Most of the inmates in hardcore prisons are black males. They segregate inmates by race and IQ. They put all the dumb asses together. Because of their low IQ, they are manipulated by violence, threat of violence, drugs, and abnormal sexual appetites. They consume and kill each other, without mercy and without remorse. But the high IQ masterminds, they send to “special detention”. The smarter a man is, the deeper in the bowls of hell they put him, until they conclude that he is too smart to live. [That’s what they said about the slave rebel Nat Turner]
Eddie Griffin has been to the end of the line at the end of the earth, deep in the bowels of a frozen dungeon. Sensory deprivation had cut me off from the earth’s electro-magnetic field, ionized that whenever I touched something a bright yellow spark would jump from my finger tips… and the eyes and brilliant fleshes of white light.
You don’t even want to go there, Buddy.
My job to stop every young criminal that came through the prison gates with a “CHECK”, and an instant “CHECKMATE” he reacted wrongly. This was a hotel where everybody has to check-in. Otherwise, they’ll check out as quickly as they came. Also, with new prison guards, my job was to “CHECK” and “TRY BY FIRE”.
I had the power to guarantee a prison guard a peaceful 8-hour shift or a 16-hour overtime nightmare. Because I was the representative who delivered the inmates’ grievances to the warden, I spent a lot of time in solitary confinement for conveying threats, and it always followed with a full blown riot. I received the first and only Kujichagulia Award from my fellow inmates, for daring to confront the warden.
That I was a troublemaker’s troublemaker, I was as masterful as any jailhouse lawyer in writing grievances, and all of my inmate students were prolific in length and legal complexities. We created paper logjams through the prison system.
We learned that in an inverse hierarchical structure like the government, the buck stops at the top. We paper-jammed the pyramidal top of the grievance system, exhausted our administrative remedies for redress, jammed the courts, and log-jammed the lower tiers of the hierarchy. We captured the imagination of the media, at a time when the Soviet Union was searching for propaganda against the United States in human rights controversies. We were it. We were the Marion Brothers.
They selected me to speak to the Russian reporter Ilong Andronov of the Literaturnaya Gazeta and confront Mike Wallace of CBS 60 Minutes. At issue was the concept of “Political Prisoner”, in the Year of the Prisoner of Conscious (United Nations, 1977).
As a crime prevention specialist, I recognize patterns in juvenile behavior that leads from school to prison. Most specialists have never looked through the eyes of criminal rationality to understand what would motivate a young person to commit a crime, and why would some go to the extreme in criminal behavior?
My job in prison was to break juvenile and youthful offenders, as they came through the door. If, in prison, you steal from your neighbor, as you did on the streets, there are serious consequences. It was my job to tell you that when you entered into our prison space, our community. Lesson Number One: Thou shall not steal.
I was just a messenger of peace, probably the last friendly face you see alive if you don’t act right. I have the power to feed you to the lions. I have the power to give thumps up to a gladiator who deserves to live. Lifers do not play around. These are the survivors from 10, 20, and 30 years of hand-to-hand combat. They break bricks for kicks.
Only a penitentiary soldier can tell you how to go from being a “snotty nose punk” to being a buck private low man on the totem pole, accepted into the ranks of gladiators and warriors. Only a high ranking penitentiary soldier gets a chance to speak on both sides of the fence. We lived with our prison guard captors in a negotiated state of peace. It was a dirty fight on both sides, prisoners versus guards and vice versa. But, in the end, we all preferred to live out our lives and do our jobs in peace. Violence and loss of life is not worth it.
We know how the criminal mind works.
Most of the inmates in hardcore prisons are black males. They segregate inmates by race and IQ. They put all the dumb asses together. Because of their low IQ, they are manipulated by violence, threat of violence, drugs, and abnormal sexual appetites. They consume and kill each other, without mercy and without remorse. But the high IQ masterminds, they send to “special detention”. The smarter a man is, the deeper in the bowls of hell they put him, until they conclude that he is too smart to live. [That’s what they said about the slave rebel Nat Turner]
Eddie Griffin has been to the end of the line at the end of the earth, deep in the bowels of a frozen dungeon. Sensory deprivation had cut me off from the earth’s electro-magnetic field, ionized that whenever I touched something a bright yellow spark would jump from my finger tips… and the eyes and brilliant fleshes of white light.
You don’t even want to go there, Buddy.
My job to stop every young criminal that came through the prison gates with a “CHECK”, and an instant “CHECKMATE” he reacted wrongly. This was a hotel where everybody has to check-in. Otherwise, they’ll check out as quickly as they came. Also, with new prison guards, my job was to “CHECK” and “TRY BY FIRE”.
I had the power to guarantee a prison guard a peaceful 8-hour shift or a 16-hour overtime nightmare. Because I was the representative who delivered the inmates’ grievances to the warden, I spent a lot of time in solitary confinement for conveying threats, and it always followed with a full blown riot. I received the first and only Kujichagulia Award from my fellow inmates, for daring to confront the warden.
That I was a troublemaker’s troublemaker, I was as masterful as any jailhouse lawyer in writing grievances, and all of my inmate students were prolific in length and legal complexities. We created paper logjams through the prison system.
We learned that in an inverse hierarchical structure like the government, the buck stops at the top. We paper-jammed the pyramidal top of the grievance system, exhausted our administrative remedies for redress, jammed the courts, and log-jammed the lower tiers of the hierarchy. We captured the imagination of the media, at a time when the Soviet Union was searching for propaganda against the United States in human rights controversies. We were it. We were the Marion Brothers.
They selected me to speak to the Russian reporter Ilong Andronov of the Literaturnaya Gazeta and confront Mike Wallace of CBS 60 Minutes. At issue was the concept of “Political Prisoner”, in the Year of the Prisoner of Conscious (United Nations, 1977).
Public School – Criminal Justice Railroad & The Prison – Industrial Complex
RE: Position Paper
TO: Dr. James I. Cash, I. M. Terrell, 1965
jcash@hbs.edu
FROM: Eddie Griffin, I. M. Terrell, 1964
eddiegriffin_basg@yahoo.com
Thursday, August 09, 2007
For one-out-of-every-three black male children, there is a straight line from birth to death, from public school to prison. It is a straight line to hell, from not being understood, not being respected, low expectation, snares and trips into drug and alcohol addiction, failed parental relationship, unemployed and unemployable, cast-outs and outcasts and outlaws and gangsters, to be somebody… to be something in life, other than what people expect him to be. Nobody expects a black boy in America to succeed.
First, there is the great fear of black boys and black men.
They clutched their purse when you walk by, said Dr. James I. Cash, the Fort Worth native and TCU African-American TCU basketball star who went on to become one of the founding fathers of IT (Information Technology). Dr. Cash recalled this experience in Boston during the time he was serving as director of Harvard School of Business.
The lesson: You are still a Negro. You are still suspicious-looking in the eyes of some. They distrust your integrity. They secretly fear you, because you are big, burly, and black. They give you no respect and esteem, not even if you are a black doctor and father of Information Technology.
This little known great black man serves as an example of white stigmatization. It happened to Dr. Cash, and it is still happening today in our schools.
Stigmatized
To paraphrase the late Ann Richards: “They can’t help it. They were born with a silver bullet in their brains.” Yep, about as clean a brainwashing as a child can get. They grow up with a Disney World mentality, with stigmas and stereotypes embedded in their subliminal. [Gee Whiz! I didn’t know that.]
The first thing that comes crashing down in the world of a black boy is Disney World. Duh! In its place, they create Cartoon World.
In a parallel universe, there is Teacher’s World. Somewhere is a gap in the Theory of Learning. Different students in Cartoon World have different learning styles. In a hierarchical society, it’s all about getting over, getting to the top. [Can’t get there with Mrs. Teacher.]
Teacher’s World rationalizes its existence by thinking, “The world needs me, more than I need the world. Mine is willful service for the common good of our society. [It’s the parents’ fault that 50% black male children drop out of school. It’s a lack of good parenting that causes them to act disruptively].”
Fire ‘em all, I say
Let the real teachers come forward and teach. We are impatient with failure. And, the statistical records of the public education exude failure. There must be accountability, across the board, in publicly funded schools across the United States.
What type of teachers do we need?
Instead of having police officers roaming the hallway, looking for and expecting trouble, why not have the same officer teaching a class in Civics, so that children might understand civil behavior, responsibilities, and social and legal expectations and consequences?
To know the rule is a prerequisite to obeying rule. But nobody is willing to teach law and the consequences of disorder. Nobody cares to establish the bounds. All Teacher World wants is rules and regulations backed by law enforcement. All Teacher World wants is peace and social control in order to make a salary. But nobody wants to teach Law & Order, Etiquettes & Ethics, as we black children learned under the old segregated school system.
This is why we want our children back, especially if they are a disciplinary problem in our public school system. We have a right to ask for them back if the school system does not offer them a viable future. The buck stops here, because here opens the door to the criminal justice system and the prison-industrial complex.
Case in Point: Prison Industry
A small Texas prison town becomes the center of a world-wide scandal when an investigation revealed that prison officials were sexually abusing children in the custody of their care. The corruption and abuse of powers and sexual enslavement was so widespread Governor Rick Perry had to literally Fire Everybody, from the top of the Texas Youth Commission’s board of directors, executive officers, and much of the rank and file, down the line.
The Legislators also mandate the release of 473 youthful inmates who had been held beyond their punishment sentence- some as sex slaves for a warden and his deputy.
When the Texas Legislature passed the TYC reform package, it called for mass releases from incarceration and closing down some of the juvenile facilities.
The small Texas prison town cried to their legislators about the number of jobs that would be lost. Local merchants would lose the inflow of commercial traffic from urban visitors. The local economy would lose its pro rata share of tax dollars based on population census. Plain and simply, the local citizens in the small prison town needed the prison in order for it to survive. But in order to keep the prison, they need “offenders” to populate them. [Some parts of rural Texas need prisoners like plantations need slaves.]
Architects, engineers, and constructors who design and build prisons oppose any leniency for juvenile offenders. Their desire seems to be in keeping the prison population growing, and to keep building more lucrative prisons.
The district attorneys and their association even challenged some of the 473 inmates to be released. And, some tries to create mass hysteria by prophecying an increase in crime. At issue is Self-Justification.
For Example:
The case of ShaQuanda Cotton, a 14-year old freshman, shoves a teacher’s aide while trying to get inside the school building to the nurse’s office “before time”. [No child should be denied immediate access to medical attention.]
This child is charged by the District Attorney with “assault upon a public servant”. She was sentence to an indefinite term, up to her 21st birthday. This is a typical sentence in the State of Texas for black juvenile offenders, while some sentences are commuted to their 18th birthday. This is why there are a disproportionate number of black juveniles inside the Texas prison system.
The DA made a conscientious choice to bring about the charge of “assault”. The court accepted the charge, prima facie. [A rational judge would have looked at juvenile behavior and reasoned that this was a child, who thought as a child and understood as a child- he would have adjudicated it as “childish”.]
Here is the use of a scatter gun to kill a gnat. The Appeals Court upheld the conviction of ShaQuanda Cotton for “assault”. [This legitimizes injustice by discretion of the court.]
If the ShaQuanda Cotton case had occurred under the ole segregated system, childish behavior was dealt with, corporally. And, then the teacher’s aide would have been admonished not to deny a child access to medical care, under any circumstances.
We Want Our Children Back- The Consequence for Non-Compliance
We have made our proposition clear. The first time a child is expelled from class, sent to the principal’s office, and not allowed back in class, we want that student back.
If the principal attempts to override our demand, we will hold him or her for any subsequent disciplinary reports against that child. And, it the pattern continues, we will hold the superintendent responsible.
Every case denied is a case more to the composition of a class, and another case for the Civil Rights Division of the Education Department to consider.
TO: Dr. James I. Cash, I. M. Terrell, 1965
jcash@hbs.edu
FROM: Eddie Griffin, I. M. Terrell, 1964
eddiegriffin_basg@yahoo.com
Thursday, August 09, 2007
For one-out-of-every-three black male children, there is a straight line from birth to death, from public school to prison. It is a straight line to hell, from not being understood, not being respected, low expectation, snares and trips into drug and alcohol addiction, failed parental relationship, unemployed and unemployable, cast-outs and outcasts and outlaws and gangsters, to be somebody… to be something in life, other than what people expect him to be. Nobody expects a black boy in America to succeed.
First, there is the great fear of black boys and black men.
They clutched their purse when you walk by, said Dr. James I. Cash, the Fort Worth native and TCU African-American TCU basketball star who went on to become one of the founding fathers of IT (Information Technology). Dr. Cash recalled this experience in Boston during the time he was serving as director of Harvard School of Business.
The lesson: You are still a Negro. You are still suspicious-looking in the eyes of some. They distrust your integrity. They secretly fear you, because you are big, burly, and black. They give you no respect and esteem, not even if you are a black doctor and father of Information Technology.
This little known great black man serves as an example of white stigmatization. It happened to Dr. Cash, and it is still happening today in our schools.
Stigmatized
To paraphrase the late Ann Richards: “They can’t help it. They were born with a silver bullet in their brains.” Yep, about as clean a brainwashing as a child can get. They grow up with a Disney World mentality, with stigmas and stereotypes embedded in their subliminal. [Gee Whiz! I didn’t know that.]
The first thing that comes crashing down in the world of a black boy is Disney World. Duh! In its place, they create Cartoon World.
In a parallel universe, there is Teacher’s World. Somewhere is a gap in the Theory of Learning. Different students in Cartoon World have different learning styles. In a hierarchical society, it’s all about getting over, getting to the top. [Can’t get there with Mrs. Teacher.]
Teacher’s World rationalizes its existence by thinking, “The world needs me, more than I need the world. Mine is willful service for the common good of our society. [It’s the parents’ fault that 50% black male children drop out of school. It’s a lack of good parenting that causes them to act disruptively].”
Fire ‘em all, I say
Let the real teachers come forward and teach. We are impatient with failure. And, the statistical records of the public education exude failure. There must be accountability, across the board, in publicly funded schools across the United States.
What type of teachers do we need?
Instead of having police officers roaming the hallway, looking for and expecting trouble, why not have the same officer teaching a class in Civics, so that children might understand civil behavior, responsibilities, and social and legal expectations and consequences?
To know the rule is a prerequisite to obeying rule. But nobody is willing to teach law and the consequences of disorder. Nobody cares to establish the bounds. All Teacher World wants is rules and regulations backed by law enforcement. All Teacher World wants is peace and social control in order to make a salary. But nobody wants to teach Law & Order, Etiquettes & Ethics, as we black children learned under the old segregated school system.
This is why we want our children back, especially if they are a disciplinary problem in our public school system. We have a right to ask for them back if the school system does not offer them a viable future. The buck stops here, because here opens the door to the criminal justice system and the prison-industrial complex.
Case in Point: Prison Industry
A small Texas prison town becomes the center of a world-wide scandal when an investigation revealed that prison officials were sexually abusing children in the custody of their care. The corruption and abuse of powers and sexual enslavement was so widespread Governor Rick Perry had to literally Fire Everybody, from the top of the Texas Youth Commission’s board of directors, executive officers, and much of the rank and file, down the line.
The Legislators also mandate the release of 473 youthful inmates who had been held beyond their punishment sentence- some as sex slaves for a warden and his deputy.
When the Texas Legislature passed the TYC reform package, it called for mass releases from incarceration and closing down some of the juvenile facilities.
The small Texas prison town cried to their legislators about the number of jobs that would be lost. Local merchants would lose the inflow of commercial traffic from urban visitors. The local economy would lose its pro rata share of tax dollars based on population census. Plain and simply, the local citizens in the small prison town needed the prison in order for it to survive. But in order to keep the prison, they need “offenders” to populate them. [Some parts of rural Texas need prisoners like plantations need slaves.]
Architects, engineers, and constructors who design and build prisons oppose any leniency for juvenile offenders. Their desire seems to be in keeping the prison population growing, and to keep building more lucrative prisons.
The district attorneys and their association even challenged some of the 473 inmates to be released. And, some tries to create mass hysteria by prophecying an increase in crime. At issue is Self-Justification.
For Example:
The case of ShaQuanda Cotton, a 14-year old freshman, shoves a teacher’s aide while trying to get inside the school building to the nurse’s office “before time”. [No child should be denied immediate access to medical attention.]
This child is charged by the District Attorney with “assault upon a public servant”. She was sentence to an indefinite term, up to her 21st birthday. This is a typical sentence in the State of Texas for black juvenile offenders, while some sentences are commuted to their 18th birthday. This is why there are a disproportionate number of black juveniles inside the Texas prison system.
The DA made a conscientious choice to bring about the charge of “assault”. The court accepted the charge, prima facie. [A rational judge would have looked at juvenile behavior and reasoned that this was a child, who thought as a child and understood as a child- he would have adjudicated it as “childish”.]
Here is the use of a scatter gun to kill a gnat. The Appeals Court upheld the conviction of ShaQuanda Cotton for “assault”. [This legitimizes injustice by discretion of the court.]
If the ShaQuanda Cotton case had occurred under the ole segregated system, childish behavior was dealt with, corporally. And, then the teacher’s aide would have been admonished not to deny a child access to medical care, under any circumstances.
We Want Our Children Back- The Consequence for Non-Compliance
We have made our proposition clear. The first time a child is expelled from class, sent to the principal’s office, and not allowed back in class, we want that student back.
If the principal attempts to override our demand, we will hold him or her for any subsequent disciplinary reports against that child. And, it the pattern continues, we will hold the superintendent responsible.
Every case denied is a case more to the composition of a class, and another case for the Civil Rights Division of the Education Department to consider.
Fighting Blog Apartheid
RE: Blog Apartheid:
Eddie, this letter is about the ongoing fight between Black and white progressive bloggers over the issue of blog apartheid at whitosphere blogs.
I love to write and I love to share my thoughts with others. But, I'm sick and tired of the constant grumblings about banning me at the whitosphere MyLeftWing blog, for criticizing the blog apartheid practiced at DailyKos. For example, in response to my essay of yesterday, Gottlieb said in comments:
"My interpretation of MSOC's remarks was she has tried to gently guide the 'editorial' direction of this board, and part of that direction is not to become known as a 'kos bashing' site. Simple. What's not so simple is where to draw the editorial line between 'free speech' and 'bashing'. Assuming, the journalism is sound.If the journalism isn't sound and you're making wild accusations on the slimmest of evidence, then you should be banned forthwith."
Out of sheer self-defense, we Blacks have learned over the years to know just what whites say and how they behave when a lynch mob is forming.
Let's see: If I "cross the line" into "bashing" America's foremost blog apartheid site, which was "bashed" in the Washington Post this week about this very issue, then I should be banned?!
That's like saying, "It's alright to blog about Apartheid, but you MAY NOT bash P.W. Botha." And don't be a Nelson Mandela "shill" either! I's like saying, "Write about the Klan, but don't 'bash' the Klan!"
This is what happens to white people's minds under the influence of color-aroused emotions, ideation and behavior.
And if we're not careful, they make US responsible for making sense out of all of this crap.
Blacks subjected to these mental games are at risk for color- aroused emotional, ideational and behavioral disorder, unless we stick together and refuse to play along.
There are constant suggestions that "if this and that were to happen" then that would constitute a valid reason to ban Francis L. Holland, and this discussion is, in and of itself, a kind of constant oppression that warns ALL Black that we MUST NOT aggressively argue for our own liberation in the context of the whitosphere. At whitosphere blogs, we're "always outnumbered and always out-gunned."
But, maybe if we stick up for each other through the AfroSpear Black bloggers movement when this grumbling begins, then we can impress upon white bloggers that, in addition to the handful of whites demanding Black bloggers' expulsion and our heads on a platter, there are at least five dozen Black blogger opinion-makers, with significant Democratic-leaning voter audiences, and these Black bloggers are organized, angry and tired of the bullshit!
This is the e-mail address of Maryscott O'Connor, the owner of the MyLeftWing whitosphere blog who has publicly threatened to ban me for "bashing" the blog apartheid practiced at DailyKos. Please write her a e-mail and tell her that bashing apartheid is precisely what we should be doing at progressive blogs.
myleftwing@gmail.com
"Mary,
Is it true that Francis Holland may get banned from your site MyLeftWing?
If so, why?
Regards,
Adrianne George
Black Women in Europe Blog"
Francis
Eddie, this letter is about the ongoing fight between Black and white progressive bloggers over the issue of blog apartheid at whitosphere blogs.
I love to write and I love to share my thoughts with others. But, I'm sick and tired of the constant grumblings about banning me at the whitosphere MyLeftWing blog, for criticizing the blog apartheid practiced at DailyKos. For example, in response to my essay of yesterday, Gottlieb said in comments:
"My interpretation of MSOC's remarks was she has tried to gently guide the 'editorial' direction of this board, and part of that direction is not to become known as a 'kos bashing' site. Simple. What's not so simple is where to draw the editorial line between 'free speech' and 'bashing'. Assuming, the journalism is sound.If the journalism isn't sound and you're making wild accusations on the slimmest of evidence, then you should be banned forthwith."
Out of sheer self-defense, we Blacks have learned over the years to know just what whites say and how they behave when a lynch mob is forming.
Let's see: If I "cross the line" into "bashing" America's foremost blog apartheid site, which was "bashed" in the Washington Post this week about this very issue, then I should be banned?!
That's like saying, "It's alright to blog about Apartheid, but you MAY NOT bash P.W. Botha." And don't be a Nelson Mandela "shill" either! I's like saying, "Write about the Klan, but don't 'bash' the Klan!"
This is what happens to white people's minds under the influence of color-aroused emotions, ideation and behavior.
And if we're not careful, they make US responsible for making sense out of all of this crap.
Blacks subjected to these mental games are at risk for color- aroused emotional, ideational and behavioral disorder, unless we stick together and refuse to play along.
There are constant suggestions that "if this and that were to happen" then that would constitute a valid reason to ban Francis L. Holland, and this discussion is, in and of itself, a kind of constant oppression that warns ALL Black that we MUST NOT aggressively argue for our own liberation in the context of the whitosphere. At whitosphere blogs, we're "always outnumbered and always out-gunned."
But, maybe if we stick up for each other through the AfroSpear Black bloggers movement when this grumbling begins, then we can impress upon white bloggers that, in addition to the handful of whites demanding Black bloggers' expulsion and our heads on a platter, there are at least five dozen Black blogger opinion-makers, with significant Democratic-leaning voter audiences, and these Black bloggers are organized, angry and tired of the bullshit!
This is the e-mail address of Maryscott O'Connor, the owner of the MyLeftWing whitosphere blog who has publicly threatened to ban me for "bashing" the blog apartheid practiced at DailyKos. Please write her a e-mail and tell her that bashing apartheid is precisely what we should be doing at progressive blogs.
myleftwing@gmail.com
"Mary,
Is it true that Francis Holland may get banned from your site MyLeftWing?
If so, why?
Regards,
Adrianne George
Black Women in Europe Blog"
Francis
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
The Last Straw in Public Education
Public education is like a maze through which a child must traverse in order to arrive at a viable and productive career. Nonetheless, it is a maze, with some paths that lead to nowhere.
We keep bumping into dead-end walls, trying to figure our way out.
Which is smarter, a rat going through a maze or a black boy trying to graduate from high school? Right, the rat gets the cheese. The black boy gets life in prison, albeit on an installment plan.
Education is supposed to produce intelligence. The rat traverses the maze because he “learns” from his mistakes. The black male child never learns from his mistakes. Why? Because he rarely gets the chance to make a second mistake. One strike, he’s out.
With public schools preparing to go into session, there is compelling reason to look more closely at why 50% of our black male students do not graduate and why one-of-three wound up in prison. There must be a line from Point A to Point B. But before now, that line has been obscured. We tend to reason that “it just happened overnight”.
When ever time I criticize a teacher or a school administrator, they tell me to shut my mouth and go back to my corner, as if I am a 5-year old. On the other hand, publicly the school system is clamoring for parents and volunteers to become more involved.
Involved, for what? They give us these highfalutin jingoisms and prep talks, promising this and promising that, but the minute a parent or volunteer adds their two-cent worth, they treat us like kids in a classroom.
FIRE ‘EM ALL!
Never start a sentence with the word FIRE. Teachers will fight you, tooth and nail, all the way to the courts. Then the teachers union looks at you, as if to say, “You can’t fire the union.” DAMMIT!
Fire the Superintendent, maybe the rank-and-file will get the message.
The results of our public education system are as unacceptable as teachers and educators are entrenched in conceit. If you leave it to their own self-assessment, of course they are all doing a good job- considering the challenges. And, so are the troops in Iraq. But is the job getting done? That is the question.
PROPOSAL
• Let No Child Be Left Behind because of disciplinary infractions
We detest the coercive use of Zero Tolerance policies that give teachers more incentive to discipline than to teach. This is nothing but a carte blanche means of social control and suppression. And, such policies are have been routinely used discriminatorily against African-American children, and particularly black boys.
• Give us Our Children back if the school system has trouble teaching them
Somewhere in the life of a dropout is the “One Bad Day” that starts the downward spiral to leads to failure. We want to benchmark that “one bad day”. The first time a student is sent to the principal’s office for a disciplinary infraction, we want that child back.
It makes no sense for the student to receive a second, third, or fourth infraction. That would be like tying a child to a whipping post and not allowing him a reprieve. Every child deserves an out, especially if the school system sees fit to remove him from the classroom setting. There is no education outside of the classroom, except that provided in the home or a quasi-educational institution in the community.
Herein is the solution. We can teach our kids better by ourselves. The public school system is only one of many choices, probably more popular to parents because of its convenience as a “babysitter”. If parents were given a better choice, they would use it.
This does not advocate abolishing public education in lieu of charter schools or a voucher system. But, if education money allocated to each student followed that student to an alternative education program, we (in the community) could do much better than a 50% dropout rate and 1 of every 3 black boys going to jail and prison.
We have our own methodologies and pedagogy. The public school system is not the only game in town.
THE BABY MOSES PROJECT
The Baby Moses Project began with the biblical character Moses as a child. The important lesson learned from this character was how the government attempted to destroy all male children of slaves.
This does not suggest genocide or conspiracy to destroy all black male children. It just happens that way. The statistics are impersonal and impartial.
But Moses parents put him into an ark (of safety) and set him upon the waters of the Nile. Why didn’t all the other parents do the same? They must have been convinced that the government had a right to kill their children, just as some people believe the authorities in Jena, Louisiana have the right to prosecute six high school black boys for retaliating against white students who started a racial fracas. The Law is the law, they say. But the administration of justice is not fair.
The same with the public school systems that hold our children hostage and then hold them accountable for their resistance, with threat of punishment and incarceration, compulsive education is the law. But our children do not have to stay in the system, if teachers and administrators put them out of the classroom. This is not a yo-yo situation, where the education authorities throw them out, then pull them back in, only to throw them out again.
LET OUR CHILDREN GO
We are not asking, but demanding: For every child sent out of class to the principal’s office for disciplinary reason, we want that child OUT. We have an educational institution for them- and one that works.
Will they give us our children back?
As long as the student remains on the rolls of public schools, the money allocated to each student goes into the system. There is no financial incentive to place these at-risk students in the care of those who best understand their learning style and are capable of more effectively teaching them. The big scare tactic is this: Taking students out of public schools will destroy the system.
To this, I say FIRE ‘EM ALL and let the bricks fall where they may- ANYTHING, but another dime down the drain.
We keep bumping into dead-end walls, trying to figure our way out.
Which is smarter, a rat going through a maze or a black boy trying to graduate from high school? Right, the rat gets the cheese. The black boy gets life in prison, albeit on an installment plan.
Education is supposed to produce intelligence. The rat traverses the maze because he “learns” from his mistakes. The black male child never learns from his mistakes. Why? Because he rarely gets the chance to make a second mistake. One strike, he’s out.
With public schools preparing to go into session, there is compelling reason to look more closely at why 50% of our black male students do not graduate and why one-of-three wound up in prison. There must be a line from Point A to Point B. But before now, that line has been obscured. We tend to reason that “it just happened overnight”.
When ever time I criticize a teacher or a school administrator, they tell me to shut my mouth and go back to my corner, as if I am a 5-year old. On the other hand, publicly the school system is clamoring for parents and volunteers to become more involved.
Involved, for what? They give us these highfalutin jingoisms and prep talks, promising this and promising that, but the minute a parent or volunteer adds their two-cent worth, they treat us like kids in a classroom.
FIRE ‘EM ALL!
Never start a sentence with the word FIRE. Teachers will fight you, tooth and nail, all the way to the courts. Then the teachers union looks at you, as if to say, “You can’t fire the union.” DAMMIT!
Fire the Superintendent, maybe the rank-and-file will get the message.
The results of our public education system are as unacceptable as teachers and educators are entrenched in conceit. If you leave it to their own self-assessment, of course they are all doing a good job- considering the challenges. And, so are the troops in Iraq. But is the job getting done? That is the question.
PROPOSAL
• Let No Child Be Left Behind because of disciplinary infractions
We detest the coercive use of Zero Tolerance policies that give teachers more incentive to discipline than to teach. This is nothing but a carte blanche means of social control and suppression. And, such policies are have been routinely used discriminatorily against African-American children, and particularly black boys.
• Give us Our Children back if the school system has trouble teaching them
Somewhere in the life of a dropout is the “One Bad Day” that starts the downward spiral to leads to failure. We want to benchmark that “one bad day”. The first time a student is sent to the principal’s office for a disciplinary infraction, we want that child back.
It makes no sense for the student to receive a second, third, or fourth infraction. That would be like tying a child to a whipping post and not allowing him a reprieve. Every child deserves an out, especially if the school system sees fit to remove him from the classroom setting. There is no education outside of the classroom, except that provided in the home or a quasi-educational institution in the community.
Herein is the solution. We can teach our kids better by ourselves. The public school system is only one of many choices, probably more popular to parents because of its convenience as a “babysitter”. If parents were given a better choice, they would use it.
This does not advocate abolishing public education in lieu of charter schools or a voucher system. But, if education money allocated to each student followed that student to an alternative education program, we (in the community) could do much better than a 50% dropout rate and 1 of every 3 black boys going to jail and prison.
We have our own methodologies and pedagogy. The public school system is not the only game in town.
THE BABY MOSES PROJECT
The Baby Moses Project began with the biblical character Moses as a child. The important lesson learned from this character was how the government attempted to destroy all male children of slaves.
This does not suggest genocide or conspiracy to destroy all black male children. It just happens that way. The statistics are impersonal and impartial.
But Moses parents put him into an ark (of safety) and set him upon the waters of the Nile. Why didn’t all the other parents do the same? They must have been convinced that the government had a right to kill their children, just as some people believe the authorities in Jena, Louisiana have the right to prosecute six high school black boys for retaliating against white students who started a racial fracas. The Law is the law, they say. But the administration of justice is not fair.
The same with the public school systems that hold our children hostage and then hold them accountable for their resistance, with threat of punishment and incarceration, compulsive education is the law. But our children do not have to stay in the system, if teachers and administrators put them out of the classroom. This is not a yo-yo situation, where the education authorities throw them out, then pull them back in, only to throw them out again.
LET OUR CHILDREN GO
We are not asking, but demanding: For every child sent out of class to the principal’s office for disciplinary reason, we want that child OUT. We have an educational institution for them- and one that works.
Will they give us our children back?
As long as the student remains on the rolls of public schools, the money allocated to each student goes into the system. There is no financial incentive to place these at-risk students in the care of those who best understand their learning style and are capable of more effectively teaching them. The big scare tactic is this: Taking students out of public schools will destroy the system.
To this, I say FIRE ‘EM ALL and let the bricks fall where they may- ANYTHING, but another dime down the drain.
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Solving the Plight of Our Homeless Children
The City of Fort Worth is blessed with windfall gas revenues. Need we ask what to do with it?
When I received a copy of the letter below from a local Child Protective Services agent, it gnawed at me like a toothache. We have far too many orphans stranded inside CPS and, worse, even more children need child protective services.
After you read this letter, please consider the proposed solution I have to offer, by way of advice to the Fort Worth City Council. It seems that this solution could solve a whole host of other social ills related to poverty.
THE LETTER
Good afternoon everyone.
Finding placement for children who have been removed from their home due to abuse and/or neglect has become quite a challenge for our agency. You may have heard that we have children sleeping in offices due to a delay or inability in locating placement for them. This can be very uncomfortable the children we serve. While we work very diligently to locate placement all children must be supervised and have their immediate needs met at all times.
One of our most critical situations involves seven children who are staying at the Resource Connection Center in Fort Worth while we continue to search for placement for them. We have staff working around the clock each day to ensure the safety and well-being of these children. They have purchased meals for these children using their personal funds, but this is becoming very difficult to continue.
We are seeking the help of the community to provide meals for these seven children and would greatly appreciate your help with getting the word out to area faith based groups, civic groups, and other stakeholders who may be willing to assist us by providing food and beverages for these children.
Please ask those interested in helping to contact me via e-mail or at the phone number below. Thank you so much for your support and assisting us during this very difficult time.
Stacey Jourdain
Resource/External Relations Specialist
DFPS - Child Protective Services, Region 03
Office: 817.792.5274
stacey.jourdain@dfps.state.tx.us
A PROPOSED SOLUTION
It is a fact: We have children with nowhere to live. Therefore, we should build more orphan homes or prep schools for orphans, and staff it with CPS workers. Already, the crisis exceeds our immediate capabilities.
The 79th Texas State Legislature provided $34.5 million for the continuation of Child Protective Services (CPS) reform. This, along with $65.4 million in federal TANF funds, is designed to “improve services for children and families” and “help keep families together, reduce the length of time children remain in foster care, and improve the quality and accountability of foster care.”
Thanks to Representative Marc Veasey and other Texas legislators, these efforts directly address to problem, but woefully fall short of what is needed.
Because it has been our priority to keep families together (wherever possible), we tend to lose sight that these children need a safe, secure, and nurturing home environment. More children should be in CPS care, not as orphans in the traditional sense, but more like refugee children needing to escape a home environment riddled with financial woes, violence, drugs, and alcoholism.
Heretofore, we have addressed the problem of children in poverty by condemning the parent. But declaring the situation the results of “poor parenting” skills and leaving the issue at that, does nothing for the at-risk child. The fact is: Some parents are too mentally incapable or immature to properly rear children, and some children are simply unwanted.
Child Protective Services (CPS) around the United States are overwhelmed by a continual growth in their caseloads. And, if many CPS workers had their way, they would remove even more children from poor home environments.
Because of our inability to catch these children before they fall through the cracks, we find ourselves with collateral problematic issues, such as anti-social behavior, juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, rise in school dropout rates, engagement in criminal activities, and ultimately incarceration. And here, where the buck stops, the backend cost far exceeds the cost of a front-end fix.
It is a fact that parents with drug and alcohol problems prefer putting their children into another environment- away from the vices and violence- without having to relinquish custody. Crack addicted parents cannot and will not feed their children, even if they had the means. Yet it is antagonizing for them to watch their children starve day-in and day-out. Alcoholic parents, on the other hand, have no control over their emotions and are subject to violent outbursts against the helpless. As a result, we are finding babies placed in dumpsters, abandoned by the side of the road, hanged by a distraught mother, drowned in the bathtub, burned with cigarettes, beaten until their tiny bodies are broken, or their heads smashed against walls. And, those that survive live in squalor, half-naked and starved. The testimonies of CPS workers are full of horrors- as I can bear witness in true life. And, there are children trying to balance their sanity against the madness that surrounds them.
An Orphanage or A Prep School
It may seem depressing to realize that we will have the poor with us always. But it is encouraging to know that whenever we have a will, we can do them good. We can relieve overburden parents with substance abuse problems by placing their children in the same home-type environment as other orphans, without the parent losing custody. This might give the parent the relief and incentive to deal with their own addiction.
Too often Food Stamps and TANF to welfare recipients are diverted to support a parent’s addictions. The children are left with nothing. And, most of the time, instead of CPS stepping in, we find the poor trying to help the poor- many times it is grandparents or relatives trying to finishing the job of raising a child.
This does not say that increasing the funding of CPS is like pour water through a sieve, but that funds could be better directed and applied, if we focus on providing children with a safe haven in which to live.
Why this Solution works for Fort Worth
The City of Fort Worth has a long and rich history in orphan care, dating back to the early 1900s and through the Depression Era. Now the City finds itself blessed with God-given gas deposits and windfall revenues. With this new found wealth, we all agreed that one of the principal uses of the windfall was to relieve poverty.
There is no better place where the poorest of the poor can be more impacted than helping “the least of these”- those who cannot help themselves- our orphan children.
When I received a copy of the letter below from a local Child Protective Services agent, it gnawed at me like a toothache. We have far too many orphans stranded inside CPS and, worse, even more children need child protective services.
After you read this letter, please consider the proposed solution I have to offer, by way of advice to the Fort Worth City Council. It seems that this solution could solve a whole host of other social ills related to poverty.
THE LETTER
Good afternoon everyone.
Finding placement for children who have been removed from their home due to abuse and/or neglect has become quite a challenge for our agency. You may have heard that we have children sleeping in offices due to a delay or inability in locating placement for them. This can be very uncomfortable the children we serve. While we work very diligently to locate placement all children must be supervised and have their immediate needs met at all times.
One of our most critical situations involves seven children who are staying at the Resource Connection Center in Fort Worth while we continue to search for placement for them. We have staff working around the clock each day to ensure the safety and well-being of these children. They have purchased meals for these children using their personal funds, but this is becoming very difficult to continue.
We are seeking the help of the community to provide meals for these seven children and would greatly appreciate your help with getting the word out to area faith based groups, civic groups, and other stakeholders who may be willing to assist us by providing food and beverages for these children.
Please ask those interested in helping to contact me via e-mail or at the phone number below. Thank you so much for your support and assisting us during this very difficult time.
Stacey Jourdain
Resource/External Relations Specialist
DFPS - Child Protective Services, Region 03
Office: 817.792.5274
stacey.jourdain@dfps.state.tx.us
A PROPOSED SOLUTION
It is a fact: We have children with nowhere to live. Therefore, we should build more orphan homes or prep schools for orphans, and staff it with CPS workers. Already, the crisis exceeds our immediate capabilities.
The 79th Texas State Legislature provided $34.5 million for the continuation of Child Protective Services (CPS) reform. This, along with $65.4 million in federal TANF funds, is designed to “improve services for children and families” and “help keep families together, reduce the length of time children remain in foster care, and improve the quality and accountability of foster care.”
Thanks to Representative Marc Veasey and other Texas legislators, these efforts directly address to problem, but woefully fall short of what is needed.
Because it has been our priority to keep families together (wherever possible), we tend to lose sight that these children need a safe, secure, and nurturing home environment. More children should be in CPS care, not as orphans in the traditional sense, but more like refugee children needing to escape a home environment riddled with financial woes, violence, drugs, and alcoholism.
Heretofore, we have addressed the problem of children in poverty by condemning the parent. But declaring the situation the results of “poor parenting” skills and leaving the issue at that, does nothing for the at-risk child. The fact is: Some parents are too mentally incapable or immature to properly rear children, and some children are simply unwanted.
Child Protective Services (CPS) around the United States are overwhelmed by a continual growth in their caseloads. And, if many CPS workers had their way, they would remove even more children from poor home environments.
Because of our inability to catch these children before they fall through the cracks, we find ourselves with collateral problematic issues, such as anti-social behavior, juvenile delinquency, teen pregnancy, rise in school dropout rates, engagement in criminal activities, and ultimately incarceration. And here, where the buck stops, the backend cost far exceeds the cost of a front-end fix.
It is a fact that parents with drug and alcohol problems prefer putting their children into another environment- away from the vices and violence- without having to relinquish custody. Crack addicted parents cannot and will not feed their children, even if they had the means. Yet it is antagonizing for them to watch their children starve day-in and day-out. Alcoholic parents, on the other hand, have no control over their emotions and are subject to violent outbursts against the helpless. As a result, we are finding babies placed in dumpsters, abandoned by the side of the road, hanged by a distraught mother, drowned in the bathtub, burned with cigarettes, beaten until their tiny bodies are broken, or their heads smashed against walls. And, those that survive live in squalor, half-naked and starved. The testimonies of CPS workers are full of horrors- as I can bear witness in true life. And, there are children trying to balance their sanity against the madness that surrounds them.
An Orphanage or A Prep School
It may seem depressing to realize that we will have the poor with us always. But it is encouraging to know that whenever we have a will, we can do them good. We can relieve overburden parents with substance abuse problems by placing their children in the same home-type environment as other orphans, without the parent losing custody. This might give the parent the relief and incentive to deal with their own addiction.
Too often Food Stamps and TANF to welfare recipients are diverted to support a parent’s addictions. The children are left with nothing. And, most of the time, instead of CPS stepping in, we find the poor trying to help the poor- many times it is grandparents or relatives trying to finishing the job of raising a child.
This does not say that increasing the funding of CPS is like pour water through a sieve, but that funds could be better directed and applied, if we focus on providing children with a safe haven in which to live.
Why this Solution works for Fort Worth
The City of Fort Worth has a long and rich history in orphan care, dating back to the early 1900s and through the Depression Era. Now the City finds itself blessed with God-given gas deposits and windfall revenues. With this new found wealth, we all agreed that one of the principal uses of the windfall was to relieve poverty.
There is no better place where the poorest of the poor can be more impacted than helping “the least of these”- those who cannot help themselves- our orphan children.
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Scheduled Execution: Kenneth Foster, Jr.
Since the time Judge Roy Bean, the Only Law West of the Pecos, gained the reputation as the hanging judge, Texas has led the world in capital punishment executions. Will Texans ever become civilized?
Texas has become the "capital" in "capital punishment," and it is time for us to put an end to the madness- so writes Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders (“An appointment with death despite the evidence”, July 29, 2007). “Another trip to Death Row… Another man scheduled to die on the gurney in Texas' infamous killing chamber… Another human being who does not deserve this tragic fate… And another case that speaks to the absurdity of how capital punishment is applied in general throughout this country, but particularly in the Lone Star State.”
Texas has executed 398 people since capital punishment was reinstated in 1974.
The straw that broke Sander’s back? The case of Kenneth Foster, Jr., scheduled to die on August 30 month for a 1996 murder in San Antonio, “is further proof of how cruel, capricious, unjust and utterly insane our death penalty laws have become,” the columnist writes.
THE CASE
On Aug. 14, 1996, Foster -- who was 19 at the time -- was driving around with two guys he recently had met, Dewayne Dillard and Julius Steen. They were in a car that had been rented by Foster's grandfather, the man who basically had raised him since he was in the fourth grade because "my mother and father ran the streets," he said.
According to Steen's testimony, they were "just goofing off, more or less, and smoking some weed" when they decided to pick up a fourth person, Mauriceo Brown, who rode with them into the night.
Testimony showed that at some point, Brown announced that because they had a gun, they ought to "jack" someone.
With Foster as the driver, Steen and Brown first got out of the car and robbed a Hispanic woman at gunpoint and later robbed a man and two women in a parking lot.
On their way home, they came off the freeway and ended up in a residential neighborhood and saw, according to court documents, "a scantily-clad woman, Mary Patrick, who approached them and demanded to know why they were following her."
As it turned out, Patrick had been following her friend Michael LaHood to his home, and the car driven by Foster was right behind their two cars until they came to a dead end and turned around.
After seeing Patrick standing at the edge of the driveway, they assumed there was a party going on. They stopped and chatted with her for a few seconds, when she started cursing Steen and accusing the group of following her.
Foster put his foot on the gas and prepared to leave, he said, knowing he needed to get the car back to his grandfather. But Brown jumped out of the car, he said, went up the steep driveway and started talking to LaHood, who was more than 80 feet away from the car.
He said he heard a "pop," and when Brown got back to the car, "We're asking -- everybody's asking -- what went down? What happened?"
Brown had shot LaHood.
Shortly afterward, the four men would be arrested and later charged with capital murder.
Foster was convicted along with Brown under the Texas "law of parties," even though he never participated in, intended for or anticipated a murder.
"[Foster] was a victim of a statute that was never intended by its authors to be used this way," said Austin attorney Keith S. Hampton, who recently filed a second application for a writ of habeas corpus with the district court in San Antonio and an application for commutation of sentence with the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Federal District Judge Royal Furgeson of San Antonio overturned Foster's death sentence in 2005, saying:
"There was no evidence before Foster's sentencing jury which would have supported a finding that Foster either actually killed LaHood or that Foster intended to kill LaHood or another person. Therein lays the fundamental constitutional defect in Foster's sentence .... Therefore, Foster's death sentence is not supported by the necessary factual finding mandated [by the U.S. Supreme Court] and, for that reason, cannot withstand Eighth Amendment scrutiny."
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision. Last spring, the U.S. Supreme Court, which was considering three other Texas death penalty cases at the time, did not take Foster's appeal.
"I can't surrender my humanity," Foster said. "Yeah, I made a mistake; let me correct it. I shouldn't have to abandon my humanity, my dignity." (“I shouldn’t have to abandon my humanity, my dignity”, Star-Telegram, August 1, 2007)
Sanders has issued to call out to the world to put an end to the madness:
JOIN THE FIGHT
Contact the governor's office or the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to object to the execution of Kenneth Foster, Jr.
Gov. Rick Perry
Mail: State Capitol, P.O. Box 12428, Austin, TX 78711-2428
Telephone: 512-463-2000
Fax: 512-463-1849
E-mail: Use the form at www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Mail: P.O. Box 13401, Capitol Station, Austin, TX 78711
Texas has become the "capital" in "capital punishment," and it is time for us to put an end to the madness- so writes Star-Telegram columnist Bob Ray Sanders (“An appointment with death despite the evidence”, July 29, 2007). “Another trip to Death Row… Another man scheduled to die on the gurney in Texas' infamous killing chamber… Another human being who does not deserve this tragic fate… And another case that speaks to the absurdity of how capital punishment is applied in general throughout this country, but particularly in the Lone Star State.”
Texas has executed 398 people since capital punishment was reinstated in 1974.
The straw that broke Sander’s back? The case of Kenneth Foster, Jr., scheduled to die on August 30 month for a 1996 murder in San Antonio, “is further proof of how cruel, capricious, unjust and utterly insane our death penalty laws have become,” the columnist writes.
THE CASE
On Aug. 14, 1996, Foster -- who was 19 at the time -- was driving around with two guys he recently had met, Dewayne Dillard and Julius Steen. They were in a car that had been rented by Foster's grandfather, the man who basically had raised him since he was in the fourth grade because "my mother and father ran the streets," he said.
According to Steen's testimony, they were "just goofing off, more or less, and smoking some weed" when they decided to pick up a fourth person, Mauriceo Brown, who rode with them into the night.
Testimony showed that at some point, Brown announced that because they had a gun, they ought to "jack" someone.
With Foster as the driver, Steen and Brown first got out of the car and robbed a Hispanic woman at gunpoint and later robbed a man and two women in a parking lot.
On their way home, they came off the freeway and ended up in a residential neighborhood and saw, according to court documents, "a scantily-clad woman, Mary Patrick, who approached them and demanded to know why they were following her."
As it turned out, Patrick had been following her friend Michael LaHood to his home, and the car driven by Foster was right behind their two cars until they came to a dead end and turned around.
After seeing Patrick standing at the edge of the driveway, they assumed there was a party going on. They stopped and chatted with her for a few seconds, when she started cursing Steen and accusing the group of following her.
Foster put his foot on the gas and prepared to leave, he said, knowing he needed to get the car back to his grandfather. But Brown jumped out of the car, he said, went up the steep driveway and started talking to LaHood, who was more than 80 feet away from the car.
He said he heard a "pop," and when Brown got back to the car, "We're asking -- everybody's asking -- what went down? What happened?"
Brown had shot LaHood.
Shortly afterward, the four men would be arrested and later charged with capital murder.
Foster was convicted along with Brown under the Texas "law of parties," even though he never participated in, intended for or anticipated a murder.
"[Foster] was a victim of a statute that was never intended by its authors to be used this way," said Austin attorney Keith S. Hampton, who recently filed a second application for a writ of habeas corpus with the district court in San Antonio and an application for commutation of sentence with the Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Federal District Judge Royal Furgeson of San Antonio overturned Foster's death sentence in 2005, saying:
"There was no evidence before Foster's sentencing jury which would have supported a finding that Foster either actually killed LaHood or that Foster intended to kill LaHood or another person. Therein lays the fundamental constitutional defect in Foster's sentence .... Therefore, Foster's death sentence is not supported by the necessary factual finding mandated [by the U.S. Supreme Court] and, for that reason, cannot withstand Eighth Amendment scrutiny."
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision. Last spring, the U.S. Supreme Court, which was considering three other Texas death penalty cases at the time, did not take Foster's appeal.
"I can't surrender my humanity," Foster said. "Yeah, I made a mistake; let me correct it. I shouldn't have to abandon my humanity, my dignity." (“I shouldn’t have to abandon my humanity, my dignity”, Star-Telegram, August 1, 2007)
Sanders has issued to call out to the world to put an end to the madness:
JOIN THE FIGHT
Contact the governor's office or the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to object to the execution of Kenneth Foster, Jr.
Gov. Rick Perry
Mail: State Capitol, P.O. Box 12428, Austin, TX 78711-2428
Telephone: 512-463-2000
Fax: 512-463-1849
E-mail: Use the form at www.governor.state.tx.us/contact
Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles
Mail: P.O. Box 13401, Capitol Station, Austin, TX 78711
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