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2024-03-29T14:13:51Z
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The Red Tide: A Brief History of early 1970's Youth Radical Movement in LA
https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/the-red-tide-a-brief-history-of-early-1970-s-youth-radical-moveme
2022-06-21T01:19:48.000Z
2022-06-21T01:19:48.000Z
TheBlackList-Publisher
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<div><p>(JAI: Sent on by longtime comrade, Michael Letwin. The history of the organization below gives one a vast sweeping sketch of the revolutionary movements of the time period, especially so that of LA. A video detailing the Red Tide's history can be viewed <a href="https://activistvideoarchive.org/">here</a>.)</p>
<h1>The Red Tide: A Brief History</h1>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}10584502897,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10584502897,RESIZE_584x{{/staticFileLink}}" width="500" alt="10584502897?profile=RESIZE_584x" /></a></p>
<p>The Red Tide began as a radical underground newspaper collective at University High School (“Uni”) in predominantly white middle-class West Los Angeles in 1971. It ended a decade later as the predominantly Black, Detroit-based youth organization of the International Socialists. In total, forty-one editions of the newspaper were published.</p>
<p>BACKGROUND</p>
<p>Many of the founding Red Tiders had become activists in elementary and junior high during the 1960s. Raised at and around UCLA, and under the combined influence of the Old Left (some were red diaper babies), New Left, and Black freedom movements, they had marched for civil rights and against the Vietnam war; campaigned for the Peace and Freedom Party, Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential campaign, Tom Bradley’s 1969 mayoral campaign, and the 18-year-old vote; fought for student rights; and frequented Papa Bach Bookstore and the Free Press Bookstore/Westwood Kazoo, where they devoured radical books, posters, the Black Panther newspaper, and the counterculture press.</p>
<p>By fall 1969, like the broader movement of which they were part, they had become increasingly radicalized by the cumulative impact of anti-colonial revolutions from Vietnam, to southern Africa, to Palestine; murder of Che Guevara; military coup in Greece; Tet Offensive; 1965 Watts Rebellion, assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Black Power salutes and student massacre during the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City; uprisings in France and Czechoslovakia; murders of Lil’ Bobby Hutton, John Huggins, Bunchy Carter, Fred Hampton, and other Black Panthers; My Lai massacre; People’s Park in Berkeley; and Ronald Reagan’s witch-hunt against Angela Davis.</p>
<p>In 1969-1970 – the apex of 1960’s mass movements — they picketed supermarkets for the farm workers’ grape boycott; mobilized for antiwar moratoriums; championed Huey Newton, the Chicago 8 and other political prisoners; joined the first Earth Day; sat-in to support the L.A. teachers’ strike; and were swept up in massive protests by students, G.I.s, and others that followed the invasion of Cambodia and massacres at Kent and Jackson State universities. They knew their way around the adult Left, from the Panthers, SDS and Yippies, to the Communist and Socialist Workers parties, and the esoteric News and Letters.</p>
<p>In 1970-1971, they bonded with college-age radicals of the White Panther-oriented Westwood Liberation Front, the newly-established Midnight Special Bookstore in Venice, and the L.A. chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.</p>
<p>BIRTH: 1971-1972</p>
<p>In late summer 1971, these Uni High activists formed the Red Tide collective (or “staff”), prepared the first issue at the local National Lawyers Guild office, and then printed 1000 copies at the Peace Press in late October. On November 1, 1971, the first edition of the Red Tide newspaper appeared. Students snapped up the entire press run, while panicked school administrators suspended or expelled several staffers — some of whom then spread the Red Tide to neighboring Hamilton High (“Hami”) and other area schools.</p>
<p>The Red Tide visibly reemerged on March 14, 1972, when hundreds of students occupied Uni’s administration building to protest suspension of staffers distributing the paper’s second issue. The occupation was joined by radical Black students, bused from South Central Los Angeles as part of a limited desegregation program.</p>
<p>During its first school year, the Red Tide newspaper covered a wide range of topics; initiated antiwar walkouts at Westside schools; joined protests at Nixon’s downtown reelection headquarters; demanded removal of racist Native American school mascots; published an explicit birth control series, organized feminist consciousness-raising groups and a citywide high school women’s liberation conference; and sponsored Marxist study groups.</p>
<p>In response, the “Citizens Legal Defense Alliance” and right-wing TV-personality George Putnam branded the Red Tide as an adult-run red menace.</p>
<p>YEARS TWO AND THREE: 1972-1974</p>
<p>In September 1972, the Red Tide filed the first of a series of lawsuits in which the California Supreme Court ultimately upheld students’ free speech rights.</p>
<p>During 1972-1973, the Red Tide published a Black History series; hosted on-campus antiwar speeches at by Vietnam Veterans Against the War leader Ron Kovic and actor-activist Jane Fonda; and joined protests against Nixon at the Century Plaza Hotel. In March 1973, the FBI arrested Red Tide members of an American Indian Movement caravan bringing relief supplies to the Independent Oglala Nation occupation at Wounded Knee, South Dakota.</p>
<p>In 1973-1974, it joined protests against the CIA coup in Chile, LAPD massacre of the Symbionese Liberation Army, and the visit by the Shah of Iran; published a groundbreaking expose of Israeli ethnic cleansing against Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba (“Catastrophe”); and supported the Farah Pants and Sloan Rubber strikes. In order to build a more multiracial membership, Black Red Tide members began to organize at Locke High School in Watts, and the paper’s distribution was expanded to other schools across the city.</p>
<p>Together with close Red Tide allies in the predominantly-Black, South Central-based Socialist Collective, a number of Red Tide members gravitated toward the International Socialists (IS). Founded as a national organization in 1969, and with roots in Trotskyism, the “Third Camp” IS emphasized both anti-capitalism and anti-Stalinism; workers’ democracy; and rank-and-file worker revolt in basic industry, as exemplified by the Dodge Revolutionary Union Movement and League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit, where the IS established its national headquarters across from Henry Ford’s first assembly plant.</p>
<p>In Los Angeles, the Red Tide worked with the IS to support rank-and-file caucuses in various unions; formation of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW); the UFW boycott of non-union lettuce and Gallo wine; defense of the Attica Brothers; and solidarity with the Portuguese Revolution of 1974, and South African anti-apartheid movement.</p>
<p>REINVENTION: 1974-1975</p>
<p>In fall 1974, the Red Tide began its third year with protests against undercover police in the L.A. schools. Through the IS, it also built close ties with the high school-based Contra Costa Socialist Coalition (CCSC) in the Bay Area city of Concord.</p>
<p>In December, the two groups met at UCLA to refound the Red Tide an IS youth group. During the next year, this expanded Red Tide sought to build multiracial branches in Los Angeles and Oakland, while working with the IS to expand nationally.</p>
<p>DETROIT AND BEYOND: 1975-1981</p>
<p>In fall 1975, a small cadre of Red Tiders from the two California branches established their new headquarters in Detroit, where they soon conducted joint campaigns with the IS to defend school busing against racist violence. By distributing the newspaper and campaigning against racial conflict at schools throughout the city, they began to recruit both local Black and white members, some with their own history of political activism.</p>
<p>In spring 1976, membership mushroomed through the Red Tide’s campaign to free Gary Tyler, a Black teenager in Louisiana who, at age 14, had been wrongly convicted — and sentenced to death — for killing a white student during a racist mob attack on school busing. Gaining rapid momentum, the Red Tide worked with Rosa Parks and other civil rights leaders to prevent Gary’s execution; his sentence was commuted to life, and he was released only in April 2016, after forty-one years at Louisiana’s notorious Angola penitentiary.</p>
<p>Red Tide members also joined such IS trade union campaigns as the Coalition for a Good Contract (in the UAW); Teamsters for a Decent Contract (later Teamsters for a Democratic Union); and UPSurge, the Teamster rank-and-file group at UPS. In response to the June 1976 massacre of students in Soweto, South Africa, the Red Tide and IS escalated their anti-apartheid solidarity work.</p>
<p>Through this process, the Red Tide soon became a predominantly Black organization, with new branches in Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere.</p>
<p>By late 1976, the IS began to implode. In March 1977, several Red Tiders left with the breakaway International Socialist Organization (ISO). The Red Tide itself remained with the IS and continued to campaign against police abuse, the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, and apartheid South Africa. In the early 1980s, both the IS and Red Tide disbanded.</p>
<p>The Red Tide newspaper and related materials are <a href="https://theredtide.wordpress.com/">available online on this website</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size:18pt;"><em><strong>SOURCE:</strong></em></span></p>
<p><em><a href="" target="_blank">From: Yusuf Nuruddin</a> </em></p>
<p><em> <a href="http://gmail.com" target="_blank">From: John A Imani</a></em></p>
<p><em><strong>pOSTED BY:</strong></em><br /><em>Smaitawi@groups.io</em></p>
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Carl Dix Calls for Support of Hunger Strikers at Rikers Island
https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/carl-dix-calls-for-support-of-hunger-strikers-at-rikers-island
2022-01-17T19:49:06.000Z
2022-01-17T19:49:06.000Z
Steve Yip
https://www.theblacklist.net/members/SteveYip
<div><h1><strong>Carl Dix Calls for Support of Hunger Strikers at Rikers Island</strong></h1><p><strong>January 14, 2022</strong></p><p><strong>200 people incarcerated</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> in the Robert N. Davoren Complex (RNDC) at Rikers Island have been on a hunger strike since Saturday, January 8. They are protesting hellish and inhumane conditions: freezing temperatures inside the facility, mail being withheld, no visits from family members, cancellation of hearings in their cases, being denied video conferences with attorneys. The RNDC complex contains unhygienic metallic dormitories with beds crammed close to each other, COVID spreading, and fights and violence escalating.</span></p><p><strong>I call on everyone who stands against injustice to stand with these courageous hunger strikers.</strong></p><p><strong>87 percent of those jailed at Rikers are Black and Latino</strong><span style="font-weight:400;">; 1500 people in NYC jails -- most of them have been held at the Rikers hellhole for over a year -- simply awaiting trial; 16 people died at Rikers in 2021. Inmates have suffered beatings at the hands of prison guards and other inmates. People held in solitary confinement at Rikers experience conditions that amount to torture. These conditions led to Khalief Browder who was arrested at the age of 16 and held at Rikers for 3 years, much of it in solitary confinement, and who committed suicide after his release.</span></p><p><strong>These conditions are a concentrated expression of the reality and functioning of this capitalist-imperialist system</strong><span style="font-weight:400;">. Its prisons, along with its cops and courts, are important parts of how this system controls oppressed people—and enforces racial oppression and degradation on them. Those whom this system has no future for. I have called this </span><strong><em>a slow genocide</em></strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> targeting Black and Brown people, a genocide that could easily become a fast one.</span></p><p><strong>We have to confront the hard but liberating truth that this system can't be reformed.</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> The exposure of horrors like the conditions at Rikers has generated outrage and resistance. In response, politicians and authorities have promised “reforms.” Former NYC mayor Bill DeBlasio and past administrations spoke honeyed words of ending prison abuses (even closing Rikers). Yet today, conditions are worse than ever at Rikers. Now newly-elected pig mayor Eric Adams wants to reinstate solitary confinement....wants to bring back plainclothes police task forces, reinstate Stop-and-Frisk, wants more pig funding—so more people will suffer these horrors, more lives, dreams, hopes destroyed.</span></p><p><strong>The revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has analyzed that the only way to end the epidemic of police terror, murder by police, genocidal mass incarceration, and all the other horrors this system perpetrates on humanity, is through an actual revolution – millions of people rising up to overthrow a system that can only function by treating people like this.</strong></p><p><strong>The Rikers hunger strikers are setting a bold example</strong><span style="font-weight:400;">. All those this system has targeted with being hemmed in, beaten down, locked up, and even killed off need to follow that example. As Bob Avakian has also said: “Instead of fighting and killing each other, what people need to be doing now is uniting to defend each other-opposing all unjust violence, not launching attacks on anyone but at the same time not allowing the police or 'civilian' fascist thugs to wantonly brutalize and murder people. And people need to do this as part of building up the forces for revolution.” Further, Bob Avakian has analyzed that given the fierce infighting at the top of the system, which is unraveling the normal ways the system operates, this is a time </span><a href="https://revcom.us/en/bob_avakian/rare-time-when-revolution-becomes-possible-why-so-and-how-seize-rare-opportunity"><span style="font-weight:400;">when revolution becomes possible</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">.</span></p><p><strong>The hunger strikers at Rikers need support and solidarity.</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> Christopher Boyle, an attorney who represents some of them has been told that his phone number is blocked by the authorities at Rikers. This means news of retaliation against the hunger strikers may not be getting out of the prison. If it hurts you to your heart when you hear of people being subjected to injustice, stand with these bold resisters. And if you want to see all these horrors ended once and for all, dare to become part of the revolution we need to do just that.</span></p><p><strong>Carl Dix</strong><span style="font-weight:400;"> is a long-time revolutionary, a follower of </span><a href="https://revcom.us/en/bob_avakian"><span style="font-weight:400;">Bob Avakian</span></a><span style="font-weight:400;">, and co-initiator with Cornel West of the Campaign to Stop “Stop-and-Fris</span><span style="font-weight:400;">k.” Contact: carlmdix@gmail.com @Carl_Dix</span></p></div>
U. S. Supreme Court Determines Black Rights, by Alton H. Maddox, Jr., Attorney–at-War
https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/u-s-supreme-court-determines-black-rights-by-alton-h-maddox-jr-at
2020-11-26T16:17:08.000Z
2020-11-26T16:17:08.000Z
TheBlackList-Publisher
https://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListPublisher
<div><p> </p>
<p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8217761477,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8217761477,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8217761477?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="236" /></a> </p>
<p> In 1857, Chief Justice Roger Taney of the U.S. Supreme Court wrote the decision in <u>Dred Scott</u> stating that "no Negro has any rights that whites are bound to respect." Our revered ancestors demanded that Congress frame the Fourteenth Amendment to overturn <u>Dred Scott</u>. Blacks also gave their lives on the battlefield to overturn this decision.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> In 1873, the U.S. Supreme Court wrote in <u>Slaughterhouse Cases</u> that <u>Dred Scott</u> is still in effect because Blacks have dual citizenship with no rights under national citizenship and arbitrary rights under state citizenship. This means that the federal government, today, can look the other way while police shootings of unarmed Blacks are trending upward.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Blacks, to their detriment, questioned neither <u>Slaughterhouse Cases </u>nor <u>United States v. Cruickshank</u>. These cases and <u>Plessy v. Ferguson</u> all arose in Louisiana. They all amounted to contrived litigation. Blacks still depend heavily on whites for legal representation.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> By refusing to interpret the Fourteenth Amendment, in clear language, the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated <u>Dred Scott</u> under <u>Marbury v. Madison</u>. Even though Black troops in 1812 saved New Orleans, under Andrew Jackson, Louisiana officially ushered in Jim Crow in this country in 1896.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Today, most Blacks have never heard of Colfax, LA. In 1873, where Confederate soldiers slaughtered 280 Blacks for peacefully assembling on the grounds of the parish courthouse. White racists, ironically, made the courthouse grounds, a slaughterhouse, a day before the decision in <u>Slaughterhouse Cases</u>. The Supreme Court employed <u>Dred Scott</u> to decide that nobody's civil rights in Colfax, LA had been violated, in this pogrom.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> The Supreme Court ignored a constitutional mandate and put its own spin on the Reconstruction amendments. The rights that Blacks won on the battlefield were stolen in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court also stole presidential elections from voters in 1876 and in 2000. Florida was the culprit in both presidential elections.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Blacks are still catching "hell” in law and politics because whites not only believe that whites are "superior" but also that Blacks are "inferior". This calls for the Second Amendment. An armed group, which believes that it is "superior", will never treat an unarmed group that it believes is "inferior", equally.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> By definition, Black selected officials have never conducted a campaign with a political message because Black selected officials are prohibited from exercising First Amendment rights. Congresspersons Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., Gus Savage and Cynthia McKinney all sought to exercise First Amendment rights and they were all booted, summarily, from politics.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> <u>Freedom’s Journal,</u> in March 1827, demanded that Blacks be entitled to a militant mouthpiece. David Walker took up the plea of <u>Freedom’s Journal</u>. He was assassinated in 1830. Since his assassination, there have been a string of Blacks who took up the mantle. Most of them were assassinated. A few were severely disciplined. Any Black person who is “living large” is not fighting for Black people.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> In the Democratic Party, Black “selected” officials and leading Blacks play no role in fashioning public policy. It is also unlawful for these “silver rites” leaders to oppose racially-motivated, oppressive legislation. The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are wings of the “American Eagle” Party. White supremacy is the guiding philosophy</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Prior to 1960, Blacks were enrolled in the Party of Lincoln. Blacks did not see Abraham Lincoln as the lesser of two evils. Instead, he was viewed as the “Great Emancipator”. Blacks hoped to find “milk and honey” in the Republican Party. The states of the Confederacy formed the foundation of the Democratic Party. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> Instead of Blacks doing for self, and supporting their own political party (UAM, with too little support, formed the Freedom Party in 1994), Blacks choose to continue playing musical chairs in the Democratic Party. When, in the 1880's, the Democratic Party, openly promoted slave rights, Blacks, in New York would be among the first to jump the Republican ship. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> By the time of the New Deal, most Blacks, in the North were in the Democratic Party and most Blacks in the South were in the Republican Party. After 1968, virtually all Blacks were together in the Democratic Party. Limited voting rights legislation had started under the Eisenhower Administration. It was in 1968, however, under the Johnson Administration that sweeping legislation was passed. Johnson became the "new savior." Most Blacks got wings by 1968.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> I must set the record straight, however. All of the rights that Blacks achieved had already happened by 1875. Blacks should have gotten into a fighting mode when the U.S. Supreme Court attempted to enforce the <u>Compromise of 1877</u>. Blacks failed to fight because their leaders had grown comfortable with titles.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> The Voting Rights Act of 1965 came on the scene to unlock voting booths for Blacks to use politically. The following year, the United States Court of Appeals, for the District of Columbia, decided <u>United Church of Christ v. Federal Communications Commission</u> giving the public a say in the licensing of radio and television stations.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Public affairs programming became an adjunct to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Afterwards, Blacks enjoyed public service programs to assess community needs. However, the public would have to speak through qualified organizations. Voter education should have been a condition precedent to voting rights.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> While Blacks enjoy voting rights, we have never enjoyed the right to voter education. This is like using an operating room before attending medical school. In more than one way, Blacks are the victims of legal malpractice. One serious result is the prison-industrial complex.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Whites receive voting education through myriad organizations and special interest groups. Whites have the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) which writes laws on voter-ID and self-defense legislation, among other things. This is a political necessity.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Blacks, on the other hand, have churches. There is a separation between church and state. Churches are forbidden to participate in political activities under the Internal Revenue Code. Otherwise, they will risk their tax-exempt status. In addition, churches also enjoy benefits under Faith-based Initiative (FBI).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>If we continue to refuse to draft a Black agenda, we should, <u>en</u> <u>masse</u>, turn in our voter registration cards. Without political education in general, and public affairs programs in particular, Blacks will continue to finance their own oppression their detriment. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was designed for Blacks to be political pawns. Voting is viewed as a duty but there are no concomitant benefits. This was also our experience on the plantation. Whites, on the other hand, seek political rights for power and influence. The Democratic Party fashions our political menu. We simply follow the script and choose candidates favorable to whites. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> Politics is warfare without “violence.” Cowards are not asked to participate in politics. Similarly, law is trial by combat. To succeed in law and politics, there must be an appreciation for military science. Turning your cheek is not the answer in law and politics. Loving your master plays no role in law and politics.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>For every right, there is a duty. This means that before entering a polling booth, there must be a Black political Agenda, and voter education. The liberation of Blacks must be taken seriously. This requires critical thinking skills. Of course, whites are elated if Blacks fail to satisfy these conditions. Slave codes require that Blacks stay ignorant of politics. See Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s, “The Miseducation of the Negro."</p>
<p> </p>
<p> If you value freedom and find this article informative, please assist in helping to support overhead costs, opportunity costs for staff to research and prepare my writings to get to you for our liberation, by mailing a check or money order to:</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"> <em><strong>Alton H. Maddox, Jr.</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><strong> 9/28/20</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://universityofaltonmaddox.com/" target="_blank">UNIVERSITYOFALTONMADDOX.COM</a> </p>
<p> </p></div>
Giving Thanks: Surviving New York, by Alton H. Maddox, Jr., Attorney-at-War
https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/giving-thanks-surviving-new-york-giving-thanks-surviving-new-york
2020-11-26T15:49:58.000Z
2020-11-26T15:49:58.000Z
TheBlackList-Publisher
https://www.theblacklist.net/members/TheBlackListPublisher
<div><p><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}8217709686,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-full" src="{{#staticFileLink}}8217709686,RESIZE_400x{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="8217709686?profile=RESIZE_400x" width="236" /></a></p>
<p> This past year has been extremely challenging for everybody, to say the least. Nevertheless, I do have a lot to be thankful for. First of all, I give thanks to the Creator and to our Ancestors who struggled and paid the price for us to survive another day. I am thankful that the health challenges, visited upon me, are diminishing by the Grace of God. I am also thankful to all the persons who have stood with me and shown and expressed love and support throughout. It means a lot to me. Thanksgiving Day is only three days away. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> I first came to New York in 1973. By 1976, I’d had it. I was about to leave New York City for good. The "Gang of Four" had contributed to my being fired at Harlem Assertion of Rights. Mayor Abe Beame wanted to close Cooper Junior High School in Harlem because it had been rated one of the top ten middle schools in New York City. I received a pink slip the weekend before I was scheduled to argue an appeal before United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to keep it open. This well-structured school is now a church.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> It was on Thanksgiving Day 1976 that a rogue police officer, Robert Torsney, shot 13-year-old Randolph Evans in the head at point-blank range in Brooklyn. Rev. Herbert Daughtry, Charles Barron and the National Black United Front had called on white lawyers to assist them in demanding justice for Randolph Evans. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> The New York Police Department offered the flimsy defense of an epileptic seizure to P.O. Robert Torsney. Later, an all-white jury found him not guilty by reason of insanity. He was released from psychiatric care a year and a half later to go on with his life. I<em>n re Torsney, 394 N.E.2d 262 (N.Y. 1979).</em> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> Vigilantism was also in fashion in New York City in 1973. No Black person could walk through a white area without fearing a mob attack. I realized that Blacks in New York had no meaningful, legal and political representation. White colonists had fought the American Revolution over "taxation without representation". Three hundred years later, Blacks in New York were suffering from a lack of political representation by Black "selected" officials with the exception of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Instead of moving to Georgia, I decided to practice law out of my car. New York needed a Black lawyer. My wife, Leola, was already on the unemployment rolls. I had no roots in New York. Moreover Black lawyers in high-profile cases were carrying the brief case of white lawyers in New York City. Black lawyers generally were only handling minor, hubcap cases. I was different. White lawyers had to sit second chair to me. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> In 1986, white vigilantism raised its ugly head again in Howard Beach. Michael Griffith was chased to his death by vigilantes. I vowed to end these racial attacks. Law school had taught me that <u>punishment</u> was the only deterrent. Experience had taught me that a public prosecutor was subject to the political whims of the white community. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> Whites are not inclined to investigate and prosecute their own. My goal, in Howard Beach, was to punish the white mob for murdering Michael Griffith. I used my own money, and legal skills to extract justice. I demanded, without precedent, a special prosecutor “or else”. Black activists only wanted to make noise and hog the cameras but no one stood with me in refusing to cooperate with the authorities. White vigilantes went to jail after my necessary stance caused successful, criminal prosecutions.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> On November 28, 1987, Tawana Brawley was walking home at night and was kidnapped and raped in Dutchess County, NY. She was found, semi-conscious with her body smeared with feces and the racial epithets "nigger and KKK" written on it. Her appearance had all of the earmarks of a "hate crime." It was a definite call for Black men to rise up and protect their women. Under the Taney test, in <u>Dred Scott</u>, Black males were "boys" and not men. Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. complained about stigmatizing Blacks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> By December 1987, I realized that it was too much to ask of one Black lawyer to finance the struggles of Black people. I had fought for a special prosecutor and won in Howard Beach. Now, activist, Sonny Carson wanted me to defend the Brawley family against legal attacks. Sonny knew that it was illegal in New York for a Black woman to accuse white men of rape. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> I agreed to represent the Brawley family under one condition. The family would have to receive substantial support from the Black community. I was going to need it. From Mississippi to New York, no Black woman could accuse a white man of rape without legal retaliation. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> Several persons and organizations did show up in Newburgh, NY in support of the Brawley family on December 12, 1987, including Min. Louis Farrakhan. This support system was supposed to be present throughout the ordeal and struggle. It would be needed. Unfortunately, all of these supporters found an escape clause. I could not abandon Black women, however. It would be reminiscent of <u>Celia, A Slave</u>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> In 1989, in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, NY, Yusuf Hawkins was killed by vigilantes. With me hovering over her, District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman decided to do the right thing for once. White men had to be prosecuted. In May 1990, Joseph Fama would be convicted of murdering Yusuf Hawkins and was sentenced to 33 years to life. My license was also suspended on May 21, 1990. This was no coincidence.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> The government in New York is no different today than it was in 1982. In 1982, Blacks in New York had overwhelmingly voted for Mario Cuomo for governor. He responded to the Black community by appointing all whites as department heads. When asked about his appointing all whites to cabinet posts, he responded by saying he owed nothing to Blacks. “They were voting against Mayor Ed Koch,” his opponent, “and not for me” in the 1982 Democratic primary. Today, Andrew Cuomo, his son is carrying on his legacy.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Gov. Mario Cuomo publicly expressed his wish that Sharpton had collided with the third rail in December 1987. This was a “death wish”. Rev Al Sharpton was not deterred. He wanted to find a way to serve the Cuomos. Tawana Brawley was the key for his access to the Cuomos. Once he enjoyed their attention, he had planned to flip.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The Brawley files are still classified. New York has a lot to hide after running the Brawley family out of New York, “debarring” two of her attorneys and indicting her spiritual advisor on 70-counts. This is a classic, state-sponsored cover-up. I am still indefinitely suspended for representing a Black child.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> No political third party is allowed for Blacks. All Blacks must be counted as Democrats. Sharpton is given a fee for every Negro counted as a Democrat. Sharpton views me as a cattle rustler. When Blacks enroll in the Democratic Party, they are automatically endorsing their own oppression. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> Although in 1986, I became the first Black person in the United States to successfully <u>demand</u> a <u>special prosecutor</u>, it was attendant with heavy costs. "The handwriting was on the wall." Four years later, I would be barred from all courtrooms without any semblance of a hearing although I am still licensed to practice law in Pennsylvania, New York and Georgia and in their federal courts.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Today, Blacks in New York are back to where they were after the death of Cong. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. in 1972. I dare to say if I had been practicing law in New York when Esther James accused Powell of defamation, there would have been no contest. I would have run James and the PBA straight out of New York. Unfortunately, Cong. Powell was unable to retain a real Black lawyer in New York.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> The American colonists admitted during the eighteenth century what Blacks in New York are denying today; that is, "taxation without representation" equals slavery. This is our condition despite the Thirteenth Amendment. No one has the temerity to file a civil rights lawsuit against New York. Blacks in New York are still in slavery but under Roman law, this is a "bait and switch".</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Cong. Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. was born on November 29, 1908 in Connecticut. Even LBJ said that he was the greatest legislator ever. Most of his legislation aided poor people. Every year, his birthday should be honored. </p>
<p> </p>
<p align="center"><em><strong>Giving Thanks: Surviving New York ©</strong></em></p>
<p align="center"><em><strong>By Alton H. Maddox, Jr.</strong></em></p>
<p align="center"><em><strong>Attorney-at-War</strong></em></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em><strong>11/23/20</strong></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p></div>
Revolution Books Livestream w/ Carl Dix - 35 Years after the MOVE Massacre
https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/revolution-books-livestream-w-carl-dix-35-years-after-the-move-ma
2020-05-18T14:31:40.000Z
2020-05-18T14:31:40.000Z
Steve Yip
https://www.theblacklist.net/members/SteveYip
<div><p><a href="https://revcom.us/a/438/american-crime-case-99-move-massacre-en.html">https://revcom.us/a/438/american-crime-case-99-move-massacre-en.html</a></p><table class="full image table-2 middle" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><div class="module large-image-container image" dir="ltr"><table class="module-2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td class="single"><div class="image-container" align="center"><a href="https://revcom.us/a/438/american-crime-case-99-move-massacre-en.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://cascade.madmimi.com/promotion_images/1598/3508/original/AmCrime_MOVE.JPG?1589793910" alt="AmCrime MOVE" width="633" height="380" /></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="full combo-right table-3 middle" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><div class="module combo-right" dir="ltr" align="left"><table class="module-3" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="right"><tbody><tr><td class="combo-image"><div class="image-container" align="center"><a href="https://revcom.us/a/438/american-crime-case-99-move-massacre-en.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://cascade.madmimi.com/promotion_images/1598/3518/original/AmCrim_Move2.JPG?1589794004" alt="AmCrim Move2" width="302" /></a></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="left"><span style="font-size:18pt;">Join us this Tuesday at 7:00 PM EDT for a <strong><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/236295587651740/" target="_blank">Facebook Live discussion</a></strong> about the <strong>1985 MOVE Massacre</strong> --- when the city of Philadelphia bombed the house of members of MOVE. This was only the second time in U.S. history that the government has dropped a bomb on U.S. soil. They killed 11 people and devastated an entire African-American neighborhood.</span><br /><span style="font-size:18pt;">You can read about this <a href="https://revcom.us/a/438/american-crime-case-99-move-massacre-en.html" target="_blank">American Crime here.</a></span></p><p align="left"><span style="font-size:18pt;">On May 13, 1985, police bombed and killed 11 MOVE members including 5 children, and burned down 61 homes in West Philadelphia. Ramona Africa and 11 year old Birdie Africa were the only survivors.</span></p></div></td></tr></tbody></table><table class="full combo-right table-4 middle" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="left" bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><tbody><tr><td align="center"><div class="module combo-right" dir="ltr" align="left"><table class="module-4" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="right"><tbody><tr><td class="combo-image"><div class="image-container" align="center"><img src="https://cascade.madmimi.com/promotion_images/1575/6854/original/Draw_The_Line.jpg?1589026978" alt="Draw The Line" width="304" /></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p align="left"><span style="font-size:18pt;">In Tuesday night, we will be joined by <strong>Carl Dix</strong>, a revolutionary who is a follower of Bob Avakian, and co-founder of SMIN. Carl initiated the "Draw the Line" response to the MOVE bombing, which was joined by 100+ individuals from Philadelphia and around the country.</span></p></div></td></tr></tbody></table><p> </p></div>
The Voice of Reform and Wrongful Incarceration, Curtis Ray Davis, II Speaks Volumes in New Book, "Slave State: Evidence of Apartheid in America"
https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/the-voice-of-reform-and-wrongful-incarceration-curtis-ray-davis-i
2020-03-18T13:36:21.000Z
2020-03-18T13:36:21.000Z
TBL_Promoter
https://www.theblacklist.net/members/TBLPromoter
<div><div class="tablelist justify"> </div><div class="tablelist justify"><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><em>Curtis Ray Davis speaks at various institutions on the topic of wrongful incarceration with his book "Slave State - Evidence of Apartheid in America" giving examples and mentions of overwhelming amounts of incarcerations, in particular, in the state of Louisiana as evidence that Louisiana is undeniably a slave state. Curtis Ray Davis demonstrated that these incarceration statistics from Louisiana are firsthand evidence that there is indeed Apartheid in America.</em></strong></span></div><p> </p><div class="spaced130 justify"><div class="rf"><a href="https://img.pr.com/release/2003/466864/pressrelease_466864_1583781835.jpeg" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="https://img.pr.com/release/2003/466864/pressrelease_466864_1583781835.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="180" alt="pressrelease_466864_1583781835.jpeg?profile=RESIZE_180x180" /></a></div><span style="font-size:8pt;">New Orleans, LA, March 16, 2020 --(<a href="https://www.pr.com/">PR.com</a>)--</span> Curtis Ray Davis, II has a phenomenal story to tell and with a new book published by Mindfield Publishing being circulated through to the masses of young minds and incarcerated individuals, Mr. Davis is doing what he believes he was called to do. Curtis was arrested in 1990 and charged with 2nd degree murder; a crime that he did not commit. After a jury of 10 peers voted guilty, Curtis was sentenced to life in prison. He was pardoned in 2016 and set free after serving 25 years in a state penitentiary.<br /><br />Mr. Davis departed from prison and wrote and released a self-published book entitled, “Slave State: Evidence of Apartheid in America.” "Slave State" mentions numerous amounts of overwhelming incarcerations in the state of Louisiana as evidence that Louisiana is undeniably a slave state. These incarceration statistics from Louisiana are firsthand evidence that there is indeed Apartheid in America.<br /><br />The book is the incarcerated author’s attempt to illustrate historical and contemporary failures in the Louisiana Criminal Justice System. The alarming statistics of prisoner ratios in Louisiana are also examined in the book. The book is also a collection of essays and articles written by a man wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to serve the balance of his life in a modern-day penal colony in Louisiana, known commonly as Angola.<br /><br />Curtis served time in what was known formerly as a 8,000 plus acre slave plantation. Angola is a place that had a history of slavery, unfair treatment and abuse of prisoners. It was in Angola that Curtis found that he possessed a talent for organizing as well as an extraordinary aptitude for the science of law. The prison’s warden drafted Curtis into the State Certified Tutor Program where for over a period of 17 years Curtis was on a team that lowered the Louisiana State Penitentiary recidivism rate from 67% to 2%, for offenders who participated in the program. Curtis authored a curriculum known by prisoners as “the art of human transformation” and by addressing life skills as well as academics they changed Angola from “the bloodiest prison in the U.S.,” into a community of men who attract visitors from across the globe, marveling at the amazing change. More than 1,200 prisoners received their GED's under Curtis’ leadership, a fact that Curtis says, made his day to day internment bearable.<br /><br />Curtis' mission is to stay involved by utilizing his voice in the reformation of the current legal system, educating individuals and groups on what today's penal system is like, preventing injustice for all, breaking the school to prison pipeline and other issues related to a society bent toward justice.<br /><br />If your group or organization is interested in taking part in this mission, please contact the Curtis Ray Davis, II team to discuss arranging book distribution, or an appearance by Mr. Davis or any type of booking for Mr. Davis to participate.<br /><br />Mindfield Publishing aims to use activist tactics to reach people possessing a passion to pursue justice. Mindfield Publishing seeks to educate the community on justice and equality matters. Currently, Mindfield Publishing has a persona of being a help-mate for wrongful incarcerated prisoners that seek assistance to prove their innocence. Mindfield Publishing's goal is to educate anyone needing assistance on processes and resources that are available. Mindfield Publishing helps to distribute books to individuals, to youth and adolescence, to college students and to others to include those that are incarcerated as well.<br /><br /><a href="http://mindfieldpublishing.com/shop?olsPage=products">www.mindfieldpublishing.com</a><br /><br />For Book Ordering:<br />Mindfield416@gmail.com<br /><br />For Booking:<br />tbirklett@yahoo.com<br /><br />For Media and Public Relations<br />Bmlconnect@yahoo.com</div><p> </p><p> </p></div>
Using Bail as Ransom Violates the Core Tenets of Pretrial Justice
https://www.theblacklist.net/forum/topics/using-bail-as-ransom-violates-the-core-tenets-of-pretrial-justice
2020-02-15T17:25:14.000Z
2020-02-15T17:25:14.000Z
Bronx Scoop
https://www.theblacklist.net/members/BronxScoop
<div><p> </p><p>Rebecca Gill was out of options. At 39 years old, she was arrested and though not convicted of a crime and presumed innocent, confined to a jail cell. This happened because of a cash bail requirement that she couldn’t afford. Her friends didn’t have extra money to help, and she was unlikely to see a judge until she’d been in jail for two full weeks.</p><p>Stuck in jail, she was in jeopardy of losing her job and her driver’s license. Losing her license would result in myriad consequences, such as preventing her from getting to work and making it more difficult to take care of her son and mother.</p><p>Thankfully, the <a href="https://nashvillebailfund.org/">Nashville Community Bail Fund</a> paid Rebecca’s bail, allowing her to keep her job, her license, and return to her family. The Bail Fund’s work has <a href="https://nashvillebailfund.org/what-we-do/">alleviated tremendous suffering</a> on the part of those incarcerated and their loved ones, reduced the length of time in jail for their participants, improved outcomes, and saved taxpayer dollars. But a local Nashville policy threatens the rights of people like Rebecca, and sets a concerning precedent that could have implications for bail funds nationwide.</p><p>Today, the ACLU, Civil Rights Corps, and the Choosing Justice Initiative are standing up to that policy. Together, we are suing in federal court to challenge the constitutionality of the rule and ensure that the Nashville Community Bail Fund is able to continue its important work helping people like Rebecca.</p><p>Under the <a href="https://aclu-tn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Davidson-County-Bail-Rules.pdf">local rule</a>, developed by the Davidson County Criminal Court judges and clerk, anyone trying to post bail on behalf of a friend, loved one, or community member must agree that the money posted is subject to garnishment for any future debts assessed in the case. In other words, anyone paying cash bail must agree that the defendant’s court costs, fines, fees, or restitution can be deducted from their cash bail deposit.</p><p>In this manner, the county and local government force people who are at their most vulnerable — stuck in jail, and legally innocent — into an unconstitutional agreement. Furthermore, by extracting this promise to pay court debts using the same money posted to facilitate pretrial freedom, government officials ensure access to revenue by taking a cut of the cash bail deposit.</p><p>Let’s say someone is arrested for a crime and ordered to pay a $3,500 bond that they are unable to afford. Their family and friends are then able to put that $3,500 together. Under local policies in Davidson County, that money would only be accepted if the family and friends posting the bond agreed that their money could be used to pay any fines, fees, or costs assessed against their friend in the future. If they don’t agree to this, their loved one remains in jail.</p><p>When the founders of our country enshrined the concept of bail into our constitution, it was <a href="https://b.3cdn.net/crjustice/2b990da76de40361b6_rzm6ii4zp.pdf">intended to be</a> a method of facilitating pretrial freedom and reasonably incentivizing incarcerated people to return to court to face charges levied against them. Using bail as ransom money or to generate revenue violates the core tenets of a system of pretrial justice.</p><p>In many instances, the money posted as bail doesn’t belong to the arrestee themselves, but is collected by friends, family, and other community members. Using the pressure of jail to force these parties to pay a loved one’s debts — lest they remain incarcerated — is not only illegal, it’s unfair.</p><p>Local governments across the country in places like Tennessee, Florida, Alabama, Michigan, and Wisconsin impermissibly use money bail to pay fines, fees, and other debts. These garnishment practices have not been challenged in court in decades.</p><p>Bail garnishment policies drive pretrial incarceration with a slurry of related negative consequences both for the individual and the system. These consequences include job loss, the inability to care for family members, exposure to violence in jail, a higher likelihood of pleading guilty, increased long-term recidivism, increased failures to appear in court, and waste of public funds on needless incarceration.</p><p>Historically, when a Nashville Community Bail Fund participant completed their case, their bail money was refunded and returned to a rotating pool of cash so the fund could assist the next person. Davidson County’s criminal court judges recently took that option away without any logical reason. Without intervention, the Bail Fund will eventually lose its entire rotating fund and be forced to close.</p><p>Since it began operating in 2016, the Bail Fund has freed more than 1,000 people who were incarcerated because they could not come up with $5,000 or less in exchange for their liberty. Several other such bail funds exist <a href="https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory">across the country</a>. Davidson County’s policy poses a roadblock to these organizations’ crucial work.</p><p>The Nashville Community Bail Fund and the ACLU <a href="https://www.aclu.org/report/new-vision-pretrial-justice-united-states">envision</a> a world in which pretrial detention is so rare that there is no longer a need for charitable bail funds. Until that point, bail funds like Nashville’s provide a crucial lifeline. If the fund is forced to close now, thousands of Nashvillians <a href="https://southernersonnewground.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2019-Courtwatch-Report-SONG-Nashville-Chapter.pdf">will be left</a> without assistance.</p><p>This senseless policy violates the U.S. Constitution. We’re suing to ensure that the work of the Nashville Community Bail Fund and other bail funds across the country are allowed to continue, uninhibited by government officials’ attempts to turn cash bail deposits into a revenue stream.</p><p><span style="font-size:14pt;">SOURCE: <a href="https://www.einpresswire.com/article/508992634/using-bail-as-ransom-violates-the-core-tenets-of-pretrial-justice" target="_blank">EIN Presswire</a></span></p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p></div>