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Zimmerman Release Called 'Absolute Mockery' by George Barnette

Zimmerman Release Called 'Absolute Mockery'

By George Barnette

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Afro American Newspaper

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George Zimmerman, Trayvon Martin

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - After walking free for two months before he was charged, George Zimmerman's release on bond for murder charges has many people questioning the judicial system.

Zimmerman was released on $150,000 on April 23. He is required to wear a GPS monitoring device and to check in with courts if he goes to another state. That result is insufficient to many who think the process has been a joke.

“This whole Trayvon case has been so confusing from the start. I don’t understand how someone who admittedly killed someone gets to stay out of jail for weeks before he’s even charged and then, knowing how emotional and violatile the case is, for a judge to grant him bail and set it at such a low rate for second degree murder just doesn’t seem appropriate to me,” said Jackie Jones, a journalism instructor at Howard University.

“I tell my students to not just report what happened but why it happened so people aren’t confused about what’s going on and aren’t making snap judgments. This is such an emotional case you can’t help but have a point of view. You should just give people facts, but a lot are missing in this case.”

She was not alone in her thinking.

“This is an absolute mockery of the judicial system,” said 30-year-old Largo, Md. resident Dalmus Robinson.

Robinson then cited a recent episode of the A&E reality crime show, “First 48” and the Stand Your Ground law was used in the episode he watched.

“I just watched ‘First 48’ and a Black dude shot a man he claimed was in front of his house – saying dude verbally threatened that he was going to kill him. He tried that Stand Your Ground Rule, but was immediately held and questioned, and then locked up within 48 hours.”

Upper Marlboro resident Weldon Brown, 36, implied that Zimmerman’s race played a definite part in him being released on bond and asks that the same treatment be given to African Americans awaiting trial for murder.

“This is only fair if they start letting us out on bond while facing a murder charge,” Brown said before admitting that no one should be allowed to go free when charged with something so serious.

Meanwhile, 29-year-old Herndon, Va. native Danilo Ulloa questions whether the criminal justice system in Florida is slow in prosecuting cases in which African Americans are victims as he compared Martin’s murder with the murder of former Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor. Taylor was murdered in his home on Nov. 27, 2007 and there still has been no justice for his family.

“All this reminds me of is that four guys went and killed Sean Taylor, one snitched and those dudes are still not on trial or anything,” Ulloa said. “What especially makes this case more relevant is race.”

Ulloa continued saying that he believes this case will fade to the background over time saying that it would be “another one of the cases where as time goes it will be forgotten.”

The racial aspect has not been something that everyone has agreed on though, including some Black people. Christopher Cheatham, a 31-year-old Lanham, Md.-resident, says Zimmerman profiled Martin, but doesn’t believe he is racist.

“He didn't wake up and say ‘I’m a kill me a Black person today,’” Cheatham said.

“What he did was disobey an order from law enforcement, got into an altercation, got scared and now someone is dead. Everyone’s beef should not be with him, it should be with the police's handling of this situation. He was a guy with a gun that called himself making a difference but did nothing but cause a larger problem."

Zimmerman Freed on $150,000 Bail, Rev. Jackson Says it "Cheapens Black Life" by Hazel Trice Edney

Zimmerman Freed on $150,000 Bail, Rev. Jackson Says it "Cheapens Black Life"

By Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - George Zimmerman – the killer of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin – has been released from the John E. Polk Correctional Facility in Seminole County, Fla. After posting a $150,000 bond, Zimmerman was fitted with a GPS monitor and was released around midnight Sunday to an undisclosed location.

His release comes after Judge Kenneth Lester ruled last week that Zimmerman can relocate out of state until time for his trial on second degree murder charges for the February shooting.

Under the conditions of his release, Zimmerman must check in with authorities every three days and he is on a strict curfew that prohibits him from leaving home between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. His location is a heavily guarded secret for his protection. He is also not allowed to have access to firearms or alcohol and he cannot communicate with Martin’s family or any of the witnesses in the case.

The killing of the unarmed teenager forged protests and a national discussion on race relations in America. Police 911 tapes reveal that Martin was profiled; yet Zimmerman was only arrested after national outrage.

During the bond hearing, which took place in Sanford, Fla. on Friday, Zimmerman apologized to Martin’s family saying he was “sorry for the loss of your son.”

Zimmerman’s apology for Martin’s death was not well received by attorneys representing Martin’s family. They said his statement during the bond hearing was “self-serving”. Martin’s family did not immediately respond to the apology.

At the heart of the legal case is a so-called “Stand your ground” law in Florida. The law allows people to kill another human being if they simply feel that their life is being threatened.

Civil rights leaders continue to monitor the case and have vowed to watch until they see justice done. They are also concerned about similar laws in other states.

“National Action Network's concern is that there is a fair trial,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton in a statement. “And it is imperative that a review of the Stand Your Ground Law be conducted because after today's hearing it is clearly the strategy of the defense. As long as this law stands on the books in Florida and other states we consider this a danger and we are committed to fighting that law."

Rev. Jesse L. Jackson Jr. called for the FBI and Department of Justice to play a “critical role” in the civil case – even after the criminal case is finished. “Racial profiling and killings have become a national pattern,” he said.

Also in a statement, Jackson expressed deep disappointment at the judge’s decision to set the bond at only $150,000 when prosecutors had pressed for a million dollar or no bond.

He said, “This decision cheapens Black life.”

Serious Threat to President Obama? Secret Service Investigates

Serious Threat to President Obama? Secret Service Investigates

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Richmond Free Press

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(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Right-wing rock star Ted Nugent’s inflammatory comments about President Obama have triggered a Secret Service investigation into a potential threat against the president, increasing fears about the safety of the nation’s first Black chief executive.

Concern about the performer’s extremist remarks ratcheted up in the wake of the arrest of a 40-year-old Roanoke man on federal charges of threatening the president. A grand jury indicted Steven John Gurczynski for allegedly making threats against President Obama in November and December 2010.

Nugent, 63, meanwhile, is attracting attention for what the gun-loving guitarist told a National Rifle Association convention earlier this month.

“I’ll tell you this right now: If Barack Obama becomes the president in November, I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year,” Nugent told the audience, according to the Washington Post. But wait — there’s more: “Our president, and attorney general, our vice president, Hillary Clinton — they’re criminals,”

Nugent continued in a rant that was videotaped  and has since been widely aired on cable and network news broadcasts.

“We’re Americans because we defied the king,” he added. “We are patriots; we are bravehearts. We need to ride into that battlefield and chop their heads off in November.”

Just what did Nugent mean by those comments? That’s likely what Secret Service agents asked Nugent when they met with him last week. Agents will seek to find out whether Mr. Nugent’s comments rise to the level of a threat against the president.Federal law prohibits “anythreat to take the life of, to kidnap, or to inflict bodily harm upon” the president and successors to the presidency.

A conviction can result in fines and up to five years in prison. But do Nugent’s comments constitute a “threat”? Not if “a reasonable personwould interpret them as mere political hyperbole, idle talk or jest,” the Justice Department’s manual for federal prosecutors advises.

That’s probably why the aging rock ‘n’ roller is not shying away from his comments or the Secret Service investigation.

“They have a duty. I support them,” Nugent said on a talk radio show, according to Rolling Stone. “I’ve never threatened. I don’t waste breath threatening.

'Health Care Under Assault': Congressman Outlines Pains Before Life Changing Act by Hazel Trice Edney

‘Health Care Under Assault’: Congressman Outlines Pains Before Life Changing Act

By Hazel Trice Edney

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(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Before President Barack Obama signed the long-awaited Affordable Care Act into Law, many Americans suffered – but African-Americans suffered disparately, largely because of economic hardships.

According to U. S. Rep. Congressman Cummings:

• Prior to the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, more than 47 million Americans were uninsured. Of this number, nearly half were working adults. Another 7 million were children.

• Nearly 41 thousand people suffered a premature death because they lacked access to quality, affordable health insurance.

• Every minute, eight people were denied coverage, charged a higher rate, or otherwise discriminated against due to a pre-existing condition.

These were the conditions outlined by Cummings as he spoke to an audience at a Symposium on U. S. Health Care at Howard University last week.

“If Congress had not acted, the cost of health insurance would have driven more people from the market. Health insurance policies would have been out of reach for more small businesses. And more people would have been forced to declare medical bankruptcy following an illness or accident,” Cummings said.

But, now that the U. S. Supreme Court is reviewing the Constitutionality of parts of the Affordable Care Act, new health care benefits and those not even enacted yet are at risk. The main contention is that the Act requires people to purchase some kind of health care, which some say the government has no right to enforce. The Court has heard arguments on both sides and is expected to render its decision in the fall.

“With the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, we made the statement that health care would no longer be a privilege. And on March 23, 2010, President Obama established health care as both a right and a responsibility of the American people,” Cummings said. “Today, this promise is under assault by those who would turn their backs on the social contract.”

In the luncheon speech punctuated by applause, Cummings also outlined what America could lose if the court ruled against the plan. The benefits currently enjoyed under the act include:

• Children with pre-existing conditions are no longer denied access to private health insurance.

• Young adults are allowed to remain on their parents' health insurance plan until the age of 26.

• Small businesses that offer health insurance to their employees are eligible for a 35 percent tax credit.

• Seniors are receiving discounts averaging $500 per year on their prescription costs.

• Medicare preventive services are being provided without co-pays, coinsurance, or deductibles.

• Grants have been provided to the community health centers, hospitals, doctors, and other healthcare professionals responsible for providing care to those most in need.

Yet, 27 states have joined Virginia and Florida in a lawsuit against the Act. The other states are South Carolina, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, Louisiana, Alabama, Michigan, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Washington, Idaho, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arizona, Georgia, Alaska, Nevada, Indiana, Mississippi, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Ohio, Kansas, and Maine.

“This is unacceptable for a nation as wealthy and as generous as ours. I continue to believe not only that the government has the authority to implement health reform, but that it has the moral obligation to do so,” Cummings said.

The day-long symposium included discussions by experts, including doctors and researchers. The audience included health care professionals, students and the general public.

“This is an important time to bring together voices for change,” Cummings said. At one point he drew laughter from the audience describing how he went to the House chamber early in order not to miss the vote for the Affordable Care Act.

But, even if the plan prevails in court, Cummings said many economic pitfalls remain.

“Even if we could guarantee health insurance for everyone - regardless of race, ethnicity, age, or disability - could we guarantee that everyone could get to the doctor? Could we ensure that each person's bus would arrive on time or that each person's car would start that morning? Could we ensure that each person could afford to take the time off from work to visit their doctor?”

He concluded, “The answer, of course, is no. But once the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented, it is my sincere hope that many of the well-known barriers to care will be lessened, even if we’re unable to remove them completely.”

Jena Six Activists and Others Among Targets of NYPD Spying by Jordan Flaherty

Jena Six Activists and Others Among Targets of NYPD Spying

By Jordan Flaherty

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from the Louisiana Weekly

Editor’s Note: Last month, a report from Associated Press revealed that the New York City Police Department traveled to New Orleans in 2008 to spy on local activists. Louisiana Weekly contributor Jordan Flaherty, the writer of this article, was among the named targets of the spying.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - In 2008, officers from the New York City Police Department took a trip to New Orleans to spy on New Orleans' citizens. The occasion was the People’s Summit, a grassroots response to a New Orleans meeting between the presidents of the U.S., Mexico and Canada to expand “security cooperation” as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Activists from across the hemisphere came together to present an alternative vision of globalization, one that empowered communities rather than corporations. Among the local organizations that participated were the Peoples Institute for Survival and Beyond, The New Orleans Workers Center for Racial Justice, and the local chapter of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

The gathering consisted mostly of panels, workshops and discussions. There was street theatre from local day laborers, testimony from Mexican and Canadian workers, and links drawn between corporate profiteering after Hurricane Katrina and the corporate exploitation that was encouraged by NAFTA. Local antiracist activists led story circles – a method for communities to come together through their stories that was developed during the civil rights movement by participants in the Free Southern Theatre.

Although there were some street protests, there were no arrests, not even of the symbolic kind. There was certainly no physical threat to anyone in power – other than the threat of ideas.

And yet, in this time that the public has been told that municipalities must cut back, that there is no funding for public sector workers and teachers’ unions are under attack, the city of New York sent spies to New Orleans to observe this gathering and write it up in a report. Among the local organizations specifically mentioned in the report are members of the local chapter of Critical Resistance, and what the report calls the “Jena Coalition,” referring to activists who had organized around the Jena Six case.

This is far from the first time the NYPD has been caught spying far outside of New York. In a recent series of reports, the Associated Press has documented a wide array of excesses the department has engaged in under the guise of safety. An undercover officer took a whitewater rafting trip with Muslim college students and the department aggressively monitored and infiltrated mosques and Muslim businesses. The NYPD operates in at least 9 foreign countries, and apparently has no hesitation about traveling anywhere in the world they may find useful information.

Recent revelations about NYPD abuses go beyond spying. The notorious stop-and-frisk program, which has led to the criminalization of virtually an entire generation of young men of color in the city, is one example. The New York Civil Liberties Union reported that more than four million stops and interrogations from 2004 through 2011 led to no evidence of any wrongdoing – about 90 percent of all stops. Other recent revelations about NYPD abuses have included arrest quotas, sexual assaults, and the harassment and arrest of an officer who had turned whistleblower.

Here in New Orleans, public outrage has been mounting over the abuses carried out by our own city’s police department. The recent killings of Wendell Allen and Justin Sipp have produced sustained outrage. Allen’s killer remains free, just as Trayvon Martin’s killer has not been charged.

The racist treatment of the people of New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the charges against the Jena Six, the execution of Troy Davis, and now the shooting of Trayvon Martin. All of these cases have created public outrage, a promise of a national conversation on race, and a desire for systemic change. Revelations of NYPD spying and the daily harassment known as Stop-and-Frisk show that police show a daily disrespect for the rights of the public.

Among the most recent discoveries, we have learned that one of the officers who participated in the killing of Justin Sipp wrote racist comments about Trayvon Martin on a news website.

The U.S. Department of Justice is more engaged in oversight of local departments than they have been in at least a generation. But, at least here in New Orleans, the presence of DOJ investigators seems to have not changed the department. The question becomes: what will take to bring real change in the nation’s criminal justice system?

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