Voices Of Unity Youth Choir

Director, Mr Marshall White

The Voices of Unity Youth Choir are scheduled to perform on January 12, 2008 for the Indiana Colts next week during the pre-game show which will not be televised.

NAACP suggest punish merchants who sells drug paraphrenalia

You go to your local gas station and ask for a rose of rockies and you will be surprised at what you get, I was. In the picture is what I was given, NAACP president is holding up two interesting items. Our children should not be exposed to this garbage.

The morning new reported that there were over 500 reports of drug houses and 72 houses were shut down. Hmm, 72 houses is a lot, but the fact that the police department have received over 500 reports is outrageous.

The report suggested that the high incidents of homicide can be directly linked to drugs and domestic violence. They forgot to mention the economic decline in our city.

Let's stop supporting permissive crime in our neighborhoods.

Rev. Michael Latham and Win Moses

Rev. Michael Latham, President of Unit 3049 Fort Wayne NAACP and Indiana State Rep. Win Moses. Journal-Gazette Becky Manley writes about the meeting.

Meeting of the Minds

Yes!!!! Obama Wins! Obama Wins! Obama Wins!

Barack Obama wins caucus.

Obama, 46 and a first-term senator from Illinois, scored his victory on a message of change in Washington. Nearly complete returns showed him gaining 37 percent support from Iowans. Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Clinton, the former first lady, were in a close race for runner-up.

Huckabee, a preacher turned politician, handily defeated Mitt Romney despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars, and deciding in the campaign's final days to scrap television commercials that would have assailed the former Massachusetts governor.

Barack Obama has a few words to say.

Young Black Professional Guide chimes in.

African Women Blog having it say.

Colored Girls who have considered..hope.

Native Son gives a quiet nod.

Black in Business gives his powerful insight in the lack of smiling faces(African-Americans)on the Obama bandwagon.

PlezWorld has a dream for his children in the upset win from Obama.


Jack & Jill Politics gets chill from Obama


Daily Kos, Black Kos: week in review has lots to say about Obama's Iowa win.

Hillary bites back.

Will Obama Win Iowa?

Obama

Obama vs Hillary

Never for get. Check out Dick Gregory Articles

Ron Brown
Ron Brown
Ron Brown
Ron Brown
Ron Brown
Ron Brown

NAACP and the Confederate Flag

From Islandpacket.com:

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Leaders of the South Carolina NAACP will re-ignite their effort to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds this month and hope the presence of two Democratic presidential front-runners adds weight to the annual rally.

Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are scheduled to attend the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday march and rally Jan. 21, just days before Democrats in this early primary state go to the polls. The NAACP hopes the candidates, and the national attention they'll bring, will spotlight the divisive flag that now flutters alongside one of the city's busiest streets.

"America is a mean country and South Carolina is a meaner state," said Lonnie Randolph, president of the state chapter of the NAACP. "For the government of this state to continue to endorse bigotry, racism and white supremacy, we are going to continue raise our voice and speak out against it."

Too Read more Click here

Locally, NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 will be conducting a Community forum for legislators to address hate crime. Gregory Porter will be introducing a new hate crime bill 1076. The new hate crime will include homeless people protection that is different from the bias crime bill Porter introduced under 1459 in February 2008.

The meeting will held in the Downtown Allen County Public Library in Room A at 5:30 P.m. today, January 3, 2008. Win Moses, an Indiana Legislator will discuss the legislation process.

Public Enemy

Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin
GDC#1104651
Georgia State Prison
100 Highway 147
Reidsville, Georgia 30499-9701


Public Enemy

Homicide and Suicide watch for 2008 is needed

Wish -TV reports:

The two cities with the most homicides in Indiana went in opposite directions during 2007, with Gary recording about a 40% increase and Indianapolis seeing a 19% drop.

Indianapolis police are at a loss to explain the abrupt decline to 124 homicides for last year. Gary officials also have no specific reason for the big jump to 71 violent deaths, saying they saw nothing like the gang battles the city had during the 1990s and earlier.

The FBI's rankings for 2007 will not be out until much later in the year, but Gary's homicide rate appears to be about the same as New Orleans, which was the country's bloodiest city during 2006.

In other Indiana cities, Fort Wayne had 25 homicides last year, up from 19 in 2006, and South Bend had seven last year, down from 16 in 2006.

I'll Do My Best

Nguzu/Harbari Gani/Imani

Nguzu/Habari Gani/Imani-Faith

Rosho Awards& Graphics/Jesse and Iris Roley
Scentimental/Incenses, Oils and Natural Bath Products/Akil Naazir

Torres Golden and Shalonda Moore/Corner of Knowledge

#1 Roots of Wellness/Kellie D. Hicks/#2 Urban Update

Six Acres Bed and Breakfast/Kristen Kitch

News Conference for Baudilio Lemus-Rodriguez

From Wane TV:

Family Speaks Out About Police Action Shooting

Updated: Dec 31, 2007 03:12 PM EST




(Fort Wayne - WANE) The family of a man shot and killed by a rookie Fort Wayne police officer says it wants justice. It says the police department used excessive force when it shot his unarmed son.
In a news conference Monday, the father of the shooting victim, Baudilio Lemus-Rodriguez spoke to reporters about the incident. He says he wants the officer shot his son, Officer James Arnold, to not only be off the police force, but behind bars for killing his 24-year old son, Jose Lemos-Rodriguez.

Police shot and killed him after he led them on a chase last Sunday. Spokesmen for the hispanic community said the young Lemos-Rodriguez might have panicked when police pulled him over, for fear of being deported. Lemos-Rodriguez is not a legal citizen of the United States. When Lemus-Rodriguez finally came to a stop, police say he then rammed his car into patrol cars.

That's when Officer Arnold fired multiple shots, resulting in the death of Lemus-Rodriguez. Fort Wayne Police Chief Rusty York says Arnold had just completed training two months ago. Fernando Zapari, a hispanic community spokesperson, said Arnold was a veteran of the Afghanistan war.

York met with the same family members that held the news conference last Thursday. He said at the time, they had questions about how the incident would be investigated. York said he did his best to explain to them what would happen, and that the Indiana State Police would be conducting an independent investigation of the incident. York said the family seemed satisfied with the the Fort Wayne Police Department was handling the investigation.

But, Baudilio Lemus-Rodriguez says he is not. At the conference, he said he not only has questions about the investigations, but doubts about how it is being handled. Not only does he want justice for his young son, with the officer behind bars, but he said he will look for monetary compensation for his family as well. The elder Lemus-Rodriguez says his son has a 4-year old daughter, and girlfriend back in Guatemala where the family is from. Also, the young victim's mother, suffered a heart attack when she heard the news of her sons death, and is now very ill. Mr. Lemos-Rodriguez also does not know right now how he will pay to transport his sons body back to Guatemala. The family did not officially announce a lawsuit against the police department, but an attorney for the family, John Rogers says he will announce their further actions after the investigation by the Indiana State Police is finished, and the Prosecutor takes a look at it.

The family is also waiting to see video from the incident. Chief Rusty York says four cameras caught the incident on tape; two have sharp details.

When praises go up, blessings come down

FWOB Echo chambers of Political Notebook

This was an interesting piece by Niki Kelly and Ben Lanka, no surprise with all the groupies, cronyism and nepotism in the little big city called Fort Wayne, Indiana:

Republicans hold a 5-4 advantage on Fort Wayne City Council, and if voting records are any indication, the newest Democrat will at least be open-minded to siding with her GOP counterparts.

A review of voting records of the four newly elected council members showed that Councilwoman-elect Karen Goldner, D-2nd, voted in as many Republican primaries as those for the Democrats.

She voted Democratic in 2000, Republican in 2002, Democratic in 2003, Republican in 2004 and Democratic in 2006 and 2007. She also voted Republican in 1995, 1996, 1998 and 1999.

Goldner said while she is proud to be a Democrat there have been times she felt the Republican candidates would get her vote in the general election.

“Like most people in the 2nd District, I tend to vote for the person, not the party,” she said.

Now serving as an elected Democrat, she said she doesn’t anticipate voting in any Republican primaries in the near future.

As for the other new members, Councilmen-elect Mitch Harper, R-4th, and Marty Bender, R-at large, voted only in Republican primaries, although they both skipped the 2003 primary election, which, ironically, was for the very seats they now hold. Councilwoman-elect Liz Brown, R-at large, voted in only a few primaries – choosing Republican in 2002, 2004 and 2007.

And as for the city’s newest mayor, Tom Henry didn’t miss an election and voted strictly in Democratic primaries.

I like Ben, but Ben does sometimes write what Ben wants to write..and we(bloggers) attempt to correct him. But Ben ignores us. Remember the photo of the cake...nobody seems to be bothered that the photo credit for the cake was missing from the news story. What'z Up with that?

But, when they messed up Mitch Harper's voting record..it is a whole different ballgame.

Now this will probably grow into a big story for Mitch's neighbor, who just happens to work for the evening newspaper. Are we not surprised when folks seek out the blogs to read rather than fluff news stories?

Now Ben will probably write a correction...but he still has not told us who did took the famous cake picture.

Now which one would like to see as news in your local newspaper, Harper's correction or who took the cake picture?

Nguzu/Habari Gani/Kuumba

Creativity-To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Saint John-IJN Apparel/Owners


Libation for Barbara Jordan, Fannie Lee Hamer

Missing Person-Ambert Alert

AMBER ALERT: Chioma Gray

Nia-Purpose

Maine the allegedly white state-what happened to Indiana?

I picked up this update on the Maine story in from BlackSmythe:

December 28, 2007, Threat in Maine, the Whitest State, Shakes Local N.A.A.C.P.

By ABBY GOODNOUGH of the New York Times
BANGOR, Me. — In October, the N.A.A.C.P. chapter for northern Maine got shocking news. A man from a nearby town had threatened to shoot “any and all black persons” attending the group’s meetings at an old stone church here, and state prosecutors were worried enough to seek a restraining order.

Such remarks are not unheard of in Maine, the nation’s whitest state, which has fewer black residents — 10,918 in 2006, or less than 1 percent of the population, according to the Census Bureau — than some neighborhoods of Chicago or New York. But nor are they usually so blunt. The chapter has since held meetings at police stations and canceled its annual Kwanzaa celebration, which normally draws people from up and down the coast of Maine.

“It’s discouraging and it’s heart-wrenching,” said Joseph Perry, president of the chapter, which has 175 members from Augusta to the Canadian border. “There are still people who aren’t comfortable, who don’t feel safe.”

The man who made the threat was Kendrick Sawyer, 75, whose doctor at a veterans hospital in Augusta reported it to the police. Mr. Sawyer also said that Maine “should be a ‘white’ state,” according to court documents, and that he owned a .45-caliber handgun. No criminal charges have been filed, but law enforcement officers removed the gun from Mr. Sawyer’s home in Brewer, across a river from Bangor, and the Maine attorney general’s office filed a civil complaint against him.

“This man’s threat was shocking in its specificity and the anger it contained,” said Thomas Harnett, the assistant attorney general for civil rights education and enforcement. “It’s not often you see something articulated so clearly and so filled with acknowledged prejudice.”

Still, Mr. Harnett said his office received 250 to 300 reports of bias incidents every year from around the state, most of them racially motivated.

Many come from Lewiston, where more than 3,000 Somali immigrants have settled in recent years. In July 2006, a group of Somalis were worshiping in a storefront mosque there when a white man rolled the head of a pig, an animal considered unclean in Islam, across the floor. And last month, a Somali student at Lewiston High School said, a white man threw sand and dirt in his face as he ran at a cross-country meet.

Last year, a white man shouted racial slurs at a pregnant black woman in Hancock, near Bangor, and kicked her in the abdomen, according to Mr. Harnett’s office. And in March, Assata Sherrill, a black resident of Bangor, told the police that three white boys had thrown stones and shouted racial epithets at her as she walked her dog near the city’s waterfront.

Ms. Sherrill — who lives here with her teenage daughter, a high school senior who “hates every minute of it” and wants to attend historically black Spelman College in Atlanta — says she moved to Maine from Detroit in search of tranquillity. After the attack on her, she organized a series of community forums to discuss race issues in Maine. This month she held an alternative Kwanzaa celebration after Mr. Sawyer’s threat led the N.A.A.C.P. to cancel its larger version.

“I’m not about to stop living and holding celebrations because somebody else is sick,” Ms. Sherrill said. “As long as your skin is black and you live in the United States of America, you are going to be confronted.”

This month a state judge signed an order barring Mr. Sawyer from threatening, using violence against or even speaking to any of the chapter’s members. It also requires him to stay at least 150 feet away from anywhere the N.A.A.C.P. meets. A hearing has been delayed for six months while Mr. Sawyer gets medical treatment and counseling, Mr. Harnett said.

Ms. Sherrill said that from her perspective, Mainers were not so much racist as insular and suspicious of anyone from, as they put it, “away.”

“Anybody from away, regardless of color or whatever, is different,” she said.

Mr. Harnett said that he did not think Maine “more hateful” than other states but that it was perhaps better at encouraging people to report bias incidents.

“Because we have these systems in place,” he said, “we are more aware of what’s happening and more responsive to what’s happening.”

Mr. Harnett’s office provides civil rights training to more than 3,000 student volunteers a year, organizing them into teams to address incidents of bias and harassment in the state’s public schools. Many of the state’s hate crimes are committed by young men in their teens and early 20s, he said, so the training starts in elementary school.

Bangor, a city of 31,000 people, does not yet have a civil rights team at its high school, the largest in the state.

“I find that rather amazing,” said Mr. Perry, the local N.A.A.C.P. official.

Mr. Perry said his chapter had been inundated with supportive calls and letters since the October threat. He thinks membership may even rise as a result. Only about 35 percent of the chapter’s current members are black, he said, and he wants to see more.

“We’re active,” Mr. Perry said, “but not as active as I would like. We want to get more people involved, do more things.”

Next year, he said, the Bangor chapter may hold a joint Kwanzaa celebration with its counterpart in Portland, which covers the state’s southern region. Until then, he will search for ways to get people talking more frankly about racial tension in Maine.

“Something like this pops up,” he said, “and you realize you have a longer way to go. You can’t just say it was one of those crazy things that will never happen again.”


I wrote about this incident early. But, after a conversation with my grandson and the post on BlackSmythe that I wanted to revisit the denial of racialist behavior.

My grandson called me a subliminal racist. My grandson turns 19 today, and he believes that I am encouraging racialism. He is testing me and his voice, and I believe I can withstand the test.

I suggest to him that I am aware which causes me to be more sensitive to the below the belt Whereas, he wants to believe that the world is going to accept him based on who he knows. That somehow, he is born in an era where discrimination is now outlawed and folks like me are just scanning for slights by raced whites folks.

It bothers him that I use the term "raced whites." It does not make any sense he tells me.

I explain. He counterattacks. He refuses to defer to my definition and tells me it still does not make sense. I am just an old woman.

No shrinking violet, but more like a blade of grass that will not succumb to the lawnmower blade pf his attack. I go deep into his reasoning, his ego, testing his unwavering belief system.

Think.

Its beyond the books..grandson..beyond the books. Pull up your experience, pull up the experiences of the past..reach.

Reach...to justify unacceptable behavior as being just slights, or just misunderstandings.. not acceptable.

Deny that the battle has not been completely won.

It's a head game.

Like when he was little and my young daughter used to ask him "what color are you?" My grandson would answer, whatever color that he was wearing that day. He had no clue,and would look at the color of his clothes to answer her.

It was game between him and his aunt.

It is not, she was testing him, had he been called something beyond his birth name.

I did not have the heart to tell him one of my best friends is from Bangor, Maine...her birth certificate says she is caucasian, but she says she is an African-American.

New Year Resolution--analog to digital television

I am here in Houston Texas, and I learn that my analog television will go snowy when it comes to certain stations. Well, I was not planning on purchasing any new television,until I heard that the government may offer vouchers. These vouchers can be used to turn the old into the new, I guess.

My understanding you can start to apply for these vouchers in January, 2008. I thought I would share with my readers, most who probably have purchased digital televisions. I didn't want leave you in the dark when it comes to your favorite programming. Plus this gives you another reason to continue your holiday shopping.

I should be home soon.Happy Kwanzaa

...Shame the devil

I got this from a reader in my email and you can find also on Fort Wayne News site:

Letter to Dan Sigler


Your pompous protestations with regard to honest speculation about the charges against Matt Kelty are laughable. You claim such comments could undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system. That ship has sailed, brother. It was far at sea long before you answered his motion to dismiss with threatening harrumphs.

Greater Fort Wayne is consumed by violent, drug-rooted crime, but that doesn't draw the imperious attention of a special prosecutor. Instead, if I read news coverage of your motion correctly, you're hounding this man because he was having money trouble and too embarrassed to admit it - even to you and your Star Chamber of nodding heads.

That's essentially it, isn't it? Well, so what? Who in Fort Wayne - apart from puffed-up prosecutors and various other overpaid empty suits - isn't strapped? Struggling taxpayers have to bankroll everything from top-dollar school-construction consultants to lumbering white elephants like Harrison Square.

While you're selectively unsealing grand jury testimony, unseal the price tag for this charade. A full accounting should be made - under oath, so every word can be parsed for potential perjury. Whatever the cost, the money would be better spent repairing our antique sewers, among other needs addressed by Kelty's mayoral campaign.

I don't know the man. We have no dealings personally, politically or professionally. I know a vendetta when I see one, however, and an abusive prosecutor intoxicated with his own importance. Frankly, your intimidating methods seem worthier of investigation than his financial reports. Do something useful and resign.

Bill Forsythe

Nguzu Saba/Habari Gani/Ujamaa/ cooperative economic

Ujamaa is co-operation and collective advancement beyond self. The concept of its is better to give than to receive can be derived from this principle.

Millions of dollars leave our community because it so easy for us to be consumers of instant gratification. It is so easy to jump in a vehicle and seek out a bargain. So we think, but leaving our neighborhoods cost us time and other incidental expenditures that we fail to include in the purchase of a product. It is important for us to prevent a ghost town from happening in our community, by supporting those businesses that support our community. And it is important that we address our community's needs by crafting products based on those needs.

When I was a little girl, I went door to door delivering out-of -state newspapers, such as Pittsburgh Courier, Chicago Defender, Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis Recorder, and the Grits. Not only did I earn money for delivering the newspapers, but was able to read these newspapers. From the majority of these newspapers, I learned that African-Americans spoke their lives in newspapers, music and later magazines. These written resources were created from a people who earlier was forbidden to read or write. I was proud, peddling papers from a people, who not only could read and write, but dared to discuss issues that was impacting the African-American way of life in America !!! But, I got something else from selling those newspapers filled with diverse opinions, entrepreneurial skills. By the time I was 13 I was collecting rent for my uncles from renters who lived in their apartment.

It was cooperative economic..meeting a need..I salute each and everyone of them, those living and those who have gone on.

Libation for Maria W. Stewart, Ida B. Wells, Zora Neale Hurston, Leanita McClain and Frank Burton.

Tell the truth and shame the...

I found this on Fort Wayne Left blog a post written by Otto:

Scott,
I don't disagree with you, but I don't think is a question of good people. When the Republicans have a lock on politics in the county for 70 years you can't expect too much-it becomes a structural problem.

We have Kelty to thank for spliting up the Kabbal. People...aka politicians are tired of submitting to the 10% extortion of their salaries to Steve Shine et. al. for the honor of serving.

Despite all of the Republicans praising of competition etc, there has been no political competition around here in decades-thanks to the organized crime structure of the Republican party. The Dems can't be let off easily either...they could keep pounding this extortion racket, but they don't want to rock the boat-lest their positions are threatened.

A classic example of this is Tracy Warner. He takes the easy and honest shots at Kelty as a substitute for real investigative journalism. He has to admit that Kelty was a gift of god. He can appear to be an investigative reporter/editorialist who asks serious questions and we all think that FW has an honest press...oh I forgot they did that fish story

Holiday Sport Fans-Bishop Luers 67, Northrop 60

Taxes and why cities are going Green

Free hybrid-car parking. Cash rebates for installing solar panels. Low-interest loans for energy-saving home renovations. Money to tear up desert lawns and replace them with drought-resistant landscaping.

Frustrated by what they see as insufficient action by state and federal government, municipalities around the country are offering financial incentives to get people to go green.

"A lot of localities recognize they're going to get a lot more done using carrots and incentives rather than regulatory means," said Jason Hartke, director of advocacy for the U.S. Green Building Council.

In Parkland, where the motto is "Environmentally Proud," the city plans next year to begin dispensing cash rebates to its 25,000 residents for being more environmentally friendly.

"We will literally issue them a check," said Vice Mayor Jared Moskowitz. "We're sick of waiting for the federal government to do something, so we've got to do what we can."

Residents who install low-flow toilets or shower heads will get $150. Replacing an old air conditioner with a more energy-efficient one brings $100. Buying a hybrid car? An additional $200 cash back. And the list goes on.

Nguzu Saba /Habari Gani/Ujima

Please click on the highlighted build and maintain below.

Collective Work and Responsibility-to build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's our problems and to solve them together.



Minister Chike Akua



Biography
Chike Akua is a 1992 graduate of Hampton University and a 2003 graduate of Clark Atlanta University. With over 12 years of classroom teaching experience, Bro. Akua has distinguished himself as an educator, lecturer, and author. In 1995, he was selected as a Teacher of the Year for Newport News (Virginia) Public Schools. In 1996, the Dekalb County Board of Education (Atlanta, Georgia) awarded him the Achievement Award for teaching excellence and service to youth. Akua has since conducted system-wide staff development and was described as “a master teacher.” Selected as one of Ebony magazine’s “50 Leaders of Tomorrow” (November, 1995), Akua has appeared on radio and television talks shows sharing his perspectives on education, spirituality, and self-knowledge. Additionally, he has facilitated workshops on sexual abstinence, youth advocacy, and African cultural awareness for the Tavis Smiley Foundation’s annual “Youth 2 Leaders” Conference. Akua, a Christian minister and consultant with Imani Enterprises, is the author of several books including:
• A Treasure Within: Stories of Remembrance & Rediscovery
• A Treasure Within: Parent/Teacher Resource Guide
• A Kwanzaa Awakening: Lessons for the Community
• WORDS OF POWER: Ancient Insights & Modern Messages for Parents and Teachers
• The African Origins of Our Faith
Akua is a member of the Imani Christian Center (Tucker, Georgia) where he teaches “The African Origins of Our Faith.” He has served as an educational consultant for Georgia State University’s teacher certification program and the North Carolina Center for Advanced Teaching. Akua continues to train teachers and develop Afrocentric and multicultural curriculum.


Note Minister Akua's brother J.R. Fenwick's audiobook How I Quit My $100,000 a Year Job

Libation for Bebe Campbell Moore-Author

Sex Offenders-Ex post facto

Indiana bundled all of its sexual offenses together in order to increase Indiana number of violent sex offenders beyond the actual violent cases. Indiana did so, by labeling other classes or tpes of sexual offenses with a stroke of the pen rather than the classification from the original offense of the offender. This requires people individuals who committed crimes years ago and were released from supervision.

What is means is those folks will have to voluntarily come in to be tracked for a lifetime of probation by registering their whereabout on a yearly basis. Some of these folks are unknown, and the unfairness in the current law, is having those who committed such crimes before the registry law was put in place.

Indiana Legislaters played judges and repealed the old law that exempted those who were required to register for only 10 years. The legislators did so to hide the fact that those who committed lesser offenses were treated differently and to convince folks that all sexual offenders were treated the same. This is unfair to those who were released and the new law reaching back to include those who were eligible to be exempt from registering under the new Law after their 10 years probation.

In Jane Doe I, et al., Appellants, v. Thomas Phillips, et al., Respondents.
Megan's Law is Retrospective In Its Operation as to Persons Convicted or Pleading Guilty Prior to Its Passage.

In the same sentence that bars ex post facto laws, Missouri's Constitution provides, "that no . . . law . . . retrospective in its operation . . . can be enacted." Mo. Const. art I, sec. 13. This provision has no analogue in the United States Constitution and is contained in the constitutions of only a handful of other states.(FN16) The Does argue it precludes application of Megan's Law to those who pled guilty or were found guilty prior to the act's January 1, 1995, effective date.
The Does' argument finds strong support in R.W., 168 S.W.3d 65, in which plaintiff made a parallel argument that Megan's Law violated Missouri's bar on ex post facto laws. This Court rejected the claim not because the law was not retrospective, but because the law was civil rather than punitive in nature. In so doing, R.W. specifically acknowledged, "The registration statutes operate retrospectively in this case." Id. at 68 (emphasis added).

This statement has direct application to the Does' assertion that the law is unconstitutional for this very reason. The statement is dicta, however, for the issue whether such laws are barred by the Missouri Constitution was not briefed in R.W. While persuasive, R.W. is not determinative of the question now before this Court: does Missouri's Megan's Law violate article I, section 13 to the extent it operates retrospectively on persons who pleaded or were found guilty prior to its effective date?

The constitutional bar on civil laws retrospective in their operation has been a part of Missouri law since this State adopted its first constitution in 1820.(FN17) The 1875 constitutional debates note this bar is broader than the ex post facto bars in other states:

[T]he prohibition of retrospective legislation or forbidding the General Assembly to pass a law retrospective in its character did at one breath accomplish the prohibition of a more extensive kind of a more comprehensive nature than was to be found in any of the constitutions of but three states in the Union. So that the prohibition of an act retrospective in its operation in the Constitution of 1820 rendered it nearly superfluous to add the prohibition of an ex post facto law or of a law impairing the obligation of contracts, or of a law impairing vested rights….

The new law has removed the 10 year probation and has placed these individuals under a lifetime probation. Do we know who these folks are prior to 1994, probable not. Are we treating folks differently by not having an effective date for whose impacted under the new new? I would think so.


Are people who were convicted of a sex or violent offense before Indiana had a registration law required to register?

Indiana's sex and violent offender registration law initially required people convicted of specific sex offenses after June 30, 1994 and those convicted of certain violent offenses after June 30, 1998 to register with local law enforcement authorities in the communities where they intended to live, work, or study. Effective July 1, 2001, however, these dates were removed from Indiana's sex and violent offender registration law.

Consequently, offenders who may now be required to register because specific registration dates have been removed from the law may previously have been told that they did not need to register.




Indiana law requires that offenders must be provided with all of the following forms of notice (see IC 5-2-12-7):

The offender must be notified both orally and in writing of his/her duty to register;
The offender must sign statements acknowledging receipt of oral and written notifications of the duty to register (or, if the offender refuses to sign, the soliciting officer must certify that the offender was notified of the duty to register both orally and in writing);
The offender must be provided with a registration form; and
The offender must be given at least 7 days to register.

Nguzu Saba/Habari Gani/Kujichagulia/self-determination

Self-determination-to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.


I changed my name during high school. I changed my name again, years later. I enjoy explaining who I am beyond the label given to me or about me. I enjoy creating my expression through writing and sharing my opinions about how I perceive stuff through my own personal lens. From my personal lens, I don't see a box that I must fit in. I see a path that I am not completely free to walk toward but encourage others to endure and walk toward self-determination.

My grandson called me a subliminal racist. I take this to mean that I have suppress my hatred of raced white into political activism focusing on race..the African-Americans. Which supports my theory that I am not a racist, but that I have a heighten awareness of my surrounding when it comes to those who pretend that all is right in America.

My grandson wants me to pretend that race does not matter. I must speak about us.


Libation for Johnny Cochran-attorney

NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Takes on Heritage

Story originally printed in Frost Illustrated:

The National NAACP campaign to bury the N--Word must not have reached East Allen County School District over the summer. On November 12, 2007 two students at Heritage Junior-Senior High School allegedly found notes in their lockers, with the following message: “Hunting deer or/hunting niggers/we’re getting drunk/and pulling triggers/ Welcome to Monroeville. The poorly scribbled hate note included a directive: “to move them north” and “2 bars 13 stars fuck you niggers the south is ours!”

The message was not perceived as welcoming to some students or their parents.

Matter of fact, one of the student’s parents found the graffiti laced message including a drawing of the confederate flag and dangling KKK letters disturbing; so disturbing that they contacted the Allen County Sheriff Department, Heritage Junior-Senior High School Principal Chris Hissong, and the Fort Wayne-Allen NAACP Branch #3049. The parents were concerned about the safety of their student and other students at the school.

The President of the local NAACP, President Pastor Michael L. Latham responded.

The following Tuesday, the local NAACP contacted Principal Hissong to arrange a meeting to address the note and the safety issue for Wednesday morning. The NAACP is one of the oldest and largest civil right organizations working to eliminate racial hatred and intolerance. The note’s message of domestic terrorism was viewed as a direct threat to harm African-American students. Especially with the increasing sighting of hanging nooses, violence from numerous students’ rage shooting occurring on school campuses, safety was the immediate concerns for all students at Heritage.

It did not take long for Pastor Latham to discover at Heritage that safety of students may be an issue. The NAACP president discovered that gaining access to students was as simple as walking through the unlocked front doors--a potential jeopardy of students’ lives. Moreover, during the fact-finding meeting, the school principal revealed that the 16 cameras installed to monitor activities at the school did not cover certain areas on the second floor. To prevent the situation from continuing to escalate, the NAACP president felt duty bound to advocate for the students and parents.

As a precautionary measure, the principal and the local NAACP president worked on a tentative plan to address the note and put students, teachers, and staff on notice that racial intolerance would not be tolerated at the school. Part of the plan was for the principal and the president to hold a joint press conference on Friday morning to put the community at ease with the message that the school was working with the NAACP to build better racial relationships.
This immediate response was necessary in order to de-escalate the potential for harm to students. But, by Thursday afternoon, there was a shift in the NAACP’s game plan.

On November 15, 2007, EACS Superintendent Dr. M. Kay Novotny summoned the NAACP president to her office canceling the joint press conference. Superintendent Novotny explained to NAACP representative President Latham that EACS district would handle the situation “internally” and with her own “external personalities.” Novotny message was firm and clear. EACS was unwilling to work with the representative of the NAACP on this issue.

Nevertheless, President Latham informed Superintendent Novotny that four African-American students, three females, 9th and 10th graders, entered the principal’s office, declaring they were sick and tired of being called the N—and B—word, after his visit with the principal of Heritage had ended and as he prepared to exist the principal office that Wednesday afternoon. EACS decision to go mute on the issue would not stop the NAACP from conducting its own press conference as planned for the following Friday morning.

Still more drama.

On November 16, 2007, just minutes before the local NAACP president was to conduct the press conference, some Monroeville community leaders called with concerns, requesting a meeting with the local NAACP. They would have to wait until after the scheduled press conference and the on air interview to meet with the NAACP President Latham. The NAACP press conference went on as scheduled.

Later, Monroeville community leaders expressed discontent with the message of the note at the third meeting of the day for the local NAACP president. Monroeville leaders were appalled but encouraged by the local NAACP to address the issue in spite of the “wait and see” attitude exhibited by the EACS district. Monroeville community leaders felt it was important to refute the image in the note depleting Monroeville as a racially intolerant town and scheduled their own press conference that evening.

EACS discovered it was powerless in gagging the efforts of the local NAACP and decided to attend a NAACP meeting scheduled on Monday, November 19, 2007 for the community to discuss the racial tension at Heritage.

That evening, Superintendent Novotny, EACS Board President and some of the EACS staff members, attended the NAACP’s meeting as well as various other community leaders. At the meeting, for the first time, some EACS members heard parents and other community members sound off and complain about the district unwillingness or inability to address their concerns about messages of racial hatred within its schools. One local community leader reported seeing the letters KKK in the locker room. Former students reported coaches freely using racial epithets. Moreover, this newspaper reported harassment of students back in 1995. The community was frustrated.

Parents’ frustration was with school official inability to work with them in helping to eliminate the problem of racial harassment. Parents had counseled their children to turn the other cheek and to ignore the derogatory putdowns. In spite of the fact, that EACS had in place policies outlined in their very own EACS Guide To Students and Parents Student Conduct Code handbook for handling such issues.

The parents at the meeting expressed a concern that the school was ignoring the problem of racial tension in its schools. The parent felt the school was not listening.

EACS was listening...

The next day, on Tuesday, November 20, 2007, Superintendent Novotny and EACS held their own press conference absence the NAACP, unveiled their brief plan for addressing the racial issue and the entities they were willing to work with. And on the following day, the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday and just before the closing hours of the schools, EACS issued a press release to the media to announce that the threatening note was not found in the students’ lockers as earlier reported in the media.

Just enough information to quiet the storm ever so slightly, but no new information on the person who wrote the “Niggerdieday” note. “Lowkey Joe” or “Cowboy Joe” the signer of the note remained unknown and unpunished.

But who was punished were some of the students who reported racial incidents, each received two-five days in school suspensions. The disparate treatment could have had a chilling effort for reporting racial incidents by students at the school, if the NAACP did not continue to stay the course.

EACS’s decision to placate the community by ending the investigation fell on death ears. The local NAACP took in the new information and readied itself for meetings slated with the Indiana Civil Right Commission and the United States Department of Justice.

On December 3, 2007, the local NAACP conducted a meeting with the Indiana Civil Right Commission Executive Director Judge Gregory K. Scott. The state civil right organization had jurisdiction over the matter, where the local Fort Wayne Metropolitan Human Relations Commission had none. The ICRC explained the process for filing a discriminatory complaint and the investigatory procedures.

Another agency interested in the racial tension brewing in the EACS district was the United States Department of Justice on met with the community on December 10, 2007. According to Anita Cochran, Conciliation Specialist U.S. DoJ, Community Relations Service, a long-term mediator for the U.S. DoJ stated she was contacted by Barbara Bolling, the President of the Indiana National Association for the Advancement of Colored People about the issue.

The local NAACP not wanting to be disruptive to the process voluntarily agreed to work with the U. S. DoJ to push for a safe environment for all students. Cochran had previously worked with racial issues in Fort Wayne and was more than willing to meet with local NAACP President, its members and other community leaders listening to the concerns and recommendations for resolving the Heritage issue.

EACS representative met with Cochran on December 11, 2007 but has not made a decision on whether or not EACS will use the services provided by the U.S. DoJ. And at the time of the writing of article a complaint has not been filed with the ICRC against East Allen County Schools or Heritage.

If you would like to help the local NAACP mission of fighting discrimination, you can become a member of the organization. The local NAACP is a membership only organization and relies heavily on the generosity of others. Please make a donation today by calling 260-744-2176 or stopping by the office located at 1521 E. Pontiac between the hours 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.


Jacqui Dowdell, dowdellresearch, llc 260-602-1878, public relation person of NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County #3049

Nguzu Saba /Habari Gani-Umoja

#1 Umoja

The principle= to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

If we could start with family, I believe many of the other collective groups might fall in place. I find working with family and extended relatives a challenge, myself. The problem I confront on a daily basis is the disconnect that occurs from family members taking on street values rather than staying true to helping family has harmed the stability of many families.

The community, I think will heal when families began healing and by not treating folks like street. Our nation will move forward when folks we elect to represent our country are held accountable.

Our race as the human race can only improve after we began to treat others as being part of this great big family in the universe.


Libation for James Brown=thanks for telling us that we should be proud people. Please, Please RIP- Godfather of Soul.

Happy Christmahannakwanzaka

Whatever you are celebrating!!!! Joy Peace and a HAPPY NEW YEAR

Man dead

Police Chief Rusty York said an off-duty officer tried to pull the driver over after he saw him run a stop sign.


Ran a stop sign, crashed into a tree..off-duty officer????

Merry Christmas from C.G.

Merry Christmas,

As everyone is aware, White Christmas is the best-selling song of all time. Mistakenly, everyone assumes that Bing Crosby’s version accounts for the majority of recordings sold and played. In actuality, it is the song not the artist that holds the record.

Although not the most played, the most requested version is White Christmas by the Drifters, recorded in 1954. The group featured Clyde Mc Phatter and Bill Pinkney singing bass.

It was a unique group in that each singer owned part of the group and as they left the group they sold their position to their replacement. One of those replacements was Ben E. King. The Original Drifters had a harmony, rhythm, and vocals that had no rivals then or now. Bill Pinkney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also pitched in Negro Baseball League with the likes of Satchel Paige.

Bill Pinkney brought to the group a wealth of worldly knowledge and compassion that is only acquired through personal experience. In addition to being an artist, Mr. Pinkney was a World War II hero, who fought on the European front. He must have been an easy target, a black man in an American uniform against the white snow.

Mr. Pinkney won four Bronze Stars for heroism at Normandy, Bastone, Saint Lo, and the Rhine River. He also received a Presidential Citation. More than likely, the color of skin prevented him from receiving the Congressional Metal of Honor. The world lost Living Legend Bill Pinkney this year on the 4th of July. It's not irony, but destiny that he died on the same day as John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. And like the others before him he leaves behind his legacy to be appreciated by future generations of Americans.

Ladies and gentlemen, the late great Bill Pinkney wishing you a Merry Christmas in a format that he thoroughly enjoyed.

http://www.thecompassgroup.biz/merryxmas.swf

Advance Indiana: Carson's Final Visit To The State House

Advance Indiana: Carson's Final Visit To The State House

NAACP Victory in North Carolina

Much diligent work by the NAACP North Carolina State Conference
continues to produce significant results. Prosecutors announced
yesterday that James Johnson, 21, will not face murder charges in
connection with the death of a white, female classmate following their
graduation from a high school in Wilson in 2004. Yet an accessory
charge remains.

Johnson spent more than three years in a North Carolina jail awaiting
trial. No physical evidence ties Johnson to the crime and two DNA tests
clear him in the death. He provided information to the police to help
identify the killer and locate the victim, yet he was penalized.


YET he was penalized.

The state conference's work led to Johnson's release on bond in October
and reassignment of the case to the Administrative Office of Courts,
supervised by Chief Justice Sarah Parker of the state's Supreme Court.
The man who implicated Johnson in the death has since recanted and is
serving a life sentence for the murder.


Read more here

What I want for Christmas, Santa..

Remember the troops and bring them all safely home. Thanks Field Negro.

Student Education: NAACP declares a state of emergency

According to Associated press, The Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation plan to train teachers in the subject of math and science. The program will use Indiana as a model for training an elite group to go out into the America to improve teacher education in the future.

The program will start in 2008 with the first fellow to hit the ground running in 2009. From the news release: Both the state and the national versions of the strategy focus on four goals:
§ Transform teacher education—not just for Fellows but for the universities that prepare them, other teacher candidates in the same programs, and the high need
schools where they are placed as teachers;
§ Get strong teachers into high need schools. Indiana has chosen to focus on attracting math and science teachers, though other states may choose different subject areas;
§ Attract the very best candidates to teaching through fellowships with well known
names and high visibility; and
§ Cut teacher attrition and retain top teachers through intensive clinical preparation and ongoing in school mentoring, provided by veteran teachers and supported by able principals.

Read the news release here

From Inside Indiana Business, "Schools are only as good as the teachers who serve in them,” said David Haselkorn, senior fellow at Woodrow Wilson, who directs the Foundation’s teaching fellowships. “This is a new strategy to ensure excellence in teaching, the profession that shapes America’s future.”

Recently the local NAACP made some similar recommendation impacting the racial tension occurring at EAST ALLEN COUNTY DISTRICT that goes way beyond study circles.

Searching for legitimacy in the blogosphere

Blogosphere freedom of expression can not be controlled by party alliances. The blogosphere had little to do with the outcome of the election. The folks who fought against the smoking ban, the split in the Republican party and the folks who fought against Harrison Square had the biggest impact on the election.

The blogosphere offered a venue for folks with difference views to sound off. The blogosphere challenged the limited information and the lack of transparency from local officials.



P.S. Yes I am upset that I was not selected for the new media new rules..just kidding.

"Jeff Pruitt made a point that struck me as having something of the essence of ‘the blogosphere’, when he was talking about the evolution of Kelty’s cake picture from a Flickr picture to a post on his website, to front-page news in the Journal Gazette."

The cake picture..did not come from mainstream media and mainstream media nor the blogosphere gave credit to the owner of the picture because it did not come from members of their groupie..so much for new media new rules..

To get the identity of local bloggers two network have been formed:

U-Blog Press

Fort Wayne Blogger Network

However, MY very own pageflakes does not ask for your identity because you have a right to blog whatever..but I don't belong to mainstream media or mainstream political parties, so you will not see me on most of these blogs in the blogosphere.

In honor of United States Representative Julia Carson 1938-2007

The governor has ordered that that flags in the state be lowered to half-staff until sunset on Saturday. From the IndyStar:

Honored at the Statehouse

• Procession starts at 7:30 a.m. A horse-drawn military caisson will leave Carson's home in the 2400 block of North Park Street. The procession will go south on Park to 22nd Street, west to Capitol Avenue, then south to the Statehouse, where Carson's casket will be placed in the Rotunda.

• Program starts at 10 a.m. It will include remarks by Gov. Mitch Daniels, Mayor Bart Peterson and Carson's grandson Andre Carson.

• Public viewing starts at 10:20 a.m. The public should enter through the north door.

• Celebration of Life memorial is 6 to 8 p.m. No details were available Thursday.

• Public viewing resumes 8 to 10 p.m.

SATURDAY

Funeral and burial

• Service will be at 10 a.m. The funeral at Eastern Star Church, 5750 E. 30th St., is expected to last about four hours. Among the speakers: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan; radio and TV talk show host Tavis Smiley; Sen. Richard Lugar; former Sen. Birch Bayh; House Majority Whip James Clyburn; Rep. Pete Visclosky; Indiana House Speaker B. Patrick Bauer; Rep. Bill Crawford; labor leader Cordelia Lewis-Burks; Peterson and Daniels.
The sanctuary has seating for 2,500 people; two overflow rooms can hold 1,800.

• Burial will be at Crown Hill. Graveside ceremony will include a three-volley salute, presentation of colors and presentation of the flag to Carson's family.

Media coverage

• IndyStar.com: Go to IndyStar.com throughout today and Saturday for coverage including photos and video.
• Television: WTHR (Channel 13), WISH (Channel 8), WRTV (Channel 6) will begin funeral coverage at 10 a.m. Saturday.
• Radio: WTLC-AM (1310) and WTLC-FM (106.7) will broadcast live coverage of Saturday's services.

Read more

How high must you go to avoid being called the N-Word

One may not be able to escape the N-Word, but you can make it pretty costly for those who can't change bad habits.

Letter to the Editor about EACS

From the Journal-Gazette--- "EACS needs more than PR professional
I live in the East Allen County Schools district. My taxes go to this district; luckily my children do not.

Now Superintendent Kay Novotny and the school board would like to look into hiring a public relations professional. This PR professional would help with the image of EACS. The only thing that will help the image of EACS is to get rid of Novotny, Woodlan Principal Ed Yoder and board president Stephen Terry.

I can’t see that happing anytime soon. So I have a more cost-effective answer. Take some of Novotny’s outrageous salary ($150,000) or better yet, her more outrageous car allowance ($900 a month). Go out and buy a new, bigger rug and new brooms. The rug they have been sweeping everything under can’t have anymore room, and the brooms have to be worn out by now.


KURTIS LOTHAMER Fort Wayne "

Indiana Representative Julia Carson does it her way-Rest in Peace

Funeral arrangements for the late Rep. Julia Carson (D) of the 7th Congressional District of Indiana have been announced. A procession from her home in the 2500 block of North Park Avenue to the State House rotunda is planned for this Friday. Her body will lie in state at the State House rotunda, where a public memorial service will be held at 6:00 p.m. Gov. Mitch Daniels is expected to deliver an address. She will continue to lie in state for public viewing until 10:00 p.m. Friday night. A funeral service is planned for Saturday morning at the Eastern Star Church at 5750 East 30th Street. A burial is planned in Crown Hill cemetary following the funeral service.

Taken from Advance Indiana.

What the NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County shared with the United States Justice Department

No one wants to be called a racist; therefore, some schools may attempt to hide the fact that their schools have a problem with racial incidents. Schools may discourage reporting racial incidents with staff that are unaware of the policy for reporting racial incidents or are unaware of what constitutes a racial incident.


The NAACP suggests that by raising the awareness of students and staff on what is a racial incident will help to eliminate racial harassment and threat that occur on school property. In reducing, the number of racial incidents at schools it will make the learning environment a safer place for students and staff.

NAACP learned from the recent racial incident at Heritage junior senior high school that the school was not following its own policies for handling racial incidents for reporting incidents. In addition, some parents were unaware of the school policies for handling racial incidents or that the school had a complaint form for reporting such incidents.

Some of the NAACP recommendations:

 To work with community leaders to establish a working relationship with the community
 To provide assistant and support to community leaders who are willing to work with the NAACP.
 To provide background information to organization on the history of the National NAACP
 To provide information to organizations on the role of the local NAACP in supporting the goals of the National NAACP in the community
 To share the finding of this incidents with other organization within the community and other agencies working to eliminate racism.
 To provide a working definition for schools on what constitute a racial incident
 To request that school keep a more accurate account of racial incidents occurring in their schools and to secure the doors to the enter into the schools
 To support legislature against hate crimes
 To form a racial task force team for racial education within the Fort Wayne-Allen County area by the FW-Allen County NAACP
 To create a survey to be distributed among the district schools to measure the racial climate in the area schools

Others including increasing teacher pay for students working in predominately African-American school to that of teachers working in predominately raced white schools; to increase the recruitment of African-American teachers by working with organizations that are more experienced in recruiting teachers.

NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County and United States Department of Justice

The increase in reports of violence and overly aggressive prosecution against African American youth by law enforcement officials symbolized by the boot camp beating death of Martin Lee Anderson, the assault of Shelwanda Riley by a police officer and countless other recent dehumanizing attacks has led the NAACP to declare a ‘State of Emergency’ that requires immediate action by local and state authorities as well as the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Congress, read more here

Safe Schools or Racial Discrimination

Some folks refuse to look below the surface of the recent racial incident that occurred at Heritage Junior-Senior High School. Simply because it is not their children. But, if they did they might find some interesting facts, such as officials failing to understand or follow their own procedures.

But more disturbing to me is the recent 2007 ISTEP+ scores for certain schools in the East Allen County School District. Scores that may include their children and the failure to educate them.

For example, Paul Harding 37% if students passed the English test in 2007 compared to 28% in 2006. Sure, there is an increase but the overall score is alarming. The same students did a little better in math at 40% in 2007 compared to 27 % in 2006. For both English and Math the score was a dismal 29% in 2007 meaning 71% failed.

71% failed.

Now let's compared the 10th graders at Paul Harding, students passing English was 38%in 2007 compared to 25% in 2006. For math, 31% of student passed in 2007 compared to 17 percent in 2006. Overall scores for students in math and english was 20% in 2007 up from 10% in 2006.

Over 80% of students failed the ISTEP+ test. It is no surprise that the graduation rate is low or the fact that the majority of the students are predominately African-Americans. Otherwise, mainstream media would be writing about the school failure to educate its student.

The traditional focus on African-American students’ underachievement has been labeling students at risk of failure in education attainment. This prospective comes from those who work with students with behavior problems, such as educational administrators and criminal justice policymakers.

The educational administrators and criminal justice policymakers take this have a vested interest in taking this approach. It is target those students who are academically doing poorly in schools and excuse the educational experts. The approach is to sanction such students until the student gives up or behavior becomes so outrageous that the school is permissible in removing the student completely from the school.

Woodson,Carter G. wrote abut the "miseducation of the negro". Today there is misinformation about many African-Americans students who manage to get through a system structured for them to fail. Those who are unable to withstand the structure and limited school choices in their neighborhoods give up or behavior takes them directly to the criminal justice system.

In the recently release report by members of the Governor Commission on Local Government Reform, suggest that consolidating schools and reducing busing may improve schools. The member stated that in 2006 as many as 3/4 of graduate from the 77 Indiana School Corporation would not be eligible for admission to campuses in Bloomington or West Lafayette.

Indiana's brain gain appears to reside in only 1/4 of its graduating class. No once we seek to bring in young professional because Indiana fails to educate its own young professionals.

Is anybody else alarmed yet? Racialism hurts everyone.

Keep Talking

Immediate Release

Statement by the Rev. Michael L. Latham, President of the NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049

The NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 wants to thank all those individuals and organizations offering their support to the NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County investigation of the recently alleged racial incident at Heritage Junior-Senior High School. The NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 remains committed to its role of eliminating racialists’ actions by offering its assistance for educating the community about the adverse effect of racial discrimination.

The NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 is looking forward to working with the Community Leaders in Monroeville, Hoagland, and Poe in addressing issue of racialism and policies supporting racialism. The NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 invite members of the community who have experienced any type of racial incidents in the East Allen County School District to attend a meeting, on December 3, 2007 at 5:00 p.m., with the Indiana Civil Rights Commission Director, Judge Gregory Scott.

Also the NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 and other community leaders will meet with the Department of Justice on December 10, 2007 during the afternoon hours.

In addition, the NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 is waiting to hear from the East Allen County School Superintendent and the East Allen County School Board on their strategy or plan for reporting and addressing racial incidents. The East Allen County Superintendent and Board agreed to discuss with the NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 its plan at the Branch monthly membership meeting.

This meeting is scheduled for December 10, 2007 at 6: 30 p.m. and will take place at Renaissance Baptist Church located at 5515 South Hanna, Fort Wayne, Indiana.

For those wanting to contact or wanting to join the NAACP Fort Wayne-Allen County Branch #3049 call 260-744-2176 or stop by its office at 1521 E. Pontiac, Fort Wayne, IN 46806.

Repost: Amy Sorrell gagged and sanctioned at East Allen County Schools

Amy Sorrell failure to discourage students expression has left evidence of a school system intolerance of differences. The yellow ribbon delineating the evidence of intolerance was wrapped around the specific writing of one young student. The delineator attacked the taboo subject of same sex relationships within her junior-senior high school. Intolerance was outlined throughout the walls of the schools. Sorrell, the journalism advisor did nothing to stop the controversial article chalk marks.

East County School administrators did. They moved to remove Amy Sorrell, quickly. But the chalk marks were not so easy to be removed without a trace. Sorrell punishment to be banned, sent into exile to never be heard from again did not go as easy as East Allen county school had planned. East Allen found out the pen is mighty..and dangerous when it came find places to have it say.

Sorrell comes from a journalistic background. Sorrell's voice like the student writing was not to be silenced on the issue. Sorrell reputation was being harmed. Sorrell had followed the rules; the school may not have followed its own rules. Sorrell would be punished. She was just a she who wouldn't be missed.


Sorrell would be branded. She would be placed on the peripheral edge, marked as a rabble rouser and marginalized among her peers and journalism students. Removed from her current position and transferred to another school as a probational employee, marks her as defiant and one who does not follow the rules. Sorrell will constantly be monitored for signs of not assimilating into a culture of exclusion. Punishment would not swift, but it would be just for Sorrell.

Gagged.

Free speech comes at a high price. A price that requires Sorrell to remain silent if she wants to remain in the school system.

Hold your head up

From this morning newspaper:

"School officials said they do not know who wrote the note."

Note: [(School officials did not say a note did not exist, just that it was not where students stated it was)]

Newspaper continuing:

"But one of the students who originally reported receiving a note in his locker said Principal Chris Hissong intimidated him into changing his story. The student, who did not want to be named, said he was called into Hissong’s office last week and told if he did not tell the truth he would be locked up for the Thanksgiving holiday.

The student is on probation and said Hissong threatened to have him arrested for falsifying the report he originally filed with the Allen County Sheriff’s Department regarding the note. He said he was issued an ultimatum: either stick with the original story and be arrested or change the story and face expulsion.

“I lied and told them it wasn’t in my locker, … but it was in my locker,” the student said. “I just did that because I didn’t want to get locked up.”

Hissong did not return a call seeking comment. MacLean said she had not heard of the exchange between the student and Hissong.

“I was not in those interviews, so I cannot address that,” MacLean said."

newspaper continuing

"MacLean said she didn’t know how many students changed their stories when questioned by school officials. The investigation consisted of more than 100 interviews with students, interviews with three parents, and a review of security tapes at the school."


So that means that 700 or more students have not been interviewed, and yet investigation is over..the investigation is over!!!!

White Supremacy can not be negotiated into the background

"Momma, it's that little girl." This is coming from a 9th grader. I met the young lady by happenstance. And who knew that the young lady's mother would turn out to be one of my daughter's friends. The little girl she was talking about was me..I'm short, and the 9th grader was very tall. I smile, because she remember me from visiting her school.

It just so happened that I was in Heritage Office when three young ladies, and she was one of them, entered the Principal office.

I leaned back in the chair, ready to go, until...

One of the young ladies stated they were sick and tired of being called the N--Word. I look over at the principal who probably at the time wished that a hole would have opened in the floor for him to disappear in. Wait a minute, as I sat up in my chair.


I suggested that the door be closed to a person ready to exit...to give these young folks some privacy. These were some tall folks who I thought at first were juniors or seniors. I was wrong. I learned these young folks were only 9th and 10th graders.


These are not miniature adults, these are young students, who were sick and tired of being called the N--Word. Young folks attending school in an environment that places them as a minority.

A minority without power.

No African-American teachers to go to give your grievances. No African-Americans staff members to give your grievances. No African-American adults to give your grievances, just each other, young 9th and 10th graders, children dealing with an adult issue. Children need adults to fight adult issues, especially when in isolated.

Isolated in an area that was designed to keep them out...African-Americans and others. Residential isolation. "Theoretically the Negro needs neither segregated nor mixed schools. What they need is education. But he (the Negro) must remember that there is no magic either in mixed schools or in segregated Schools. A mixed school with poor and unsympathetic teachers with hostile public opinions and no teaching concerning Black folks is bad," according to W. E. Dubois.

Bad, says Dubuois.

Yeah bad, and I felt bad for those students, and worse after I began to read articles leaving out these students true experience in their school environment.

Charles Silberman wrote in Crisis in Black and White, that it's not about changing the heart of folks. Silberman writes that these folks know exactly what the American Creed says and means. But its their actions that tells other that they are unwilling to share. That is why there are racialist policies that support hiring only raced whites folks, residential segregation, and dual system schools. Where children will be called the N--Word, and adult will only sigh.

It's by design.

I don't need to look at myself and check my thinking. I know that America is a racist system. I know that many African-Americans are attempting to compete, but raced whites keep moving the finishing line..just ask Tiger Woods.

Those young students entered the Principal's office with dignity and pride. These students were demanding that adults, non-African-Americans put a stop to folks calling them out of their names and treating their demands as being inferior request to others demands.

Gary Orfield writes an article about the Indianapolis School System. Some folks need to read it. And before, I close, let me say this, we don't have to got back to slavery to understand that African-Americans were denied their rights. In the State of Indiana, during the 1920, the Klu Klux Klan reign supreme to insure that African-Americans did not enjoy the same privileges of those who are raced white in America.

So, raced white folks, until you start marching in the street for these children, I don't need to start to look at me, I need to continue to make sure that I keep my eyes on some of you, as an Adult looking out for the best interest of students.

Racialism nor Racialist Behavior are never Irrelevant

I don't think racialist actions are ever irrelevant. From the Detroit News:

The FBI is investigating the hanging of nooses at Central Michigan University, authorities said Friday.

The FBI's Bay City office is now working with local authorities as the lead agency in the investigation.

"If charges are brought, they will be federal charges," Special Agent Dawn Clenney said . "The FBI has also been in contact with the U.S. Attorney's Office (in Detroit)."

Four nooses were found in a second-floor classroom of the Engineering and Technology Building at CMU this week. A male student found the nooses, made of compressed flexible gas line material, hanging Monday afternoon from cabinets in Room 228, CMU officials said.

Earlier on Friday, state Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, requested federal authorities get involved with the case because the penalties are stiffer and because of the rash of similar incidents throughout the country.

"I want a strong message sent, not only in Michigan, but throughout the country, no more noose hanging," Clarke said.

"It's not a joke. It's a threat. We must stop it."

The discovery of the nooses, historically painful reminders of lynching of African-Americans in the United States, follows an anti-Muslim incident at CMU. Pamphlets that made inferences that "all Muslims are terrorists" were placed under the office doors of some faculty members two or three weeks ago. No one has been arrested.

The university, which has publicly denounced the noose incident is offering a $500 reward for information leading to an arrest, officials said.

Monday's noose discovery is the first known incident at a Michigan college or university, but it follows a series of high-profile cases nationally. Last month, a similar incident occurred at Columbia University in New York.

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights has offered its crisis response team to CMU to coordinate a discussion of the incident between students and faculty. The department is not investigating the incident.

The department can only get involved by a request or if there is enough evidence to support an investigation, director Linda Parker said. There is not enough evidence for them to get involved at this point, she added.