Day of Blogging for Justice
Global Blogging Day of Action for Troy Davis
SJP, at Sojourner’s Place is taking the lead on this and asking bloggers to write about the Troy Davis case in conjunction with Amnesty International’s Global Day of Action for Troy Davis on May 19. Here’s the case, in a nutshell from Amnesty International:
Troy Davis was convicted of murdering a Georgia police officer in 1991. Nearly two decades later, Davis remains on death row – even though the case against him has fallen apart. Davis’ conviction was not based on any physical evidence, and the murder weapon was never found. Since his trial, seven of the nine eyewitnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony, and one of the remaining witnesses has been implicated by nine others as the actual murderer.
Troy Davis’ stay of execution will expire May 15. I encourage folks, along with SJP, to take part in this event by blogging about Troy Davis and his case on May 19 in solidarity with the Global Day of Action.
Troy Davis’ stay of execution is set to expire on May 15. On May 19, groups and individuals all around the world will be organizing demonstrations, vigils, teach-ins or other public events to show the state of Georgia that the execution of Troy Davis would be an unacceptable travesty of justice. We need you to be as visible and as loud as possible!
For more information (courtesy SJP):
In Honor of Community Organizing
A brief history of Community Organizing:
Jane Addams: The first woman to win the Nobel Peace prize and founder of the Hull House in Chicago, a program which provided social services for people in need.
Saul Alinsky: Author of Rules for Radicals, which laid the foundation for grassroots organizing in the 60s.
César Chávez: Civil Rights activist and labor leader. Eight states currently celebrate his birthday as a holiday.
Martin Luther King, Jr.: Civil Rights activist, co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Council, and the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
These are just a handful of the people that Sarah Palin and Rudy Guilliani shat on last week when they saw fit to disparage the honorable work that community organizers do.
Now, these are some outstanding examples, to be sure. Community organizing takes place at a much smaller level as well. Community organizing is at the heart of the work that churches do, that everyday people trying to make the lives of everyday people like themselves do, that the PTA does, that voter outreach organizations do. It’s ironic that Palin, Guilliani and the rest of the GOP would make fun of community organizing because community organizing is the epitome of one of the central mantras of conservatism: pick yourself up by your bootstraps. That’s what community organizing is all about. It’s about people taking control of their lives and their communities and trying to make things better for themselves. It’s recognizing that no one is going to do for you what you won’t do for yourself. You can talk about “actual responsibilities” all you want, but the truth of the matter is that community organizing is taking the ultimate amount of responsibility–not only to yourself, but to everyone in your community.
We should all know, however, that that wasn’t what Palin and Guilliani were talking about. Picking yourself up by your bootstraps is just fine if your looking to place that same boot on the necks of people once you’re standing straight. Helping others, particularly people of color and low-income folks, to achieve what often amounts to the most basic of human needs? Well, why would anyone do that? There’s no money, no glory, no fame in that. And that is at the root of the attacks on community organizing that we’ve seen. It’s not that community organizing is bad. To be sure, Sarah Palin has done her own amount of community organizing. The problem is that many of those community organizers out there aren’t out for personal gain, aren’t out there to keep their boots on peoples necks for profit and glory. The problem is that Sen. Barack Obama was out there organizing black folks and low-income folks. And when those that traditionally have a boot against their necks start to get organized, start to get a little power, well, that’s a serious problem for some folks.
ETA: Thanks to the Afrosphere Action Coalition for organizing this Day of Blogging For Justice.
How to get Started in Community Organizing
Community Organizers Fight Back
We Are All Community Organizers
Community Organizers Against Sarah Palin
Bloggers taking part in the Day of Blogging for Community Organizing (I’ll keep updating. Leave links in comments):
African American Political Pundit
Radical Russ via Pam’s House Blend
Young Black Professional Guide
Where the Revolution’s Gonna Begin
Blogging for Justice
Right on the heals of the Day of Red comes a Day of Blogging for Justice spearheaded by African American Political Pundit and the Afrospear
TODAY – Thursday, November 1, 2007 Afrospear members and Afrospear supporters are urged to blog to raise public awareness of the two rape cases involving black women. One woman, Megan Williams, was tortured, beaten, forced to eat rat, dog and human feces, and raped by six white men and women in West Virgina. The Other, a black woman from Dunbar Village, was gang raped and forced to have sex with her own son. By Black Teenagers (now charged as adults).
We are asking all bloggers who plan to blog on Thursday November 1, 2007 to send an email to AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit at gmail dot com confirming your participation so we can track the number of blogs participating.
I ugre you to check out my previous post and follow the links, go to the Document the Silence Website and read and offer your support, check back with AAPP for updates on others blogging today. ,
There is also a Megan Williams petition you can sign.
Information about the case and the planned march on 3 November is here.
And you can learn more about and how to help the Dunbar Village victim at What About Our Daughters.
Why I’m Wearing Red Today
Because I stand in solidarity with the strong, brave women who refuse to stay silent about the increasing violence perpetuated against women, particularly women of color.
Because Megan Williams case is, sadly, familiar to too many other women.
Because there is good in the world.
Because the beautiful ones will never go away.
I wear red today because I can. And I know that we, the anti-oppression activists and bloggers, shall overcome.
As BFP says, I must, I must, I must.
Day of Blogging for Justice – The Jena Six
Today is the Day of Blogging for Justice, organized and executed by Yobachi of Blackperspective.net and the Afrosphere Jena Six Coalition.
I’ve been reading a lot about the Michael Vick case, although I’ve avoided writing about it, mostly because more than enough has been said about the case as it is. Now, as anyone that has frequented this site for awhile knows, I am an avid dog lover, and so it should come to no surprise that Vick’s actions sicken me to death; but that doesn’t mean that I don’t agree with the commentary that wonders why mainstream U.S. America shows more outrage over the abuse of dogs than the abuse of women, particularly women of color. Dave Zirin, at the Black Agenda Report, raises an interesting question:
“Why are we surprised people get off on pit bull fights when there is a war going on?”
The response I will surely get – and have always gotten – for writing this is that “dogs are innocent.” Once again this is a logic that transcends the bizarre.
Therefore poor people that become boxers, women who get raped, Iraqis picking up unexploded cluster bombs, are “guilty?” Have exercised “free will?” That’s not logic. That’s the doctrine of original sin.
As someone who has argued that “dogs are innocent” and that it is wrong to go around blaming the victim, this floored me.
And this brings me to what is troubling to me about the attitudes I see so often towards the Jena Six. The notion that the white kids involved are really innocent (all they did was hang a noose from a tree, attempt arson, and point a shotgun in someone’s face, nothing but a few pranks) but what the black kids did was a serious, serious crime (they physically assaulted someone, although no serious injuries occured; defended themselves from someone pointing a shotgun in their faces). This isn’t to justify beating people up, but when hanging a noose from a tree, a symbol that is going to resonate with most black people in the U.S. as a throw back to the days when lynching was acceptable, is somehow nothing more than a prank, I can’t help but to draw parallels between what Zirin is saying and what is happening with the Jena Six. The white kids involved are by default innocent “pranksters.” The black kids involved are by default quilty. Here’s a sequence of events, taken from Tom at Automatic Preference:
1. White students hung three hangman’s nooses from a tree near the school, immediately after Black students received permission to sit under that tree.
2. A fire at Jena High School, arson suspected, no arrests.
3. White-initiated fistfight, no serious injuries resulted: white student charged with simple battery.
4. White-initiated threat with a shotgun: Black students arrested for aggravated battery and theft after they wrested the weapon away from the white student.
5. Black-initiated fistfight, no serious injuries resulted: charges of second-degree attempted murder or conspiracy for six Black students. Witt reported that prison sentences of up to 100 years are possible.
It is only the assumption that black folk are automatically guilty, have been tainted with original sin, that would lead any rational person to conclude that taking a shotgun away from someone pointing it in your face and not giving it back is aggravated battery and theft, rather than self-defense. The only way you can assume this is right is if you assume that it was the black folk, and not the white folk, that were the aggressors. It doesn’t matter that all evidence points to the contrary, that’s how it has to have been.
And that, my friends, is how it continues to play out. That is why, when a woman is raped, she is blamed for walking in the wrong part of the neighborhood wearing the wrong skirt. She is, by default, guilty. That is why, when folks of color defend themselves from racist aggression, they are blamed for criminal acts. They are by default guilty.
As long as our justice system, politicians and media continue to reinforce this pattern of injustice, it is imperative that we put pressure on them. We must let them know that we will not stand for such arbitrary notions of justice.
—————-
From the Electonic Village:
The AfroSpear encourages all villagers to realize the following:
- In light of the circumstances surrounding Mychal Bell’s case, we urge all villagers to support the call for a new trial.
- It is unacceptable to selectively enforce the law based on race. Prosecutorial discretion should be used in a fair and equitable manner.
- The Jena Six should be tried by juries that reflect the racial and ethnic demographics of Jena, LA.
- The hanging of nooses is not a “youthful stunt” or “prank.” It is a hate crime. Such hate crimes should not be tolerated at any school. Jena High School must establish a curriculum which promotes cultural sensitivity and understanding.
- The AfroSpear calls on Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco and Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti to thoroughly investigate and monitor the trials of Mychal Bell, Robert Bailey, Jr., Theo Shaw, Carwin Jones, Bryant Purvis and John Doe. The Governor and State Attorney General should do everything in their power to ensure that these young men’s constitutional rights are protected.
- All villagers should reach out to their own congressman and senators requesting a federal investigation of this racist behavior in Jena, LA.
- All villagers should sign the online petition as well
Folks participating in Day of Blogging for Justice (Late to the party? Let me know and I’ll add you):
1. Wayne Hicks electronicvillage.blogspot.com/ Cincinnati, OH
2. D. Yobachi Boswell www.blackperspective.net Nashville, TN
3. Daz Wilson purplezoe.blogspot.com/
4. Francis Holland afrospear.jconserv.net/
5. Jim D. Walton www.blackinbusiness.org/
6. Cooper wonderlandornot.net
7. Yolonda ebonymommy.com/blog/
8. Vanessa Byers vanessabyers.net/ Miami, FL
9. Sincere sincere-thoughts.blogspot.com
10. Pia courtingdestiny.com
11. Adrianne George blackwomenineurope.blogspot.com/ Sweden
12. Eddie Griffin www.eddiegriffinbasg.blogspot.com Fort Worth, TX
13. PB www.savantwriter.blogspot.com Kansas City
14. Tom Autopref automaticpreference.wordpress.com/
15. Dave J. wanderingether.blogspot.com/ Haslett, Michigan
16. B. Medusa www.mnemosyne-blog.net/
17. Shawn Williams www.dallassouthblog.com Dallas, Texas
18. Deidra blackandmissing.blogspot.com Baton Rouge, LA
19. AAPP www.AfricanAmericanPoliticalPundit.com & www.Africanamericanopinion.com
20. Invisible Woman invisible-cinema.blogspot.com/ San Fran, CA
21. Plez pajoyner.blogspot.com Atlanta, GA
22. Shanikka www.maatsfeather.com/frontPage.do
23. Mahogony Diva mahogonydiva.blogspot.com/
24. Saba charlotte.greasyguide.com
Let’s not forget other injustices currently in progress (thanks, Yobachi!)
Kenneth Foster
Darfur
Genarlow Wilson
Dunbar Village – Watch Video
Solidarity
Kick Ass Bloggers
Stats
All original content at A Slant Truth™ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. All other content is presumed to be used under the doctrine of fair use and retains its original copyright.
