Nigeria Tries to Stem Protests Over Abducted Girls

June 8, 2014

Nigeria Tries to Stem Protests Over Abducted Girls

O. Ezekwesili at Abuja protest

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from Global Information Network

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Police in Nigeria have issued a ban against further protests by Nigerian citizens, mostly women, who are demanding that government rescue the nearly 300 kidnapped schoolgirls whose whereabouts government claims to know.

National anger and frustration has turned on the government for its failure to rescue the teenage students and many others being targeted around the country. The girls had been studying in the remote northeastern village of Chibok near the Cameroon border when they were kidnapped on April 14.

The administration of Goodluck Jonathan appears to be growing defensive as an international spotlight remains focused on the country’s security failures. Last week a government-sponsored group appeared, calling itself “Release Our Girls” with the intention of turning attention away from government failures to blame the insurgent movement.

Former World Bank vice president for Africa Obiageli Ezekwesili, recently joined the protests in Abuja’s Maitama park.

In announcing the ban, Police Commissioner Joseph Mbu, called the protests dangerous and embarrassing. "As the Federal Capital Territory police boss, I cannot fold my hands and watch this lawlessness,” he told the state-run news agency... Dangerous elements are planning to join the groups under the guise of protest and detonate explosives aimed at embarrassing the government."

Mbu further complained that the Fountain of Unity, the venue for protests in the capital Abuja, had become a place for "cooking and selling" by vendors to the protesters, becoming a nuisance and too near to the homes of diplomats.

Recently Peter Biyo, a legislator representing Chibok, called on federal officials to demolish the Sambisa forest – believed to be the Boko Haram hideout and so dense “you can only see the next person by your side with a flashlight. Lions, elephants and other animals roam freely,” he claimed. “Sambisa Forest must be destroyed. If the government can do that, the problem of insurgency will end”.

But Forest Management Professor Labode Popoola discounted Biyo’s remarks. In a published editorial, he wrote: “Sambisa Forest, now a National Park, has been heavily deforested… In fact, most of the animals have also migrated as a result of perturbation.

“Nigeria has lost her forest cover which as of 1979 represented about 20 per cent of its total land area…

With barely six per cent of her land area now under forest cover, the country is now at the mercy of ravaging negative climate scenarios, desertification, gully erosion, incidence of diseases and communal conflicts.

To now suggest that one of the few relics of forests in the northern part of Nigeria be destroyed because of a social problem accentuated by years of government insensitivity, mindless corruption and impunity in high places, is to say the least, a wrong approach to solving a self-inflicted problem. Why create more problems in an attempt to solve one?”

N.Y. Man Released After 17 Years for a Crime He Did Not Commit by Frederick H. Lowe

June 9, 2014

N.Y. Man Released After 17 Years for a Crime He Did Not Commit
Witness who testified against him was in jail when the crime occurred

By Frederick H. Lowe

Roger Logan served 17 years in prison for
a crime he did not commit.

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Roger Logan, who served 17 years in prison for murder, was released on Tuesday after it was learned that a woman who claimed she witnessed the crime was actually in jail when the homicide occurred, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office announced.

"The witness could not have made those observations because she was incarcerated," Mark Hale, a Brooklyn, N.Y., prosecutor, said in court, according to news reports. "Mr. Logan's lawyer did not and could not have known this."

Logan, now 53, was sentenced to 25 years to life for the 1997 shooting death of Sherwin Gibbons, who lived in Bedford Stuyvesant. The two argued after a dice game. Law enforcement officials held Logan in jail following his arrest and throughout his trial, the D.A.'s office said in a statement.

Since taking office, Kenneth P. Thompson, the Brooklyn District Attorney, has established a Conviction Review Unit, which is headed by Harvard Law Professor Ronald S. Sullivan Jr. The unit has vacated seven convictions, and 11 convictions have been upheld.

The Brooklyn DA's office is paying close attention to 50 to 57 cases investigated by retired New York City Police Detective Louis Scarcella. The office is investigating a total of 90 cases that might be wrongful convictions.

In May, Thompson vacated the convictions of three half-brothers for two separate murders based on the testimony of Teresa Gomez, a drug addict, who claimed to have witnessed both murders although she consistently got the facts wrong. Gomez, who is now dead, was a witness presented by Scarcella, who has denied any wrongdoing.

According to news reports, Logan contacted Sullivan's office, claiming Scarcella had framed him. The Conviction Review Unit and an Independent Review Panel investigated Logan's allegations before recommending that a judge vacate the murder conviction and release him.

Although Scarcella has not been involved in all the cases being investigated, there are many others that are being investigated for possible wrongful convictions.

In April, District Attorney Thompson vacated the conviction of Jonathan Fleming, who spent 25 years in prison, for a murder that occurred in New York while he was on a family vacation at Disney World in Florida.

Thompson said he ordered Logan's murder conviction vacated in the interest of justice.

"In the interest of justice, I have asked the court to vacate the murder conviction of Roger Logan," Thompson said. "After a thorough review of the case by my Conviction Review Unit and Independent Review Panel, I have concluded that Mr. Logan's conviction should not stand. I am pleased that Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Matthew D'Emic has agreed with my recommendation and that Roger Logan was released today."

New Documents Shed Light on U.S. Spying on Mandela by Zenitha Prince

June 8, 2014

New Documents Shed Light on U.S. Spying on Mandela
By Zenitha Prince

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

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - American intelligence agencies spied on the late South African leader Nelson Mandela during his historic 1990 visit to the United States shortly after his release from a 27-year sentence for anti-apartheid activism.

That revelation is but one of the findings from a batch of documents released by the FBI in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit filed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral candidate Ryan Shapiro.

The 38-year-old historian sued the FBI, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency in March for failing to fulfill FOIA requests for records about the spy agencies’ alleged involvement in Mandela’s 1962 arrest and his placement on the U.S. terror watch list until 2008, among other things.

“Though it’s unfortunate it required a lawsuit, I’m of course pleased the FBI is now complying in part with my FOIA request,” Shapiro told the AFRO. “As a result, we now have evidence the FBI spied on Mandela while they were supposed to be protecting him.”

According to the documents, the FBI developed a confidential informant, referred to as the “source,” who was at least closely affiliated with Mandela’s U.S. entourage. That informant provided logistical information, such as places and times where Mandela would be, and political information, such as a prospective meeting with Louis Farrakhan, and the identities and recent travels of African National Congress (ANC) leaders in the U.S. At the time, the ANC was still considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.

The FBI documents also revealed that several death threats were made against Mandela during his visit. A particularly disturbing one came in the form of a handwritten letter attached to a Houston Chronicle article about the iconic leader’s potential visit to the Texas city. It threatened, “Remember John F. Kennedy in Dallas? Bring this Black murderer to Houston and we will give him a welcome that the world will not forget!!!”

Shapiro said there were several issues that were not addressed in the hundreds of pages provided by the FBI.

“What’s missing from these documents is often as illuminative as what’s disclosed,” he said. “Not only did the FBI heavily redact and withhold documents, but there’s virtually no discussion of U.S. intelligence community involvement prior to Mandela’s 1990 release from prison.

“Worse,” he added, “the agencies most likely to possess such records, the CIA and NSA, continue their refusal to comply with my FOIA requests. Hopefully the judge will compel these agencies to release their documents, but it shouldn’t take a lawsuit to obtain records from a FOIA request. And it’s an especially sad day when the notoriously anti-FOIA FBI is the agency coming closest to compliance with the requirements of the statute.”

Shapiro, a historian who focuses on political functioning of national security and the policing of dissent, said his FOIA requests and follow-up lawsuits were part of his campaign to increase transparency among U.S. government agencies.

“The democratic process cannot meaningfully function without an informed citizenry, and such a citizenry is impossible without broad public access to information about the operations of government,” he said. “It’s time for the U.S. intelligence community to recognize transparency not as a threat, but rather as an essential component of viable democracy."

Koch Brothers Donate $25 Million to the United Negro College Fund By Frederick H. Lowe

May 27, 2010

Koch Brothers Donate $25 Million to the United Negro College Fund
By Frederick H. Lowe

David and Charles Koch

Special to the Trice Edney News Wire from TheNorthStarNews.com.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - The ultra conservative Koch Brothers today announced that they have donated $25 million to the United Negro College Fund, whose members include 37 Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The donation from the Koch Industries Inc. and the Charles Koch Foundation will provide nearly 3,000 merit-based awards to African-American undergraduate, graduate and post-doctorate students.

Key elements of the donation include:

$18.5 million is directed to the UNCF/ Koch Scholars Program and its administration. Funds will be provided for exemplary students with demonstrated financial need and an interest in the study of entrepreneurship, economics and innovative ways to contribute to well-being of individuals, communities and society. The funds also will be used to provide an annual summit, mentorship opportunities and school programs;

$6.5 million is provided for general support to HBCUs and the UNCF, with $4 million set aside for the 37 UNCF –member schools, HBCUs and their students to provide financial relief related to the Parent PLUS loan crisis.

The UNCF has published a 20-page report titled "The Parent Plus Loan Crisis: An Urgent Crisis Facing Students at the Nation's HBCUs," which stated that restrictive U.S. Department of Education guidelines have made it difficult, if not impossible, for needy students to attend HBCUs.

"America faces an ever-increasing need for college-educated African Americans and other Americans of color," the report said. "But instead of making college more accessible to low-income, minority students, the U.S. Department of Education has erected barriers with unnecessarily restrictive eligibility criteria." Because of the restrictions, HBCUs lost $156 million in PLUS loan funds, a 35 percent reduction, during the 2012-2013 academic year, the report stated.

Charles Koch, chairman of CEO of Koch Industries, said, "Increasing well-being by helping people improve their lives has long been our focus. Our partnership with UNCF will provide promising students with new educational opportunities that will help them reach their full potential."

Michael Lomax, chairman and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, said hopefully the new commitment from Koch Industries and the Charles Koch Foundation will spur others to donate to the UNCF.

So what does this all mean? The Koch Brothers, who are billionaires, are riding to the rescue of the UNCF, whose member colleges have been suffering under misdirected guidelines put together by the U.S. Department of Education under President Barack Obama.

At the same time, the Koch Brothers have spent millions of dollars supporting groups like Americans for Prosperity that have worked to suppress African-American voter turnout.

Koch Industries is based in Wichita, Kan., and the Charles Koch Foundation supports college, universities and other non-profit organizations.

LBJ’s Legacy Under Assault by Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

June 8, 2014

LBJ’s Legacy Under Assault

By Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Fifty years later, former President Lyndon Johnson got the tribute he more than earned. Four presidents praised his contribution. The Great Society, the War on Poverty, Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act opened doors that had been locked.

“I lived out the promise of LBJ’s efforts,” said President Obama, rejecting the cynicism of those who would dismantle Medicare and food stamps, signature LBJ achievements. Bill Clinton praised LBJ for demonstrating “the power of the presidency to redeem the promise of America.”

Getting our history right is vital. For decades, LBJ’s achievements have been slighted. Liberals scorned him because of the war in Vietnam, and finally drove him to not seek re-election. Conservatives loathed him because of the Civil Rights achievements, with Republicans moving to displace Democrats as the party of the South.

The War on Poverty, which dramatically reduced poverty in America, was dismissed as a failure, as the anger of the cities exploded. New Democrats dismissed him for believing in big government, as they tacked to a conservative era. In fact, as the Civil Rights Summit at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas, recognized last week, Johnson was a giant, standing with Franklin Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln as presidents who saved America.

Under Johnson, the scourge of segregation was finally ended, and equal protection under the law moved from a lie to a promise. Millions were lifted from poverty, as the poor were provided a ladder up out of despair. Johnson’s reforms — Civil Rights, Voting Rights, Immigration, Medicare, child nutrition, food stamps and more — were nearly as great as those of FDR, and never matched since. Johnson was propelled by a massive movement for Civil Rights, as Americans moved at the courage and dignity of ordinary heroes willing to stand up or sit down, protest or march, suffer abuse and jail for their rights.

He was helped by allies like Dr. Martin Luther King. In the wake of the assassination of JFK, he had a legacy that he could invoke. But his leadership, passion, energy and skill were indispensable. President Obama invoked one of LBJ’s famed lines: “what the hell is the presidency for if not to fight for causes you believe in?”

Acknowledging Johnson’s greatness in our rearview mirror is important in part because it may help our vision looking forward through the windshield. Today, America is more unequal than ever. Our schools are segregated, by race and by class, separate and unequal. We rank second to the lowest among industrial nations in the assistance we provide to the poor.

In LBJ’s time, we enjoyed a broad middle class — for many, there were good jobs and good benefits. Now the middle class is sinking; we suffer mass unemployment with the jobs that are being created too often low pay and part-time. The millennial generation is graduating into the worst economic straits since the Great Depression. And across the country, basic rights are under assault. State after state, particularly across the South, are passing measures to suppress voting — limiting voting days, ending Sunday voting, demanding voter ID, stripping the right to vote from non-violent drug offenders who have served their time, and more.

The Supreme Court has weakened the Voting Rights Act, and is rolling back affirmative action. Republicans in the Congress want to turn Medicare into a voucher, gut Medicaid and turn it into a block grant, slash food stamps, Pell grants and other support for the vulnerable. A detailed analysis by the Center of Budget and Policy Proposals finds 69 percent of the cuts in the budget just passed by Republicans in the House come from programs from poor and low wage workers.

We do well to honor Lyndon Johnson. He understood the power of government to make America better. But it is not enough to honor his legacy. It is time to stir ourselves, as he pushed himself, to not simply defend his contributions, but to extend them to meet the challenges of our day.